Does anyone know where i can find michael basman's writings on the "creepy crawly" chess opening?

Question

Does anyone know where i can find michael basman's writings on the "creepy crawly" chess opening?

Answer 1

There are no opening books on the creepy crawly, just a self-published pamphlet by Basman available through Chess Digest.

The idea of the creepy crawly is prophylaxis and temptation. The two single pawn moves prevent Black (or White) from placing pieces aggressively on b4 and g4 (or b5 and g5) and prepare the advance of the knight's pawns, gaining space on both wings. A player facing the creepy crawly will be tempted to try and refute the opening in a few moves, and may overstretch, leaving his position vulnerable. The idea will be to push pawns to g4 and b4 (or g5 and b5) and fianchetto both bishops, which will influence the centre from a distance.

The major disadvantage of this opening is that, for want of a better description, it sucks. It makes no attempt to do any of the essential things that a chess opening should accomplish: control the centre, develop pieces, gain space. Many openings exist which succesfully contravene one or more of these precepts (see Alekhine's Defense, Hypermodern Chess), but the creepy crawly is not one of them, and it is difficult to imagine it being successful at grandmaster level. However, just to make sure that I give a balanced assessment, Basman did score a victory against a grandmaster-level player, Budnikov, using the creepy crawly.