Benko gambit games

Originating from a Benoni Defense , black sacrifices a pawn on move 3 to strike back against the white center. Instead, black intends to generate long-term positional pressure against the white queenside. This is one of the main lines of the Benko Gambit.

White can play 7. After 8…d6 9. Nf3 Bg7 Kg1 Nbd7 Kh2 Qa White finally gets the King out of the way of their pieces, but black has used the meantime to finish development.

Black is ready to bring their major pieces to the queenside. White sometimes plays g3-Kg2 instead of h3-Kg1-Kh2, which gets their King out of the way one move sooner. One game continued Re1 Rfb8 Qc2 Nb6 adding pressure to the d5-pawn discourages white from playing e5 for the time being! Re2 Nfd7 Rb1 c4. All six! White remains up a pawn, but is rather tied up because of all the pressure. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Bg2 Bg7 9. Nf3 Nbd7. This is another popular way for white to handle the Benko Gambit.

One common white plan is to play Rb1 , followed by a later a4 and b3, making the backwards b-pawn the only target. For example, a few games have continued 10… The move From there, the Benko move Black's goal with this opening is to convert easy development into queenside pressure.

The ideal development for Black looks like this with the light-squared bishop sometimes traded off depending on how White plays :. When White fully accepts the Benko Gambit, the position almost always looks like this by move six:. At this point there is some room for White to vary, and it largely depends on the question of developing the bishop on f1. White can also decline the gambit in the first place, which will be discussed below as well.

Black's goal is always the same: quick development and queenside pressure. This move allows Black to play Bxf1 and White loses the right to castle. However, White will generally "castle by hand" by playing g3 and Kg2 at some point.

White plays this move to develop the bishop while maintaining castling rights, and also leaving Black's light-squared bishop blocking the rook's view of the a-file. Statistically, this is White's best move, but not enough to replace 7.

White can also delay the decision to be made about the bishop by developing the knight to its best square. It will still be incumbent on White to develop the f1 bishop soon, of course. The standard way to decline the gambit is to capture on b5 but not on a6, generally by playing 5. Instead of giving Black two open files on the kingside, White allows just one, hoping to reduce the pressure.

Sometimes White doesn't even take on b5.