thibdb13 wrote on 01/22/09 at 19:51:41:

Hmm, I have Pinski's book on the Benko, and after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.f3 e6 6.e4, he gives 6...c4 as highly dubious. Do you know if "Dangerous Weapons" offers improvements on Pinski's analysis to overturn this assessment?

Novosibirsk wrote on 01/29/09 at 15:32:09:


I once analysed a game with a benko player where I played the fianchetto variation, his thought on variation was that his black bishop is in the way of his forces, and he would like it better to get it exchanged against the f1-bishop.

I don't really know the ultimate truth myself, there are pros and cons in exchanging the lightsquared bishop.

Quote:


I think theory says it's bad, but theory probably says the same on the volga, so I do not really know. Tbh. I haven't looked into that gambit.
I play a different move order c4 Nf3, so I do not need to occupy myself with such things (the first tourney I played last year with 1.d4 I played with some knowledge of lines in the John Cox Starting Out: 1d4 book, like QGD, KID, Nimzo, Gruenfeld, Slav, QGA, but on the board I only got sidelines like albin's counter gambit, czech benoni, dutch stonewall, where I basically had to think for myself starting from move 2-5 running into totally prepared opponents, that is why I changed to 1.c4/1.Nf3, there are not so many cheaptricker defences there).

If the Benko is ever refuted by a supercomputer of the future, I'd bet on the accepted/king's walk variation (Kxf1, g3, Kg2).  It's what I generally play OTB.

When I'm tired, paired down, playing blitz or otherwise don't feel like letting Black play a bunch of automatic moves or dealing with the pressure on the a- and b- files, I'll decline with 4.Nf3.

Personally I like White's chances in this gambit.  But if you answer 2...c5 with 3.Nf3, you have to be prepared not only for this but for a wide range of Symmetrical English ideas.  Also if this is your game, you might consider starting out 1.Nf3.

Which is a 1st rate gambit.

According to theory the fianchetto with 10. rb1 is best,
but in my opinion the positions are far from clear and there are many practical chances for black.
So after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 I would play 3.Nf3.
Why not play a 2nd rate move against a 2nd rate defence and give them their own medicine

Holbox wrote on 01/28/09 at 11:47:45:


It's quite old, dating back to the 70's, I think.  I have a copy somewhere.  It influenced my 1.d4 repertoire.  But it's very out of date.

I actually had a look at that semi recently and even played it once or twice. 

Its probably not the best move but its also not so bad and has been written off slightly flippantly by a few recent Benko books. iIirc they tend to give lines with Qa5 and then white swapping queens on a6 into a bad pawn up ending. Not forced!

Ok so Qa5 does certainly stop any really fast e5 breaks but white can keep the game going well enough. Interesting equality might be more than the Benko deserves of course

The b6 lines (with maybe Nf3 first if you don't like b6 e6) might be a slightly more accurate way to play with an e4/f4 pawn structure.