TonyRo wrote on 02/02/12 at 14:46:06:


sensible move b4, though not the only one I suppose, but I like it. I presumed we were talking about 8.b3!? instead of 8.Ne1!?

not a novelty surely, but agree White has interesting compensation

Edward_Dearing wrote on 11/08/10 at 14:54:23:


I am a bit of a tourist in this flank opening stuff but I was very impressed by the recent game Timman-Ernst where Timman played the straightforward 8.b3!?

If anyone is interested there is a video on youtube of Timman explaining the game which is well worth a look if you are into this stuff:

I think I have seen a post about a line in the Keres, but can't find it right now.

I found a game with a move that is not mentioned at all by Marin, but the move played seems like something Black should play whenever he/she can, or else why play ...Na6 in the first place? This looks like a clean equaliser.



Does anyone have an improvement for White, or maybe this line really is nothing for White? When I started reading this chapter, e3 seemed a bit slow. My impression still stands. There are other improvement in several of the lines, as far as I can tell. I actually think I will start to meet 1.c4 with ...e5 more often.

EDIT: Well, I checked the updates (which I maybe should've done before posting, sorry). Nigel Davies has of course addressed this game. Nothing particular for White in the comments either.

Thanks for the informative replies, certainly food for thought. I think I would force a Tarrasch or Catalan next time, the Benoni does not appeal to me that much, even with an extra tempo.

Hmm; I’d say that b3 has potential drawbacks for White (such as possible issues with his queenside dark squares/ a-pawn if it goes to a3 and the inability to play Qa4), and that the flip side of Black’s e-pawn not having made it to e5 is that White can’t use it as a target yet (thinking of a line like 10. d3 e5 11. a3 a5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nbd2 Qd8 15. c5, Black might prefer to wait with perhaps 10...Re8).  Ba3 indeed seems the most natural way to make use of the early b3 (and of course Black has been known to play like that in some Benoni lines), but it doesn’t strike me as much of a way to play for advantage ...

After writing the above I noticed that ECO offers this:  1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. b3 d5 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 d4 6. e3 Nc6 7. exd4 cxd4 8. d3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Nbd2 Qe7 (Sadvakasov-Sakaev, Dubai 1999) 13. Ne1 unclear according to Sakaev.

BPaulsen wrote on 05/25/11 at 16:09:59:


As I understood it, black should wait with ...d5-d4 until white has played Bb2 as the bishop is misplaced there and the subsequent tempo loss moving it cancels out the e7-e6-e5 stuff.  Generally in the Benoni black wants to exchange his queen's bishop for something else, so here even Bc1-Ba3 is possible.

If I was playing White I would play 6.cd5 and meet both 6...ed5 and 6...Nd5 with 7.d4. That said, many English Opening exponents aren't willing to enter 1.d4 openings. Someone with the Catalan in their White repertoire could even play the immediate 6.d4.