Markovich wrote on 03/29/10 at 12:27:20:


Useless as in not relevant to your repertoire, poor-quality analysis or the lines aren't sound enough for your liking? I can understand most of the book being irrelevant if you have a fairly narrow repertoire, although the DW series' main competitor, SOS, suffers from the same issue.

In my experience, the broader one's repertoire is, the more one benefits from such books. Some chapters are better than others, but generally speaking each of the chapters have original analysis, well selected games, accurate evaluations of positions and are thorough in their coverage.

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I think there might have even been two threads on this but I'm not going to bother looking them up because I think you should probably buy Dangerous Weapons: The Benoni and Benko.  Besides chapters on other useful information the last chapter is devoted to the 4...b5 gambit which Palliser dubs the Pseudo-Blumenfeld Gambit.

Markovich wrote on 08/17/09 at 12:45:23:


More on this subject.  I've looked some more at 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.Nxd5 Nxd5 6.Qxd5 d6 7.Ng5 Qe7, and I really don't like Black's game after 8.Bf4 Be6 9.Nxe6 fxe6 10.Qh5+.  E.g. 10...g6 11.Qg4 appears to be "w" in my parlance (http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1266527927) . So my provisional conclusion is that 4...exd5 is no good.

However 4...b5 looks quite interesting.  We discussed this briefly before, though I have been unable to locate the thread.  I recall saying that 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nxb5 d5 7.Nc3 looked strong to me, intending soon e2-e4.  But more recently I noticed 7...Be7 8.e4 d4! 9.e5 dxc3 10.exf3 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1 Bxf6 and Black seems to be O.K.  To take advantage of 7...Be7 it would seem that White has to refrain from 8.e4.  I'm not sure if Black has full comp, but it looks worth testing.  Black would rather have his KB on d6, but on the other hand, he hasn't spent a tempo on a6 and it doesn't look like he'll have to.

If White plays more normally 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nxb5 d5 7.e3, it appears to me that after 7...a6 8.Nc3 Nc6 Black again has pretty good practical compensation.  I have a hunch you could score a lot of points with this gambit in open Swiss sections, notwithstanding that it has no discernable support at the top.

Instead of 5.dxe6, the more positional 5.Bg5 b4 6.Ne4 Bb7 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.c4 bxc3 9.Nxc3 f5 looks quite interesting for either side.  I suppose you have to like White a little better, but as compensation for his ragged pawns, Black will have the two bishops, and the play will be fairly complex.  In this line White also has 6.Na4, but that line also looks both complicated and playable for Black. 

So I think the most testing line is to accept the pawn, though it gives Black serious practical chances with his central pawns and his potential play on the half-open f-file.

After 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5, I don't think that 3...b5 fits in too well with a Modern Benoni repertoire, since it throws away the chance to get back into the system after 3...e6 4.c4.  Also Black has to be willing to play the Benko declined that arises from 4.c4. 

In any case, Black's solid option is 2...e6, though he then has to be willing to play a Torre and also that Catalan/Symmetrical English borderland line, 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 cxd4 5.Nxd4, or 4.c4 cxd4 5.Nxd4.  He'll also have to play the ...e6 version of the Colle, which is no big deal, but some people including me like the ...g6 version.  If I were developing an MB repertoire not linked to the Nimzo, I would probably have both 2...e6 and 2...c5 3.d4 b5 in my repertoire and pick my targets according to my perception of their vulnerability.

Markovich wrote on 08/18/09 at 14:39:44:


I reviewed this book at Jeremy Silman's site, it's maybe worth a look.

http://jeremysilman.com/chess_gst_wrtrs/Chess_Explained_Modern_Benoni.html

Is there any reason why I should buy this Franco book?  I already have Watson, Palliser and Vegh -- plus some older works.

Is there supposed to be something wrong with the old perhaps main line 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 ed 5. ed d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. g3 Bg7 8. Bg2 0-0 9. 0-0 a6 10. a4 Nbd7 11. Nd2 Re8 12. h3 Rb8 12. Nc4 Nb6?

I have not seen a thread discussing Fianchetto Variation. Any ideas / Suggestions?

I must apologise, first of all, to John Watson. I read his books years ago and wrote previous comments on my impressions then.

I had a look at his book last night and this morning and I found it amazing. He anticipates in many cases where theory is going to develop (or even develops the theory himself). He is incredibly detailed and, to be honest, far too advanced for whatever chess understanding I had/have.

There are a couple of instances where some lines have not stood the test of time or some nuances in the move order have appeared, but indeed it is a fantastic book. (perhaps too advanced for dogmatic players like me   )

It is so through, though, that unless one already knows a fair amount of the Benoni, may not be the ideal 'starting out' guide, although one now would hope he writes more about openings!

He had a few areas where he pioneered important theoretical develpment/General insterest like the Chigorin, Symmetrical English, etc...

In the Qh4 lines he even declares that it certainly looks counter intuitive, but Zenon has a Gelfand game as Black playing the line!

I could have deleted previous post, but wanted to correct myself since there were people who had read it already...

Apologies, again, then.