Stigma wrote on 06/23/21 at 10:33:22:

I don't play the Benko anymore, but bought the book out of interest. In the Vorwort Sieglen compares his book to Perunovic's so you can get much information from that. The only prerequisite is that you know (some) German.

Hale-Bopp wrote on 06/22/21 at 21:34:39:

Now the Short & Sweet for the Dhopade Benko/Vienna course is out already: https://www.chessable.com/short-sweet-benko-gambit/course/77754/


* 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.e4 O-O with 8.Nf3 Qa5, as expected.

* 5.e3 g6
* 5.b6 e6
* 5.f3 e6

* 4.Nf3 Bb7
* 4.Qc2 bxc4 5.e4 e6

etc.

Hale-Bopp wrote on 06/22/21 at 21:34:39:


There will be a free Short & Sweet soon so you will be able to better judge for yourself. Also the following link could be of some interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3yKZJwYdy4

Another annoying advertisement:

"You've tried the slow, positional grind of the Slav and the Queen's Gambit Declined, but White is not intimidated. And the Indian games are just not doing the trick either. But what can you play to score the full point against 1.d4?" You need a bold, aggressive response that shakes White up from the outset."

Sounds like he's promoting the Albin's, the Von Hennig-Schara or the Dutch.

"And not just some one-shot pet system - you need a solid repertoire that will last you a lifetime."
Oh wait - he wants you to intimidate your opponent with solid play!
I've had a lot of fun with the Benkö in the past, but no, it didn't last my llifetime.

TopNotch wrote on 06/20/21 at 22:17:06:


My ten-yer old post (with minor modifications) is still valid:

I have played Benko 38 years. In the good old days people took the pawn and I was winning almost every game. Many players avoided it against me and played e.g. 2.Nf3. Nowadays Benko feels very different.

Glenn Flear: "Again we see the problem for Black in the Benko Gambit Accepted: If White is well-prepared, he can keep Black's dynamic activity in check and gradually make progress. This explains why top level players are reticent to play the Benko on a regular basis: Black's winning chances are perhaps not much better than in more 'solid' openings and he may have to play many moves with little to show for the pawn deficit."

I agree.

Despite its defects Benko used to be until recently nice at least against lower rated players, but what openings are not. Nowadays also lower rated players  usually know how to minimize black's activity.

How often does one nowadays meet comfortable benko-like positions, when white has so many uncomfortable ideas such as 4.Qc2, 4.Nf3, 5.b6, 5.e3? Moreover, even the "real Benko" -variations with 5.ba are better for white. The old main line with 12.a4 is simply better for white and Perunovic's line is neither good enough for equality.

Benko is also very committal. You cannot play fluent positional chess: at some point you often just sit and wait, or you decide to make a highly committal -c5-c4,  -e7-e6, -f7-f5 -move when you either get more activity or lose quickly.

Thank you for that.  Appears to be no shortage of Benko books.

While I’m dusting, how does the Aveskulov book compare to the Pedersen book and the McDonald benko revealed book? 

I think there was some Move by Move book on the Benko that covered some of the fresh ideas for Black. I don't own it so I have no idea as to its quality. 

For what it's worth, the Accepted and 4.Qc2 seem the most annoying lines to me.