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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) Is there still hope in the King Walk variation ? (Read 7666 times)
Lauri Torni
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Re: Is there still hope in the King Walk variation ?
Reply #3 - 04/03/20 at 06:12:43
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1.Nf3! -  beat your opponent by killing his zest for life.
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Lauri Torni
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Re: Is there still hope in the King Walk variation ?
Reply #2 - 04/03/20 at 06:12:06
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I have played benko 35 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.

How often does one nowadays meet comfortable benko-like positions, when white has so many nasty ideas such as 4.Qc2, 4.Nf3, 5.b6, 5.e3.  Moreover, even the "real classical benko" variations with 5.ba are better for white (e4: 12.a4, g3: 10.Rb1!)

The modern benko (postpone -Bxa6) is complicated, but also definitely better for white.

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. Often benko-activity makes it rather hard for white to win, so benko is presently best as a drawing machine  Grin

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.

  

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Stigma
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Re: Is there still hope in the King Walk variation ?
Reply #1 - 04/02/20 at 02:48:32
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I think you're right to point to these two variations as major challenges for Black. (I would personally include the 5.b6 lines too, but maybe that just a matter of taste and Black is OK theoretically.)

I have to say I find your solution hard to believe though. I saw some GM analysis that tried to uphold Black's cause in the Benko Accepted main line with exactly such a setup - ...Na6 and ...Qb6. But there the move order was a bit more regular:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. e4 Bxf1 8. Kxf1 d6 9. Nf3 Bg7 10. g3 O-O 11. Kg2 Qb6, obviously meant to make a2-a4 less attractive for White.

This looks a lot like your line, but here Black gained the option of playing ...Qb6 before ...Na6. The knight could still go to d7 anyway, maybe if White does something that doesn't fit with the a4/Nb5 setup. I'm fairly sure there were some lines involving counterplay on the h1-a8-diagonal against White's king on g2, with a queen on b7 and an ...e6 break. And that's really the biggest difference - White's king is safer on g1 (as in your line) than on g2, so it's hard to believe White isn't better if he's allowed to castle the normal way.

5.e3 is a bit of a headache. Both Perunovic in his book and Sielecki in his Chessable course mention that it's very dangerous for Black and give reasons why they think their recommendation is the only good line - but they disagree on which line that is (5...g6 Perunovic, 5...axb5 Sielecki). I've also played 5.e3 a bit as White with acceptable results. Surprisingly many Black players don't know the standard Benko setup with ...g6 and ...d6 is considered bad there.
  

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LaurentB
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Is there still hope in the King Walk variation ?
04/01/20 at 20:53:10
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Hi Benko lovers,
my understanding is that the two following variations are difficult to handle for black at the moment:
- 5.e3
- 12.a4 in the King Walk

My hope is that the following variations that lead to the same position remain playable for black: += but some activity on the queenside for black

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.e3 axb5 6.Bxb5 Ba6 7.Bxa6 Nxa6 8.Nc3 g6 9.e4 d6 10.O-O Bg7 11.O-O O-O

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.e4 d6 8.Bxa6 Nxa6 9.Nf3 Bg7 10.O-O O-O

with idea to fight the a4, Qe2, Nb5 plan with Qb6, Nc7

Is there an obvious plan for white that ruins my hopes ?

Thanks for your feedbacks
  
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