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SteveYorkie
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #10 - 01/06/23 at 17:18:50
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I played the Benko a few times about thirty years ago, and have been looking at it again, including a scan through some of the threads on here, to try and get a bit more up to date.

It seems to me that the appearance of 12.a4 in the main "King Walk" line threw a bit of a spanner in the works. But the most recent book by Kovalchuk still heads that way, with 12...Qb6 being his choice to meet it. Plenty of recent examples on my games database seem to suggest it is seen as worth trying, even if results are quite a bit in favour of white.

Meanwhile the 7...Qa5 idea from Aveskulov's revised book, to avoid the main line, does not seem to have taken off - I found only a few games where this had been played. Was it refuted?

More popular in terms of games played is 11...Na6 (instead of Nd7), which I found mentioned in Tay's Move by Move book as away to avoid 12.a4. The results are still not too encouraging, but it has clearly found a few fans.

Are there any regular Benko players on here who are still happy to see 12.a4? Or do they take another route?

  
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #9 - 03/28/22 at 03:43:11
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RoleyPoley wrote on 03/27/22 at 22:40:29:
Stigma wrote on 03/27/22 at 21:16:50:
Are you sure you're thinking of the right book(s)? The two Benko Revisited books are comprehensive and just out less than two weeks ago. Kudos if you've already managed to check them and find some critical holes!


No, I've probably made a boo boo on that, mistaking TD's comment in the book's thread for a an important omission.


Ah, I didn't realize these are two different threads. The danger of using "Recent posts" to check the forum...
If a Mod sees this, maybe my previous post should be moved to the separate thread for the Benko Revisited books.

(Yeah, I don't think 9.Nh3 is critical in the Fianchetto - the Knight is probably on its way to f4, but won't White miss it over on the Queenside, where it often helps out via Nf3-d2 or Nf3-e1-c2? With the Knight on h3/f4 Black is also more likely to be able to play ...c5-c4 without having to worry about Nd4 in reply. But I'm no Benko expert.)
  
Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone. -Jonathan Rowson
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #8 - 03/27/22 at 22:40:29
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Stigma wrote on 03/27/22 at 21:16:50:
Are you sure you're thinking of the right book(s)? The two Benko Revisited books are comprehensive and just out less than two weeks ago. Kudos if you've already managed to check them and find some critical holes!


No, I've probably made a boo boo on that, mistaking TD's comment in the book's thread for a an important omission.
  
"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '"

Victor Bologan.
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #7 - 03/27/22 at 21:16:50
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On The Benko Revisited 1+2, I have looked at the contents for Volume 2, where all the accepted lines are (both main lines and 5th move "sidelines" 5.Nc3, 5.e3, 5.b6 and 5.f3). Surprisingly (to me at least) Kovalchuk goes for the traditional accepted main lines, with one chapter each on 12.Re1, 12.h3 and the critical 12.a4 in the "King Walk" variation. All those fans of the traditional positional Benko pressure who never got used to the razor-sharp Perunovic theory will be delighted!

Actually, the free sample of Vol. 2 with the introduction already reveals his main path against 12.a4 - it's 12...Qb6 and Kovalchuk follows his own 2021 game against GM Lysyj all the way to move 29, where he claims equality but in the game he started to go wrong.

Elsewhere in the introduction he also mentions that the lines "have become more specific, sometimes requiring very accurate knowledge. The load on memory increases [...]". So fans of the good old positional, understanding-based Benko may be in for some heavy memory work after all...

[Event "Cheliabinsk Variant Gp-A"]
[Site "Cheliabinsk"]
[Date "2021.03.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Lysyj, Igor"]
[Black "Kovalchuk, Alexey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2605"]
[BlackElo "2379"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2021.03.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2021.07.31"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 6. Nc3 d6 7. e4 Bxf1 8. Kxf1 g6 9. g3 Bg7 10. Nf3 Nbd7 11. Kg2 O-O 12. a4 Qb6 13. Qe2 Rfb8 14. Nb5 Ne8 15. Ra3 Nc7 16. Nxc7 Qxc7 17. b3 Qa5 18. Bd2 Qa6 19. Qxa6 Rxa6 20. a5 f5 21. exf5 Nf6 22. fxg6 hxg6 23. h4 Nxd5 24. h5 gxh5 25. Rxh5 Nc3 26. Be1 Bf6 27. Rf5 Nb1 28. Ra4 Rxb3 29. Ng5 Kg7 30. Ne6+ Kf7 31. Re4 c4 32. Nc7 Rc6 33. Nd5 Rb7 34. a6 Ra7 35. Rxe7+ Rxe7 36. Rxf6+ Ke8 37. Nxe7 Kxe7 38. a7 Ra6 39. Rh6 c3 40. Bxc3 Nxc3 41. Rh8 1-0

RoleyPoley wrote on 03/26/22 at 18:48:46:

It is definitely under a cloud at the moment due to several lines. From reading peoples comments on this forum the books that have come out in the last several years have often lacked answers to the most critical moves (or even just not included the move) including one of the titles you are referring to (Benko Revisited?). 

Are you sure you're thinking of the right book(s)? The two Benko Revisited books are comprehensive and just out less than two weeks ago. Kudos if you've already managed to check them and find some critical holes!
  
Improvement begins at the edge of your comfort zone. -Jonathan Rowson
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #6 - 03/27/22 at 20:50:28
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TD wrote on 03/27/22 at 10:05:56:
bragesjo wrote on 03/27/22 at 09:49:01:
The video I mention from Cheparinov seems to play some thing odd a e6 move instead of g6 from what I can see on the free chapter.

Yes, I noticed that too. I believe that is the original "Wolga" Gambit.

When I saw this was mostly Blumenfeld style with an early ...e6 "everywhere" including against the accepted main line, I pigeonholed it as something for rapid and blitz. I might buy it at some point with that in mind. But then Cheparinov is a very serious theoretician... So a bit of cognitive dissonance here. Smiley Could he really have managed to make this work!?
  
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #5 - 03/27/22 at 10:05:56
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bragesjo wrote on 03/27/22 at 09:49:01:
The video I mention from Cheparinov seems to play some thing odd a e6 move instead of g6 from what I can see on the free chapter.

Yes, I noticed that too. I believe that is the original "Wolga" Gambit.
  
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #4 - 03/27/22 at 09:49:01
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Thanks for input. With playable I mean works vs typical club players in over the board Chess I hardly meet higher than 2300 elo. It does not have to work in Correspondence Chess,  I have a separate repertoar for Correspondence Chess.

I have been think about trying Benko for several years.

The video I mention from Cheparinov seems to play some thing odd a e6 move instead of g6 from what I can see on the free chapter.
  
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #3 - 03/26/22 at 19:54:28
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The Benko Revisited Volume 1 & 2 have just been published, but that topic hasn't received much comment yet.

https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1644498379
  
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #2 - 03/26/22 at 18:48:46
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bragesjo wrote on 03/26/22 at 17:17:16:
I have seen several new Benko repertours for black.

Both video like 
https://www.modern-chess.com/play-the-benko-complete-repertoire-for-black-7-5h-r...

And also a two book series Benko revisited

I have no idea how theory goes or differences in repertour suggestions. 

Does anyone here play Benko? Is it playable in over the board Chess?

Hi @Bragesjo,

I guess that depends on what you class as playable  Grin

I used to play it, but never really knew the theory. I'm always tempted to pick it back up - but then I play various unsound gambit lines as black and white  Wink

It is definitely under a cloud at the moment due to several lines. From reading peoples comments on this forum the books that have come out in the last several years have often lacked answers to the most critical moves (or even just not included the move) including one of the titles you are referring to (Benko Revisited?). 

I'm sure some of them will be along to provide a better explanation as to what these issues are.
  
"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '"

Victor Bologan.
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Re: Status of Benko Gambit
Reply #1 - 03/26/22 at 18:37:23
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bragesjo wrote on 03/26/22 at 17:17:16:
Is it playable in over the board Chess?

Yes. Except maybe if you are 2700+.  Wink
  
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Status of Benko Gambit
03/26/22 at 17:17:16
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I have seen several new Benko repertours for black.

Both video like 
https://www.modern-chess.com/play-the-benko-complete-repertoire-for-black-7-5h-r...

And also a two book series Benko revisited

I have no idea how theory goes or differences in repertour suggestions. 

Does anyone here play Benko? Is it playable in over the board Chess?
  
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