The Benoni Defense is 1. d4 c5

A gambit offering by Black with the Queen’s Bishop’s Pawn! Why does Black do this?
Well, he removes a White pawn from the center, lets the Queen out on the Queenside, and if the gambit is accepted, gets to attack Black’s pawn [now on c5] with his King’s Bishop. But then again, the usual continuation to this is 1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6, which in turn spawns Schmid’s System [3. Nc3 g6], a fianchetto by a Black Bishop behind the expected advanced pawns.

Let’s look at the other known variations:
Benoni’s Pawn Thrust Variation continues with 2. d5 e5, and its subsequent Blockade Variation [3. e4 d6] creates a backward Pawn for Black. Benoni’s Franco-Indian Defense [2. d5 e6 3. e4] attacks the forward pawn. The Mujannah Formation [2. d5 f5] seeks to prevent the King’s Pawn from supporting its brother Pawn in the frontlines.

However, by far the most used variation would be the Benoni-Indian Defense [2. d5 Nf6]. Black immediately starts attacking the Pawn, which has ventured into enemy territory. The main line continuation to this would then be 3. Nf3, which results in acceptable development for both players. The Hawk, also known as the Habichd Defense [3. Nf3 c4] advances Black’s c-pawn further down the board to prevent Bishop support of the d5-pawn.

The Woozle Defense 3. [Nc3 Qa5] breaks the usual convention of holding back the Queen until later in the game, but chasing it away may involve too much time and effort. Watch out for traps against the Queen.
Then, we have the Benoni Countergambit [2. dxc5 b6] in which Black offers up another pawn to sidetrack the center pawn into the side and gain valuable time in developing Black’s minor pieces.

Now, its time for the lesser-known variations on the Benoni Defense:
The Mazukevich Gambit [2. c4 cxd4 3. Nf3 e5 4. e3] turns around the gambit play. White is now the one offering up material for quicker development.

The Nakumara Countergambit [2. b4 cxb4] is quite novel, forcing Black to capture either pawn, while White still maintains some semblance of pressure on the center with White’s pawns. The Nakumara may then develop into the Hawaii Countergambit of [3. e3] where White has already opened avenues for the Bishops to come out, while Black’s winning the pawn causes it difficulties in defending the material advantage due to the advanced pawn at b4.
In conclusion, this is interesting!

The Queen-Bishop Pawn is something useful for assisting the center pawns, while at the same time it impedes the Queen from its own side of the board. Getting it out as a gambiting piece in the first move must have been a brilliant idea at that time.
I think it works best when both players are equally strong, as this opening is very much about timing and the positioning of pieces at precise moments throughout the opening. It works out to be pretty much equal for both sides. White usually castles short, away from the impending assault by Black pieces on the Queenside.

When playing the Benoni Defense [after 2. d5 e5], White needs 5 moves to develop all the minor pieces, and Black also plays at 5 moves. If the gambit is ignored by White, White loses a pawn in return for a development time of 5 moves, and Black develops in 6 moves, or 7 if Black prosecutes the gambit.

We are looking at about equal development time, with the notable event being frantic activity on the Queenside of the board.

Related posts:

  1. Bishop’s Opening
  2. Chess Openings- Benoni Defense
  3. Opening Rules
  4. The Bird System
  5. Chess Openings: The Pirc Defense

Filed under: Chess Opening

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