Benko Gambit

The Benko Gambit (or Volga Gambit) is a chess open- line.[2] Now the terms are synonyms and are used ining characterised by the move 3...b5 in the Benoni De- terchangeably or joined together with a hyphen (Volga
fense arising after:
Benko Gambit).[3]
1. d4 Nf6

2 Theory

2. c4 c5
3. d5 b5

The main line continues with the moves 4. cxb5 a6

5. bxa6 Bxa6 followed by Black anchettoing the f8bishop. (Black players leery of the double-anchetto system, where White plays g3 and b3, and anchettos both
bishops, have preferred 5...g6 intending 6.b3 Bg7 7.Bb2
Nxa6! The point is that it is awkward for White to meet
the threat of ...Nb4, hitting d5 and a2, when Nc3 may often be met by ...Nfxd5 because of the latent pin down the
long diagonal.) Blacks compensation for the pawn takes
several forms. First, White, who is already behind in development, must solve the problem of developing the f1bishop. After 6. Nc3 d6, if White plays 7.e4, then Black
will play 7...Bxf1, and after recapturing with the king,
White will have to spend time castling articially with
g3 and Kg2, as in the line 7...Bxf1 8.Kxf1 g6 9.g3 Bg7
10.Kg2. If White avoids this by anchettoing the bishop,
it will be in a rather passive position, being blocked by
Whites own pawn on d5.

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) has three

codes for the Benko Gambit:[1]
A57 3...b5
A58 3...b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6
A59 3...b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 d6 7.e4

Origin and predecessors

The idea of sacricing a pawn with ...b5 and ...a6 is quite

old. Karel Opoensk applied the idea against, among
others, Gideon Sthlberg at Podbrady 1936, Paul Keres
at Prnu 1937, and Erich Eliskases at Prague 1937. Later
the Mark Taimanov versus David Bronstein game at the
Candidates Tournament, Zrich 1953, drew attention.
Most of these games began as a Kings Indian, with Black
only later playing ...c5 and ...b5. Possibly the rst to use
the now-standard move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5
was ThorvaldssonVaitonis, Munich Olympiad 1936.

Apart from this, Black also obtains fast development and

good control of the a1h8 diagonal and can exert pressure down the half-open a- and b-les. These are benets
which can last well into the endgame and so, unusual for
a gambit, Black does not generally mind if queens are
exchanged; indeed, exchanging queens can often remove
the sting from a kingside attack by White.

In many countries, particularly in the Eastern Bloc, the

opening is known as the Volga Gambit. This name
is derived from the Volga River after an article about
3...b5!? by B. Argunow written in Kuibyshev (Samara
since 1991), Russia, that was published in the second
1946 issue of the magazine Schachmaty in USSR.

Although the main line of the Benko is considered acceptable for White, there are various alternatives which avoid
some of the problems entailed in the main line. The simplest is to just decline the gambit with 4.Nf3. Other possible moves are 4.Nd2, 4.a4, and 4.Qc2. Another idea,
popular at the grandmaster level as of 2004, is to accept
Beginning in the late 1960s, this opening idea was
the pawn but then immediately return it with 4.cxb5 a6
also promoted by Pal Benko, a Hungarian-American
5.b6. Another popular alternative is 5.e3.
Grandmaster, who provided many new suggestions and
published his book The Benko Gambit in 1974. The name
Benko Gambit stuck and is particularly used in Englishspeaking countries.
3 Use
In his 1974 book, Benko drew a distinction between the
Benko Gambit and the Volga Gambit: Volga Gambit
referred to the move 3...b5 (sometimes followed by an
early ...e6), while the Benko Gambit consisted of the
moves 3...b5 4.cxb5 a6, which is now considered the main

The gambits most notable practitioner has been its

eponym, Pal Benko. Many of the worlds strongest players have used it at one time or another, including former world champions Viswanathan Anand, Garry Kas1

7 FURTHER READING

parov, Veselin Topalov and Mikhail Tal, and Grandmasters Vassily Ivanchuk, Michael Adams, Alexei Shirov,
Boris Gelfand, and Evgeny Bareev.

In popular culture

The Benko Gambit is featured in Jack McDevitt's short

story, Black to Move, anthologized in both Standard
Candles and again in the 2009 collection Breach The Hull,
as well as in William Ballards short story Retrograde
Analysis, published in Analog Science Fiction.

See also
List of chess openings
List of chess openings named after people

References

[1] Chess Archaeology: Openings classied under ECO

A57A59
[2] Benko, Pal (1974). The Benko Gambit. B. T. Batsford,
London. ISBN 0-7134-1058-2.
[3] Konikowski, Jerry (November 2002). A weapon against
the Volga Gambit. ChessBase Magazine (ChessBase
GmbH) (98).

Further reading
Benko, Pal (1974). The Benko Gambit. Batsford.
Gufeld, Eduard (1988). Benko Gambit. Batsford.
ISBN 978-0-7134-5592-2.
Gufeld, Eduard (1988). Benko Gambit Accepted. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-02-043281-4.
Fedorowicz, John (1990). The Complete Benko
Gambit. Summit. ISBN 978-0-945806-14-1.
Ravikumar, V (1992). Play the Benko Gambit.
Cadogan. ISBN 978-1-85744-014-0.
McDonald, Neil (2004). Benko Gambit Revealed.
Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-8868-5.
Pinski, Jan (2005). The Benko Gambit. Quality
Chess. ISBN 978-91-975243-8-4.
Bellin, Robert and Ponzetto, Pietro (1990). Mastering the Modern Benoni and the Benko Gambit.
Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-6288-3.

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Benko Gambit Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benko_Gambit?oldid=668846138 Contributors: Zundark, Rmhermen, Camembert,

Komap, Eric119, RedWolf, No Guru, Bob.v.R, DragonySixtyseven, ZeroOne, CanisRufus, Causa sui, Tabletop, Fenya~enwiki, Sjakkalle,
Rjwilmsi, Quale, Bubba73, Gangster Octopus, WTHarvey, YurikBot, Krakatoa, Cobblet, VodkaJazz, Ilmari Karonen, Eskimbot, Alan
McBeth, Chris the speller, Sim man, Shalom Yechiel, Aiwendil42, ShelfSkewed, Thijs!bot, Sherbrooke, Escarbot, The Transhumanist,
Baccyak4H, Whatteaux, LordAnubisBOT, Idioma-bot, Harfarhs, Ilfuria.awt, Rei-bot, MaxBrowne, Billinghurst, SieBot, OTAVIO1981,
Tommetje, Sun Creator, Iohannes Animosus, SilvonenBot, Addbot, DOI bot, Tassedethe, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Amirobot, MrsHudson,
Adrignola, BukMer, Citation bot 1, MondalorBot, EmausBot, Ihardlythinkso, Robnator, Frietjes, Green Rain, Helpful Pixie Bot, AvocatoBot, Toccata quarta, DocFido, Monkbot, KasparBot and Anonymous: 25

8.2

Images

File:Chess_bdt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Chess_bdt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_blt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Chess_blt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_kdt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Chess_kdt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_klt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Chess_klt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_ndt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Chess_ndt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_nlt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Chess_nlt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_pdt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Chess_pdt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_plt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Chess_plt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_qdt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Chess_qdt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_qlt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Chess_qlt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_rdt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Chess_rdt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chess_rlt45.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Chess_rlt45.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: This vector image was created with Inkscape. Original artist: en:User:Cburnett
File:Chessboard480.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Chessboard480.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
Own work Original artist:
File:Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.
svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Bastique, User:Ramac et al.

8.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0