I only know the basics of this defense, no concrete lines or anything:
- Try and exchange off some pieces to ease the cramp, particularly your bad dark-squared bishop. After 2 exchanges the space advantage isn't so relevant.
- White's bad piece is his light-squared bishop, it'll often be staring at pawns on e3. Don't lop it off because, "bishops are better than knights." Instead challenge white to prove it (tough assignment).
- Depending on what your opponent does, your pawn break is either b5 or f5 but rarely both. Often times play can turn into a favorable King's Indian or Benko... In such situations try and apply what you've seen in those openings as you probably know them better at this point. Also more GM games in those openings...
- You want to get rid of your pawns on c5 and e5. Often times it's worth sac'ing one of these pawns to get a knight there instead. If you're down a pawn but have a knight on e5, while white is stuck with his lame light-squared bishop, you're at least equal and probably better:
- One of my favorite games of all time occurred in this defense, but it's a black loss (Boris Spassky vs Theodor Ghitescu):
[Event "Beverwijk"] [Site "Beverwijk"] [Date "1967.??.??"] [Round "8"] [White "Boris Spassky"] [Black "Theodor Ghitescu"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A56"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Qe2 Ne8 {The beginning of an eccentric series of manuevers to rearrange the black pieces.} 9. g4 {Clamping down on black's break f5. This is known as the Spassky system, after this game.} g6 {Preparing f5 and making room for the knight on g6.} 10. Bh6 Ng7 11. O-O-O Nf6 12. h3 a6 {Preparing b5 as f5 seems unattainable without serious consequences for the black king. One problem... Black's pieces are huddled on the kingside.} 13. Rdg1 {Simple chess. I'd already be sweating if I was black. Learn from black's mistakes in this game if you want to play the Czech Benoni.} Bd7 14. Nd2 Kh8 15. h4 Ng8 16. Be3 h5 17. g5 {Now white's space advantage is overwhelming. Not only are black's pieces relegated to passive squares, but they're tripping all over each other.} Be8 18. f4 f5 {Black's only active try. Otherwise his pieces will never unwind and he'll just be waiting for the decisive breakthrough sac.} 19. gxf6 Nxf6 20. fxe5 dxe5 21. Nf3 Ng4 22. Rxg4 {A beautiful exchange sac. Not only does it bust open black's kingside, but remember GP's blog? If you can get a central pawn plus active play for the exchange, it's probably worth it.} hxg4 23. Nxe5 {White attains the intimidating center which will win him this game.} Nh5 24. Nxg4 {A double exchange sac. The first one was to win the center, now this one to get it moving. I love Spassky's play, extremely dynamic but with classical sensibilities for things like space and the center. Spassky's games are well worth studying IMO... He gets a bad rap for losing to Fischer, but could anyone have won?} Ng3 25. Qg2 Nxh1 26. e5 Rf7 27. Qxh1 Rh7 28. e6 Bg5 {Black thinks exchanges will ease his game. On move 28 his pieces are still cluttered. You just have to laugh at the fate of black's light-squared bishop, while the queen and queen's rook are still on there original squares.} 29. Qe4 Bxe3+ 30. Qxe3 Qe7 31. Ne4 Rxh4 32. Nef6 Qc7 33. Be4 Qa5 34. Qg3 {Notice how all of white's pieces are where it matters. He's 2 exchanges down but you'd never know it.} g5 35. Nxe8 Rxe8 36. Qe5+ {After Kg8, Qxg5+ picks up the rook and white's center comes crashing down.} 1-0
15 Aug '11 08:301 edit
Czech Benoni experiment at Blitz
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