The Modern Benoni

I've taken to playing this line against lower rated players a little bit, because it's nearly impossible for White to pick something where Black can't mess up the position quite nicely, which I really like. That said, does anyone else who plays this opening feel like the need a shower after a win? I feel like a slimeball every time. Maybe it's just me. I just played this 90' 30" game for my college team:



Thoughts:

1. I was really hoping for 30. Qd3, since the win is much nicer: 30...Bxh3! 31. gxh3 Qxh3 32. b3 Bg7! 33. Rg2 Nf5! 34. Ne2 Rd4!

2. Also, I completely missed that 25...Qg5? is probably just blows a winning attack because of 26. g4! but I liked the finesse of forcing his king to the h-file before playing ...Qh4.

3. Of course, the plan of f3 and h3 just sucks, since once the bishop has to give itself up on g3 his kingside is just a holey mess.

4. I liked 24...f4, cementing all the dark squares and giving me more space on the kingside.


Here's a question: What do Modern Benoni players here play against the Taimanov variation?

I was looking at this old but dangerous variation today:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Bb5+ Nbd7!? 9. e5 dxe5 10. fxe5 Nh5 11. e6 Qh4+ 12. g3 Nxg3
13. hxg3 Qxh1 14. Be3 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 a6 16. exd7+ Bxd7 17. Bxd7+ Kxd7 18. Qg4+ f5 19. Qf3 Qxf3 20. Nxf3 Rae8!? 21. Kf2 Re4 22. Bxc5 Rc8 23. Bd4 Kd6 24. Ng5 Rxd4!? 25. cxd4 h6 26. Nf7+ Kxd5 27. Nxh6 Kxd4

I've sat around analyzing this ending, and it looks drawn to me. Let me know if you guys find anything here.

I have no thoughts on this other than the !~Tony~! Benoni sounds gangsta.

If you like it, then why are you only using it against lower level players? If you really like it, then play it against higher rated players and get better with it instead of just winning games you'll win anyhow.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
I have no thoughts on this other than the !~Tony~! Benoni sounds gangsta.

I never gave that any thought, but you're totally right man. It sounds way better than "Tony Grunfeld" or "Tony King's Indian Defense".

Eladar,

You might be right. 😀

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
I have no thoughts on this other than the !~Tony~! Benoni sounds gangsta.

Spot on.

I think Tony Benoni sounds like a 50's pop star.

He should be on the same bill as Emile Ford and the Checkmates.

I can just picture him.

Tony Benoni
Silver suit, dark completion, black wavy hair, drooping eyelids, curled lip.

If ever I own a race horse, I'm going to cal him Tony Benoni.

Wow, that's a great game you played. Much better than my recent OTB tournament results (which have dropped about 200 points in performance since I started playing blitz a lot).

Originally posted by exigentsky
Wow, that's a great game you played. Much better than my recent OTB tournament results (which have dropped about 200 points in performance since I started playing blitz a lot).

Thanks for the kind words. I find long games very nice to play. You have no excuses if you have enough time to correctly evaluate everything!

On an unrelated note, I found a problem in this line: 21. Kd2! is much better. Black can't play in the same way, since the White king is too close to the a-pawn, unlike when he sits on the f2 square.

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
I've taken to playing this line against lower rated players a little bit, because it's nearly impossible for White to pick something where Black can't mess up the position quite nicely, which I really like. That said, does anyone else who plays this opening feel like the need a shower after a win? I feel like a slimeball every time. Maybe it's just me. I ju ...[text shortened]... nd it looks drawn to me. Let me know if you guys find anything here.

I also liked the f5-f4 maneuver but, white can get a little something here. For example, 23.Nc6 Nxc6 24.dxc6 Rd4 25.Qc2 Qb6 26.g4!? And white has some good play. 23...f4 by itself was nice probably deserves a "!" I was looking at 23...fxe4 when I went through the game missing the niceness of f4. I didn't agree with putzing around with 24...Bd7 you should have gotten down to business with 24...Qh4 right away while your opponent puts his rook on F2 for the defense you put your knight on g3 then play ...Nb5 attacking the pinned wN on c3. A sample line would be something like this 24...Qh4 25.Rf1 Ng3 26.Rf2 Nb5 I while writing this I noticed something even better! I'll leave this here since it is still a good idea.

Instead of 25...Ng3 there is 25...Bxh3!! 26.gxh3 Re5! With an amazing rook lift! I think this line is really nice. What would follow is also pretty awesome. 27.Rf2 Rg5+ 28.Kf1 Ng3+ 29.Ke1 Nh1! 30.Nc6 Rg2! And stick a fork in white because he is done.


Keep churning out games like this and I may not be such a sour puss anymore 😀

After the f4 push, why not take the pawn with the bishop? It would be supported by the queen and white would be up a pawn in the exchange.

Edit:

I suppose black would win back the pawn with the rook on the b file. But it would take care of the attack on the king side none the less. Would the weakness created on the queen side be worse?

Originally posted by Eladar
After the f4 push, why not take the pawn with the bishop? It would be supported by the queen and white would be up a pawn in the exchange.

Edit:

I suppose black would win back the pawn with the rook on the b file. But it would take care of the attack on the king side none the less. Would the weakness created on the queen side be worse?

Eladar,

White's losing after the sequence 24. Bxf4 Nxf4 25. Qxf4 Rxb2. Now Black is threatening something like 26...Rxe2 27. Nxe2 Nxe2+ 28. Rxe2 Bxa1 -+ so if White plays something like 26. Bf1 to fix this problem, 26...Rf8! 27. Qc1 Rc2 28. Qa3 Nxf3+! -+ or 27. Qe3 Nxf3+! 28. gxf3 Bd4 -+

Once again, it really comes down to White not being able to trade off the dark squared bishop because of all the problems he has on the dark squares, especially because my dark squared bishop is so strong!

Originally posted by tomtom232
I also liked the f5-f4 maneuver but, white can get a little something here. For example, 23.Nc6 Nxc6 24.dxc6 Rd4 25.Qc2 Qb6 26.g4!? And white has some good play. 23...f4 by itself was nice probably deserves a "!" I was looking at 23...fxe4 when I went through the game missing the niceness of f4. I didn't agree with putzing around with 24...Bd7 you should h ...[text shortened]... s done.


Keep churning out games like this and I may not be such a sour puss anymore 😀

33. Nc6 is certainly a better try. I didn't want to putz around with 24...Bd7 either (I wanted to play ...Qg5, which can be met by g4 again) but I didn't like the looks of 24...Qg5 25. Kh1 (once again g4) Qh4 26. Nc6 Nxc6 27. bxc6. Unfortunately I missed the deflection idea of 26...Rxb2! -+ so I didn't play this way. That said, even after 24...Bd7, Black is winning, so I can't criticize myself too much. As far as 25...Bxh3 goes, what is the win after 26. gxh3 Re5 27. Qf2? The best my engine could find was 27...Qxh3 28. Rg1 Bf6 29. Ne2 Nxe2 30. Bxe2 Bh4 31. Qf1 Ng3+ 32. Rxg3 Qxf1+ 33. Bxf1 fxg3 34. Bg1 +- , maybe you can find something better, I only looked at it quickly.

Glad you liked the game. 😀 I'll see what I can do next week.

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
33. Nc6 is certainly a better try. I didn't want to putz around with 24...Bd7 either (I wanted to play ...Qg5, which can be met by g4 again) but I didn't like the looks of 24...Qg5 25. Kh1 (once again g4) Qh4 26. Nc6 Nxc6 27. bxc6. Unfortunately I missed the deflection idea of 26...Rxb2! -+ so I didn't play this way. That said, even after 24...Bd7, Black is ...[text shortened]... nly looked at it quickly.

Glad you liked the game. 😀 I'll see what I can do next week.

I think after 27.Qf2 black can play 27...Rg5+ 28.Kh1 Ng3+ 29.Bxg3 Rxg3 and it looks like white has to give up the queen for the rook and will still be in trouble. I haven't looked at the other line eithe with the endgame... I should look at it soon, it looks interesting.