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Posted by nathanman22
cpworcester.com

6/03/2008
20:33:40

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Subject: Benoni Defense

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I started a game recently with the Benoni Defensive opening. What do you all think about this opening? Have you played any games in which you used this opening?

-Nathan

Posted by ganstaman
cpworcester.com

6/03/2008
22:40:07

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Message:
I would recommend it (I've used it a bit, getting it once here at gameknot transposing from a KID). It may seem slightly risky, but it will lead to exciting games where you'll get a lot of good experience:

1) You have pawn breaks at f5 and b5 to constantly strive for, while having to watch out for an e5 break by white. So, simple pawn-related lessons in every game.

2) You'll get to play a lot with your pieces, using their activity (especially the g7-bishop) to make up for the positional disadvantages.

Plus, many players (I'm guessing many around your rating level, but I can't say for sure) will 'chicken out' of playing d4-d5, opting for e2-e3 or Nf3 or d4xc5 instead. These positions will give you no trouble as they allow for easy and equal development.

It can get crazy though, so you'd have to like tactics to play this. I'd look over Tal's games, as they can be entertaining, and they'll make you think that you need to play like him in order to win. Fischer also had great success with this opening, so see how he did it before getting in too deep.

Posted by ionadowman
cpworcester.com

6/04/2008
13:24:04

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The Modern Benoni ...

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... is one of my favorite openings for Black - not really a defence; more of a counterblow.
Here's a game recently played in emtogsdia's MT:
game
Quite a ding-dong affair.

It has to be said, though, that the risk factor is high. I've had one loss where the enemy's K-side attack proved too quick for my Q-side advance, even though I "got in" a pawn promotion; and another that was a complete disaster after I misplaced my queen to b6 then castled Q-side.

But if the risk factor is high, so is the excitement factor. My one warning is that (in my view) it is a very difficult opening to play, especially for Black, especially in its main lines.

You can make life easier for yourself if you play the Benko Gambit, though. This opening I would highly recommend, as, for the pawn, Black gets an easy development, a clear-cut plan early on, and quick pressure against White's Q-side:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6
w

Enjoy,
Ion
———
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Posted by ionadowman
cpworcester.com

6/04/2008
13:27:21

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Message:
game
———
Vishy Anand saves his strength before world match with Veselin Topalov — Vishy Anand, who defends his world title against Veselin Topalov at Sofia in April, kept his powder dry in his warm-up chess event at Corus Wijk where the Indian, 40, played at full force in only a few games. In contrast Topalov, 34, has played hard in almost every game this week at the Linares elite chess tournament in Andalusia, where he won first prize with 6.5/10, half a point ahead of Russia's Alex Grischuk. The Bulgarian squeezed points from tiny advantages and by round six had regained the world No1 spot on the live chess ratings from Magnus Carlsen. These daily updated rankings have a huge following and their prestige is now not far short of ...
Posted by ccmcacollister
cpworcester.com

6/06/2008
02:22:52

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Fischer 2007

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But Beware the Taimanov var! (Hey, I have since the late 80's, glad Bobby climbed onboard haha :)

www.chess.com
———
A Match All About the Sicilian — An unusual chess match is being held in South Carolina. It pits Judit Polgar of Hungary, the strongest woman chess payer in history, who is now ranked No. 46 in the world, but once was in the top 10, against Gregory Kaidanov, a Ukrainian-born American grandmaster, who is ranked No. 261. The match is four games and has an interesting twist: Each game begins with a different variation of the Sicilian Defense. The first game was on Monday and was won by Kaidanov, who had White, and featured the Sveshnikov. The second, which was won by Polgar, was on Tuesday and was a Dragon. The third chess game, which is being played on Wednesday, and can ...
Posted by ccmcacollister
cpworcester.com

6/06/2008
02:24:56

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Hey ...

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that link is busted. Ok, by url
www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/which-openings-give-you-the-most-trouble
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The f-pawn, part 2: is f5 the answer here? — Does White have a better option than moving the f-pawn? Continuing our look at the chess equivalent of route one football – the f-pawn advance... RB Well, let's see what happens when we push – 1 f5. The answer comes back faster than Manchester United on the break, not much. Black is under no compulsion to take the pawn and can instead centralise with 1…Nd4 or even 1…Qd4, or start getting the queen's rook into play with 1…Rac8, and 1…Nb4, hitting the d-pawn, would be irritating. All right, let's try to be logical. What's wrong here is that even if we could swap off pawns on the f-file, the f1-rook would remain blocked by the bishop. Let's ...
Posted by ogedei
cpworcester.com

6/11/2008
15:37:47

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For Andrew Martin Fans...

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Andrew Martin has made another one of his "ABCs of the..." DVDs, this time on the Benoni.

chessbase.com

Might be worth a look for people who like studying openings that way.
———
Big Surprises in Europe — Europe has been a center of chess activity over the last month with a series of major open tournaments. The first was the Gibtelecom Chess Festival in Gibraltar, which ran from Jan. 26 through Feb. 4. Among the world-class chess players who competed were Etienne Bacrot of France, Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia, Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain, Michael Adams of England, and Gata Kamsky of the United States. The chess tournament ended in a nine-way tie for first, with Adams winning a four-person playoff to take the title. The Moscow Open, which overlapped with Gibtelecom and ended on Feb. 7, was divided into four sections — A, B, C and D — with ...