A Benko Gambit

Here is a recent game played on chessbase againt a higher-rated player. It illustrates how white needs to play against the Benko, which is to always be on the alert to defend against black's queen-side pressure. The problem for white is that if black gains back his gambit pawn, he almost always gets the better game. So caution is essential for white.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3 I continue to believe in this move as the best for white. To me black's best reponse is now 5...axb5, but my opponent chooses a different path.

5...g6 6. bxa6 Bxa6 7. Bxa6 Nxa6 8. Nf3 d6 9. Nc3 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nd2 Qc7 12. Nc4 Rfb8 13. Qe2 Nb4 14. Rd1 Qb7 15. e4 Nd7 16. Kf1 Stockfish doesn't like this move, claiming that white has now lost his advantage. However, the important thing is to have a coherent plan, and I felt like this fit in with my ideas of how to best defend against black's queen-side pressure. The computer simply does not appreciate how helpful white's king will be if and when he can get to the c2 square.

16...Qa6 17. Bg5! f6 18. Be3 Nb6 19. Nxb6 Qxe2+ 20. Kxe2 Rxb6 21. a3 Nc2 22. Ra2 Nxe3 23. Kxe3 Rab8 24. Rd2 I have successfully defended my weak pawn on b2, and now white's plan is obvious: push the passed a-pawn! Stockfish has now restored my half-point advantage, black's problem being that his 17th move blocked in his bishop.

24...Rb3 25. Kd3 f5 26. f3 Bd4 27. a4 Bg1 28. h3 Rc8 29. Kc2 c4 30. a5 Ba7 31. a6 Rcb8 32. g4 f4 33. h4 h6 34. h5 g5 My concept has now become clear. I have fixed all but one of his pawns on dark squares, and all but one of my own pawns on light squares. In this type of position, my knight is hugely better than his woeful bishop. Plus, I still have my extra pawn.

35 Rd1! The start of an inspired plan to reposition this rook to b1, thereby freeing up my other rook to go to a4. Note that this rook maneuvering would not be possible if my king hadn't gone over to the queen-side to help out in guarding the b2 pawn.

35...Kg7 36. Rb1 Kf6 37. Ra4! Rc8? (R3b6) 38. Rxc4! Rxc4 (Rxc2+) 39. Kxb3 Rc8 Black's position has completely collapsed. The rest is mop-up.

40. Ra1 Ke5 41. Ra4 Rb8+ 42. Rb4 Rc8 43. Rb7 Rb8 44. Rxb8 Bxb8 45. Nb5 e6 46. dxe6 Kxe6 47. a7 Bxa7 48. Nxa7 and black soon resigned. 1-0

Emerson famously said that "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds", while Oscar Wilde followed this up with "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative". However, my point here is that in chess it is important to play with a plan. Not that you shouldn't periodically re-evaluate your plan, but to play without any plan at all is so bad that it is contemptuously called "swimming".