Chessexplained's Benko Repertoire: A complete answer to 1.d4

In this opening repertoire, Chessexplained (IM Christof Sielecki) gives you the toolset you need to combat 1.d4 effectively by using the Benko or Volga Gambit. Christof's in-depth analysis, the inclusion of hundreds of variations, illustration games and comments will make sure you are ready when your opponent next plays 1.d4. When it happens, you will know exactly what to do. By using the Benko, exciting attacking positions await you as black. What are you waiting for? Play the Benko!

140

Course stats

For: black pieces

Total students: 854

Recommended for: Intermediate players Advanced players

Trainable variations: 288

Informational variations: 57

Avg. line depth: 13.17

Instruction: 19,025 words

Released on: Sep 26, 2016

Support level: High

Section: 🎓 Titled player

Chessexplained's Benko Repertoire: A complete answer to 1.d4 has

4.8 out of 5 stars, based on 94 user ratings.

Variation Details

9 x Introduction (5.22 avg depth)

52 x Deviations Move 2 (Tromp, London, Veresov etc) (9.06 avg depth)

35 x 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 (8.69 avg depth)

44 x 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 White avoids 3 d5 (12.30 avg depth)

39 x White Declines the Gambit (10.44 avg depth)

84 x White takes b5, but not a6 (14.38 avg depth)

75 x White takes b5 and a6 (17.40 avg depth)

7 x Illustrative Games (37.43 avg depth)

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Claimed from this book. Chess...explained!

Claimed from this book. Please...explain!

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Comments

Last 10 Position Comments

Garf 1,740,730 I've always wondered why black doesn't play b4 here like in many similar positions. After some analysis, I do think that is in fact better than the recommended Bb7. 1 day ago

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c0rias 4,485,420 I really think this comment à la "QGD Lasker" should be much more honoured. 1 day ago

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dramstats 1,385,220 Every time I come to 4. a4, I want to play b4 and stockfish agrees. Is b4 not better that bb7? 1 day ago

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dramstats 1,385,220 4. b4 seems to be a lot better on Stockfish and makes sense. Is it not right because white wants to play Nd2 not Nc3 anyway? 2 days ago

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semisimple 1,486,250 After this move, we end up in a position where we have 3 pawns for a knight. Our central pawns are certainly quite strong, especially the d-pawn(s). On the other hand we have two doubled pawns and a piece is a piece.
Is there any particular reason why the in my opinion more intuitive 7...Be7 is not at least an alternative? Then 8 Bxc4 allows 8...Nxd5, winning a pawn, while 8 Bxf6 gives Black the bishop pair. In both cases, I would prefer Black. 5 days ago

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semisimple 1,486,250 I have a question concerning the starting moves 1. Nf3, 1. c4 and 1. g3. I think I should ask this here, since the standard response on what to do against these moves is that it depends on what you play against the move 1. d4, which is of course a valid point.
Thus I am searching for a response which
(a) leads to positions similar to this repertoire at hand and
(b) does not involve learning too much extra theory which is only relevant against these first moves.

When only looking at (a), you are certainly supposed to play 1...c5 (at least against 1. Nf3 and 1. c4), which in case of 1. c4 also satisfies (b). You have to learn some English which you need to do anyway and it should not be that much extra work, especially since quite some lines can transpose exactly to positions arising in this repertoire.

However, when facing the move 1. Nf3, I have much more problems to find a solution which respects both (a) and (b). And this is mainly because of the possibility for White to transpose to a Sicilian via 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4.
I have never played the Sicilian with Black and it is ridiculous to learn a huge amount of theory only in order to meet this single line appropriately.
You can of course argue that especially at club play level, this will happen very rarely because players starting with 1. Nf3 probably play this move because they don't want to play 1. e4, but you never know. Maybe they do like the Sicilian with White but don't want to prepare against the various other responses to 1. e4 for instance.
At least psychologically, I do not want to have to fear White's second move any time he starts with 1. Nf3...
So is there any way to deal with this? Something like a minimalistic approach to play against this particular line, giving Black some solid position where he does not have to know too much theory would be sufficient for my purposes, but hoping for that in a Sicilian is probably quite stupid...
Maybe 1. Nf3 Nf6 is a solution? Then 2. d4 transposes to the repertoire, but there are some lines like 2. g3 or 2. c4 c5 3. g3 where I do not see a clear way to reach the desired position types.

Finally, what would you recommend against 1. g3 in view of (a) and (b) above? 1 week ago

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semisimple 1,486,250 If I got this correctly, Black wants to provoke e4 in order to follow up with ...Ba6 to prevent White from castling. If White now starts with 14. 0-0 (instead of 14. Bb2), how should we handle this? My engine wants to play 14...f5 (I think the idea is to prevent e4) and then follow up with ...Bxc3 and ...Nf6, and I think the claim is that White cannot defend both d5 and a2.

Now the move ...f5 is quite untypical for the Benko and I am naturally not a big fan of giving up my dark squared bishop in this opening. So do you think it is reasonable to play like this or what else would you suggest?
A "slow" continuation like starting with ...Nf6 can hardly be recommended in my opinion, since White now can conveniently defend his d-pawn with Rfe1 and I feel like he then has consolidated and is just a pawn up... 1 week ago

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c0rias 4,485,420 Could we please add ...d5 as an alternate again, please? For some reason, alternative moves keep disappearing. 2 weeks ago

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SmithyQ 3,469,030 Yes. I've played the Benko in several dozen blitz games now, and I think I've gone to one mainline. The vast majority bail out early (and many start thinking deeply by move 3!), and I'm able to use the general ideas to figure out what to do.

I like the majority of the positions in this repertoire, but that makes the ones I dislike stand out. Discussing these areas gives me ideas on how to do it differently. 2 weeks ago

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semisimple 1,486,250 100% agree! If one doesn't like the resulting position and there is a viable alternative, you always go with the latter.
Also, if I got this correctly from the repertoire, we are talking about one of plenty of sidelines here, in most cases we don't have to even make this choice.
I also thank you for this discussion. 2 weeks ago

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