From: wayne.mendryk@freddy.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Wayne Mendryk) 
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Volga/Benko Gambit help
Date: 2 Jan 93 19:55:00 GMT
Reply-To: wayne.mendryk@freddy.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Wayne Mendryk) 
Distribution: world
Organization: Freddy's Place BBS - Edmonton, AB - 403-456-4241

TE>From: tewald@argo.acs.oakland.edu
TE>Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
TE>Subject: Volga/Benko Gambit help
TE>Message-ID: <1993Jan3.022526.13137@vela.acs.oakland.edu>
TE>Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 02:25:26 GMT
TE>Reply-To: tewald@argo.acs.oakland.edu

TE>My first submission/question:
TE>I am white in the following:
TE>1.d2-d4  g8-f6  2. c2-c4  c7-c5  3. d4-d5 b7-b5  4. b2-b3 ...
TE>MCO12 identifies black's 3rd move with the Benko Gambit.  It gives three
TE>possible responses:  4.c4xb5  4. g1-f3  4. a2-a4
TE>I played as I did to support the c-pawn.  Accepting the gambit removes
TE>support from the d-pawn; the other two MCO12 responses give up the c-pawn,
TE>which will then cause the d-pawn to lose support.
TE>Can someone explain the thinking here, please?
TE>Thanks.
TE>tewald@argo.acs.oakland.edu   CIS:  TEWALD


Fedorowicz in his book "The Complete Benko Gambit" states that White's
move of 4.b3 should be dismissed as a viable option for White in the B
nko Gambit Declined. He considers it to be a "fringe" move citing the
game Masera-Benko, Reggio Emilia 1970/71. It is interesting to me that
Fedorowicz wrote a book on the Benko yet rarely (if ever) plays it
himself. He seems to prefer the King's Indian Defense.

I searched my Chessbase "Benko" disk for instances of 4.b3 and
discovered that there was only 3 games with this line. In each case
Black won the game. It is interesting to note that Fedorowicz gives an
illustrative game containing this line at the end of the book, and he
also discusses this idea in his chapter on Fianchetto variations.What is
fascinating is that it appears that  Grandmasters view an early "b3" by
White in the Benko Gambit Declined as unsound for White. Whereas in the
fianchetto variation of the Benko Gambit Accepted, they consider an
early b3 by White to be a ! move because this is a means of countering
Black's fianchettoed dark-squared bishop, through the fianchetto of
White's dark-squared bishop. Well here are some games. I will leave the
analysis up to a master, any takers out there?

Game 1: Benko Gambit Declined
W:Masera B:Benko   Event: Reggio 1971

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.b3 bxc4 5.bxc4 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bb2 Bg7
8.f3 Nbd7 9.e4 Rb8 10.Qc2 Qa5 11.Kf2 Nxe4+ 12.fxe4 Rxb2 13.Qxb2 Bxc3
14.Qc1 Nf6 15.Nf3 Nxe4+ 16.Ke3 Bxa1 17.Qxa1 Nf6 18.Bd3 O-O 19.h3 Ba6
20.Rb1 e5 21.dxe6 fxe6 22.Rb3 Qc7 23.Ra3 Bc8 24.Qb2 d5 25.Qe5 Ng4+ 0-1

Game 2 Benko Gambit Declined
W:Mulitze  B:Gelzenleichter   Event: Dortmund open 1988
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.b3 g6 5.Qc2 d6 6.e4 Bg7 7.Bb2 O-O 8.Nd2 b4
9.a3 bxa3 10.Rxa3 Na6 11.Bc3 Qb6 12.Ba5 Qb7 13.Ngf3 Nb4 14.Bxb4 Qxb4
15.Ra4 Qb6 16.Bd3 Bd7 17.Ra2 a5 18.O-O Rfb8 19.e5 dxe5 20.Nxe5 Be8
21.Re1 Ra7 22.h3 Bh6 23.Nef3 Kf8 24.g4 Bg7 25.Ne5 Qc7 26.Qd1 Rd8
27.Qf3 Kg8 28.Bc2 Qd6 29.Nd3 Nd7 30.Ne4 Qc7 31.Qf4 Qxf4 32.Nxf4 Kf8
33.Nd3 Bd4 34.Kg2 h6 35.f4 Rc8 36.Ng3 Nb6 37.f5 a4 38.fxg6 fxg6
39.Nf4 axb3 40.Ne6+ Kf7 41.Rf1+ Bf6 42.Bxb3 Rxa2+ 43.Bxa2 Ra8
44.Rf2 Bd7 45.Nxc5 Ke8 46.Nxd7 Nxd7 47.Ne4 Bd4 48.Re2 Kd8 49.Bb1 Ra1
50.Bd3 Ne5 51.Bc2 Rg1+ 52.Kh2 Nf3+ 0-1

The only reason I can see for the fact that Masters/GM's do not play
this line vrs the Benko is because after the exchange of pawns, White
is left with an extremely weak "a" pawn. Bellin and Ponzetto in their
book "Mastering the Modern Benoni and the Benko Gambit" state "If
Black regains his pawn he can invariably count on obtaining a very
favourable ending , since White's remaining q-side pawn will be a
real weakness...whereas Black usually gets a passed, well protected c
pawn.p.97".Note that after White has played a2-a3, he has a weak "b"
pawn and if Black can play a rook and his Queen to the "b" file to
immobilize this pawn then White will have a problem.

Wayne Mendryk
Edmonton,Alberta Canada
---
 . SLMR 2.1a . Suffering hurts because we fear it ...flee it-Hesse