Benko Line 5. f3

I believe it's called the Dlugy Variation. 

I guess my questions are:

If there are any Benko players, 
Have you guys ever faced this? How did you fare?
Benko Opponents:
Would you play this? Have you played this? How did you do?  

This is a tricky variation for black to play against.  Black needs to play actively or else white will blockade the q-side and run black over.  There's a very tactical line that goes: 5.f3 e6 6.e4 ed5 7.e5 Qe7 8.Qe2 Ng8 9.Nc3 Bb7 and its really messy...I think black is OK in this line but its really unclear/messy.  The line that I like is a bit more solid for black and goes like this: 5.f3 ab5 6.e4 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 b4 8.Na3 d6 9.Nc4 and now black can choose between 9...Qd8, 9...Qc7, or even 9...Qa7.  They are all playable.

Hope that helps!

Hi, I cannot help you with the f3-line, since I very recently switched to Benko, but I believe (from the research done so far) that it isn't a too a big ptheoretical weapon versus Benko. Did you check the new book by Alterman, by the way? Lots of material on Benko, and some on the f3-variation. 

The Pedersen book is very good too!

Thanks, everyone! I actually just finished the Pederson book and I would reccomend it. I am more of a fan of the GM Rep. books that Quality Chess puts out for their very dense nature but obviously one can't expect to build a repertiore solely for the Benko. I learned a lot and have had some nice wins with it. I haven't run into anything the book hasn't talked about.

The most common move after 8...Ba6 is 9.Nc4 getting the knight out of the awkward position on a3.  Black then has two options: to exchange on c4 giving up bishop for knight or to retreat the queen (usually to c7).  They are both playable.

@ the OP - Yes 5.f3 is called the Dlugy Variation of the Benko. The system was popularised by Maxim Dlugy during the mid 80s and early 90s - It's still popular today and Black needs to be aware of the theory. The move itself shows White's hand almost immediately. As with the Central Storm Variation (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 bxa6 7. f4!? - I like to call it the "Psycho Killer") White has no intention of piss farting around on the queen side and is looking to smash in e4>e5 as quickly as possible.

In his book "The Benko Gambit" IM Pinski believes that an immediate attack on White's centre with 5. ... e6! is the strongest and most natural reply by Black. I would agree but not wholeheartedly. It leads to very complicated positions that are fine for OTB play but perhaps not for Correspondence games. I came to this conclusion after reviewing the following game.

At the moment I will only play the 5. f3 e6!? line OTB. Saving the natural 5. ... axb5 for correspondence games and attacking White's centre a little later on