Alireza Firouzja Plays The Benoni Like Mikhail Tal - Javanbakht vs. Firouzja, 2018

Alireza Firouzja has a dynamic, attacking style, and while it's hard to say how his style may evolve in future, as a young player his games recall Fischer's, Tal's, and Kasparov's more so that Carlsen's.

One of his youthful openings has been the King's Indian Defense, and here we see him transforming it into a Benoni in a game I find extremely reminiscent of Gurgenidze vs. Tal, played more than half a century ago. In both games you see a piece sacrifice that leads to an attack on the dark squares as Black crashes through with pressure on the e-file and pinning bishops.

Lessons:

• Trade one minor piece in the Benoni Defense.
• Attack on the dark squares in the Benoni Defense.
• Study Mikhail Tal's attacks in the Benoni Defense.

My brief notes (mostly just enjoyment of the Benoni attacking patterns) are below.

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