The Benko gambit, ECO A57-A59.

This is where it begins (above) and it comes in three varieties: accepted where white takes both pawns, declined where white refuses the offered pawn, and semi-accepted where white takes the offered pawn and gives it back.

Accepted starts like this:

There are so many variants of the accepted version that 2 of the 3 ECO numbers deal with it.

Semi-accepted follows white after any move in response to 4. ... a6 other than 5. bxa6.

And declined is any option after 3. ... b5 other than 4. cxb5. These tend to end up in other openings. I'm only going to go over the ones that remain in the Benko family.

Anyway, that's it for today.

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