Benko Gambit?!
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Someone tell mandelshtam that "the wall" fell in 1989, he can venture from his bunker now.
I don't really understand the argument about the theory of the Benko Gambit not being developed and popularised by Benko and his imitators. At the time he first played it, it took a long time for his contemporaries to find the answers to the problems posed for white. Other players who took up the gambit also developed the theory of it for black. E.g. the move sequence 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cb a6 5. ba g6! (rather than the immediate capture on a6 by Bxa6) was 'invented' by Lev Alburt in order to stop the counter-fianchetto of the white Queen's Bishop.
Am I wrong in assuming that this was not in the original literature on the Volga Gambit?
Reb wrote: Ok, what GM has played the "benko gambit" more than Benko himself has? At least in the west it was Pal Benko, more than any other, that through his own games, and book, did indeed bring attention to the gambit and made it popular. The book of his includes 20 of his games and he may have played it even more, I dont know. Benko himself wanted to call it the benoni counter gambit.
In the west, he popularized it, in the east many other played it too. And popularized it, too. The ONLY reason why I was so persistent in the discussion was the OBVIOUS ignorance (up to accusation, that the russians kept their knowledge as secret!!!) of the independent and strong development of chess in the east.
It was and is up to the western players to learn from the chess school of the former soviet union. That one is still the best in the world!
They didn't do it enough in the past - as the strange remark of Benko shows! - , although it was easy to get chess periodica and some of the hundreds of russian chess books . (The german encyclopedy is only one example which was easier to access, since it was already translated.)
Fischer became strong in particular, since he learned russian, and read a lot of russian chess literature.
Mandelshtam
Evil_Homer wrote: Someone tell mandelshtam that "the wall" fell in 1989, he can venture from his bunker now.
dear Homer, the bunker mentality was just on the other side, when they claimed that the russians "kept it a secret...". I cannot stand such arro- and igno-gance, since I KNOW the facts.
I and some of my friends in Leipzig keep several dozens of russian chess books from the 60s up to the 80s, compared to them, a lot of what is published now, just not worth to be mentioned....
mandelshtam
mandelshtam wrote: Evil_Homer wrote: Someone tell mandelshtam that "the wall" fell in 1989, he can venture from his bunker now.
dear Homer, the bunker mentality was just on the other side, when they claimed that the russians "kept it a secret...". I cannot stand such arro- and igno-gance, since I KNOW the facts.
I and some of my friends in Leipzig keep several dozens of russian chess books from the 60s up to the 80s, compared to them, a lot of what is published now, just not worth to be mentioned....
mandelshtam
Obviously Chess books were not the 1st thing on the minds of people to bring with them as they headed out to climb over the barbed wire at the top of the wall to make their way to the "ignorant" west.
Ok, I have to confess that I didn't know enough about Benko's activities, and that his book has 20 of his annotated games... I apologize.
To my defense: I could not buy many western books (in particular, never I saw a chess book from the west in our bookstores, and it was, as you may know, impossible to order them) in GDR before 1989.
I got a little angry because of the accusations against russian chess players. Its just not fair. When I ever talked to a guy from Soviet union , with GM or IM title, he would always be nice ( and humble at the same time) to me, and ready to deliver his knowledge, (which, of course , would be much superior!)
I will never forget an evening with A. Chalifman and A. Kovalev in 1991, in Leipzig , when they asked me to show some of my games. They LISTENED, and treated me like one of them, although it was me who learned from their comments ...
I have deepest respect to their dedication to the art of chess.
Mandelshtam
Apr 16, 2008
0
#27
mandelshtam wrote:
In my opinion, white is better off, if he delays e2-e4 , and plays first g3, Bg2 , Nf3 , 0-0. In fact, this is considered now as the main line. VERY few GMs' play Benko with black anymore, the reason is simple: they consider it incorrect!
Mandelshtam
It makes no difference what GMs do. I am sure you do not play like a GM and neither does your opponent. Play shamelessly for the hideous blunders, they will happen with boring regularity.
Just have fun with it guys!
Evil_Homer wrote: mandelshtam wrote: Evil_Homer wrote: Someone tell mandelshtam that "the wall" fell in 1989, he can venture from his bunker now.
dear Homer, the bunker mentality was just on the other side, when they claimed that the russians "kept it a secret...". I cannot stand such arro- and igno-gance, since I KNOW the facts.
I and some of my friends in Leipzig keep several dozens of russian chess books from the 60s up to the 80s, compared to them, a lot of what is published now, just not worth to be mentioned....
mandelshtam
Obviously Chess books were not the 1st thing on the minds of people to bring with them as they headed out to climb over the barbed wire at the top of the wall to make their way to the "ignorant" west.
I was never asked to bring chess books to the west, (if it is that what you mean). IOn the other hand, me and my friends bought meanwhile dozens of western chess books. It's quite understandable that one does not have older ones (the one of Benko was printed long before 89).
You could have obtained our books/journals all the time. The difference is: WE COULD NOT GET YOUR BOOKS BEFORE 89. Don't turn around the blame: IT IS ON YOU, not on us. Got it?
mandelshtam
How did a thread about the Benko Gambit turn into an argument about the fall of the berlin wall? 
yeah! that is silly... But some people here try to tell things (some of them even insulting: "secrecy of soviet chess players..."), which are not true (including Benko himself, when he said that the encyclopedy does not deal with "his" move order).
It is my duty to correct those facts. By the way, I never mentioned the/a wall.
Mandelshtam
words are indeed slippery, facts are only true or wrong....
I told facts. I have confessed that Benko deserves an eminent place in the history of the gambit. (I didn't know that he played that opening at least 20 times in serious games!) I wish people would accept the fact that the same idea: pawn sacrifice of two files ONLY for pressure on the queenside, has been analysed - not less exhaustive as B. did! - and applied many many times in Soviet games, since the fifties. And that that knowledge was accessible to the world.
Correctness has two meanings:
1) from the theoretical point of view:
at this moment, most theoreticians believe that it is incorrect (in the sense that with both sides playing the best moves, black should lose or, at least end up in a very difficult position). However, nobody (including Fritz or rybka...) has ever shown a clear-cut path to a strong advantage for white.
Moreover, THE IDEA ITSELF is great, and is positionally sound. Therefore it can be applied in many similar situations (Benoni, Kings-Indian, Reti openings, etc.)
2) from the practical point of view:
it is a very good opening , because initiative gives you a psychological edge:
The black initiative lasts for some time (10 or more moves). Meanwhile the threats seem not too horrible: black wants to take on b2, or on a2. But when you start analysing variants where white returns the pawn early, it is often not guaranteed that the initiative of black ends after that!
Counterplay of white needs to combine counterplay in the center and on the kingside (not easy to manage, since there are not yet any open files!), with readiness to return a pawn on the queenside, but only in an appropriate moment.
On the other hand, black has needs not think that much about his moves in the opening...
Mandelshtam
Apr 17, 2008
0
#32
On a similar note to the off-topicness of some of the above posts, I spent some time in Halle recently (near Leipzig), really lovely area :)
Benko Gambit
It is sad that the only river ever to have given its name to a chess opening should have been forced to cede this honor to a mere mortal. But the fact that an article written in 1946 by one Argunov who happened to live in Kuibishev on the river Volga considered the moves 1d4 Nf6 2c4 c5 3d5 b5 is generally considered less significant than the fact that GM Pal Benko has by his games and writings transformed this little esteemed opening into one of black's most successful defences to 1d4.
This is written in Kasparov's and Keene's BCO
MCO has this introduction to it :
Benko Gambit
This gambit bears the name of the American GM Pal Benko, who brought it to world attention in the early 1970s. Since it is a young opening many new ideas are still being found in it. Noteworthy explorers of Benko theory include Alburt and Fedorowicz of the USA and Vaganian of the Soviet Union.
I have played it before but i quit lots of people play this line and normally lose.
the bad thing is he can go g3 and keep a better position for himself.
