Benoni Defense - Hromadka system

The Benoni Defense offers Black in general very good and sharp counterplay after 1. d4.

The main forms are the Czech and the Modern Benoni. These defenses are not very common, nevertheless they are played even today on the highest levels. Benoni structures are often also reached through transpositions from other (even from 1.e4-)openings - so being familiar with them may be helpful for other openings as well. We start our tourney with the "Hromadka system" - this is a basic position, created by a pioneer of the modern move order. This advanced position allows Black still to decide between the main forms (but excludes the Benko Gambit, which is a kind of Benoni as well), and also fosters "delayed" versions of the Modern Benoni, which can be found pretty often on the highest level.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6

https://www.chess.com/explorer?moveList=d4+Nf6+c4+c5+d5+d6&ply=6&origMoves=d4+Nf6+c4+c5+d5+d6

A detailled introduction with links to many resources here on the site and elsewhere will be sent around soon as a News of Chess House Cafe.

Application conditions:

This is a tournament for members of Chess House Cafe and Team Match Chess; guests may be admitted on request.

The tournament will be limited to players with a time/move rate of 24 hours or less. We reserve the right to remove players that have highly dubious stats.

Vacation is permitted.

Please regard: Engines (for analysis of games with this opening) may be used for preparation on this tourney, but not on games that have similarity to ongoing games (which at least will be the case as soon as a round has started); so if you want to analyze completed games in this tourney (and you have chances to advance), do that only close to the end of the round (and before the next round has started)!!

Quick reads and views for basics and first tactics

1. General overview

- Short characterization of Old, Czech and Modern Benoni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoni_Defense

and a more detailled article on the Modern Benoni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Benoni

- Quick videos on the Benoni systems, part 1 + 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3eg0GOnQLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1-UCBP1ISc

pointing out common ideas. (The author @kingscrusher has a lot more Benoni related videos in his playlist, particularly on noteable games.)

- Free and quick video introduction into the (basics) of the Modern Benoni, also covering unusual early moves by white (like dxc5 and dxe6)

https://www.thechesswebsite.com/benoni-defense/

(Also video on Czech Benoni, but only for paying members)

- Short lessons on the Modern (and also one chapter on the Czech) Benoni

https://www.chess.com/lessons/the-benoni-and-its-tactics

- Move orders of different Benoni-types and variations (ECO-codes and detailled terminology of different variations, expandable, thus preferable to other lists).

https://www.365chess.com/eco.php

2. Old Benoni

- Basic and quick introduction, covering many ideas (also a lot of alternatives to the main line)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Nys8VHJsI

- Instructive video on the Old Benoni without e5 (!), covering many other variations as well (like the lines after 2. dxc5, and transpositions into the Hromadka (at 19:00) and Modern Benoni)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CitFl9cFyyw

- Old Benoni game (with e5-thrust) explained by NM Bryan Tillis, with ideas mainly for white (yet no c4, so not including the Hromadka system, and also not Czech Benoni eventually)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RtUUluobjU

3. Czech Benoni (also Old Benoni with that pawn structure)

- The blogpost that got me hooked on the Czech Benoni

https://www.chess.com/article/view/bet-youve-never-heard-of-this-opening

Very instructive article by GM Grigory Serper – quick read, with a lot of very good game examples. (However, to add to the confusion, he introduces this as the "Panov Defense" - at least he explains later on that it is Czech Benoni indeed ...)

- Basic introduction to the Czech Benoni by WGM Raluca Sgîrcea and IM Renier Castellanos

https://thechessworld.com/articles/openings/the-czech-benoni-explained/

- Basic video-tutorial on the Czech Benoni (called "Closed Benoni" here).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYUavh2qbBM

 - Video showing more aggressive alternatives to the classic locked-center Setup within the Czech Benoni; the tutorial itself starts at 1:43 (also explaining what should be played after White's en passant dxe - also something that might happen, even if rarely, after e6).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENlRqLbHjXE

- Magnus Carlsen played this Czech Benoni (with KID fianchetto) about a year ago in the Grenke Classics (with black, of course) against young German GM (then to-be) Vincent Keymer.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1953645

and analyzed here by GM Serper (mainly middle-game strategies of this and other thematic games)

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-chess-prodigy-vs-magnus-carlsen

- Book: Asa Hoffman, Greg Keener: The Czech Benoni in Action (2014)

4. Modern Benoni

- Video course here on the site by IM Mark Ginsburg (full video only for premium members)

https://www.chess.com/video/player/modern-benoni-1-the-amanovs-thrilling-battle

For a quick look: The basic idea of the Modern Benoni is explained mainly between 2:30 and 3:05.

- Instructive theoretical article by GM Max Illingworth

https://www.chess.com/blog/Illingworth/mastering-pawn-structures-modern-benoni

This is not how to create modern Benoni, but how to play in its structure! Excellent! (Also a good training for thinking in pawn structures in general ...)

- Article on Tal and the Modern Benoni by GM Martin Smith

https://www.chess.com/article/view/mikhail-tal-and-the-modern-benoni

- Recent online course (payable) by the author @chessforlife propagating a new variation of the Taimanov Attack (called "Three Pawns Attack") which should be "crushing" against the Modern Benoni

https://www.chessable.com/crush-the-modern-benoni-three-pawns-attack/course/36435/

- Books: Ivan Ivanisevic: The Delayed Modern Benoni (2019). 

John Doknjyas: The Modern Benoni. Opening Repertoire (2020).

5. Other resources on the Hromadka system

- Chess.com explorer

https://www.chess.com/explorer?moveList=d4+Nf6+c4+c5+d5+d6&ply=6&origMoves=d4+Nf6+c4+c5+d5+d6

- Very short article on Karel Hromadka and his "system", continued (and classified) here as Old/Czech Benoni (while indeed his new move order was the foundation of the Modern Benoni)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Hrom%C3%A1dka

6. Some additional interesting games

(If nothing else is noted, it's standard chess and a win for Black)

- A blitz game by Carlsen (2019) with Black (also Czech, with KID-fianchetto)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1963873

- Classic Old Benoni with e5-thrust (Semi-Benoni Blockade Variation) and thematic f5-f4 push later on, with a forceful breakthrough on the kingside, by Vasily Panov himself (see blogpost gy GM Serper above)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1620192

- Czech Benoni by Tal - opening and early middlegame almost identical to Carlsen's play vs. Keymer (see above, linked under "3." - compare the positions after move 15 here and 14 there)!!

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1140160

- Czech Benoni by Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu (2005, German Bundesliga)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1376147

Nice to see here that the locked center stays intact until the end!! (Nevertheless the game is not dull at all ... and black keeps the initiative until the end ...)

- Recent Czech Benoni with the thematic f5-f4-push (Aaravamudhan Balaji vs. Li Wu, 2019)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1983111

- Old Benoni Russian Variation, also without c4

Abdullah Mohammed Moseehn vs. Alisher Karimov (2018)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1933424

- Modern Benonis by Karel Hromadka himself (already "delayed")

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1360347

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1360342

- Modern Benoni with classy b4-breakthrough: Janis Mileika vs. Tal

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1139221

- Modern Benonis by Fischer,

Spassky vs. Fischer

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044727

Najdorf vs. Fischer (delayed, yet white still re-takes with the c-pawn on d5)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044611

and Spassky vs. Fischer with a win for White (delayed, White re-takes exd5)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044741

- Also delayed Modern Benoni, with a win for white: Gary Kasparov vs. Stuart Rachels

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070359

- Ding Liren vs. Wesley So, Modern Benoni (exchange slightly delayed, and also re-taken exd5) ending in a draw (rapid)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1886037

- Against Caruana with white, Caruana vs. Hikaru Nakamura, (2013, delayed Modern Benoni)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1705379

and a draw by Evgeny Alekseev (Modern Benoni), 2009

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1565419

- GM Ivan Ivanisevic playing his version of the delayed Modern Benoni (where White is allowed to retake exd5, but then gets checked on the open e-file), both 2018

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1979202

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1934590

- Game by Bobby Fisher (with Black), that follows our starting position (Hromadka system), and continues neither with e6 nor e5), vs. Spassky

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044749

(Strangely classified here as A57 – Benko gambit – even if b5 has not been played here at all).

- Another pure Hromadka (no e-pawn-push), Mark Taimanov vs. David Bronstein

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1033851

(Taimanov not playing the Taimanov-attack - as it was no Modern Benoni ...)

- Modern Benoni Taimanov attack, Alina L'Ami vs. Renier Castellanos Rodriguez

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1698320

- Recent Modern Benonis (both Rapid, 2019) by GM Maxime Lagarde,

GM Francisco Vallejo-Pons with white (draw)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1963209

and IM Tor Fredrik Kaarsen with white

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1959619

- A "phony" Modern Benoni won by White, Lubomir Kavalek vs. Milan Matulovic (White takes dxe6 ...)

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1266941

- If white doesn not push d5, Black just takes it: Igors Zdanovs vs. Mikhail Tal

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1139293

(Btw, a nice example for a transposition from English into a Benoni setup)

7. Other resources on chess.com

- Successful Vote Chess game with TMC (Semi-Benoni Blockade Variation)

https://www.chess.com/votechess/game/142338

- Successful Vote Chess game with CHC (Modern Benoni, Taimanov Attack).

https://www.chess.com/votechess/game/138828

- Club on site dedicated to the Benoni Defense

https://www.chess.com/club/benoni-counter-blast