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This is a "No Vacation" tournament!
Welcome to the Modern Benoni, one of the most dynamic openings in all of chess. Make no mistake: this opening is for players who enjoy the wild and adventurous side of the game. Modern Benoni devotees are forced to play on the edge, and will often have to live with positional weaknesses and/or sacrifice material to avoid being driven into passivity. On the plus side Black gets active piece play with rich counterattacking possibilities, perhaps more so than in any other opening against 1.d4.
The Benoni got its name from a German manuscript published in 1825 entitled Ben-Oni. For the rest of the 19th century it was rarely seen and had a poor reputation. Then in the early 1900s it was adopted by a few maestros of the day, most notably Frank Marshall. Even the great Alekhine
played it a few times, despite having stated it was not a good opening. It was not until the late 1950s that the Modern Benoni really became popular, thanks to the great Mikhail Tal. The Benoni, with all its dynamism and counterattacking potential, suited Tal's aggressive tactical style perfectly.
