While many defenses against the queen pawn opening are closed and drawish, the Benoni Defense gives black many opportunities to not only equalize the position, but also to gain an advantage and play for the win. TheaN: Recently I have considered picking up the Old Benoni or any Benoni variation against d4. This form has never attracted serious interest in high-level play, though Alexander Alekhine defeated Efim Bogoljubow with it in one game of their second match, in 1934. Old Benoni Defense (1 d4 c5 2 d5 e5) : chess opening performance statistics, strategy and tactics, famous games, PGN download, discussion forum, and more. Chess Puzzle of the Day Past Daily Chess Puzzles Past Daily Chess Puzzles Chess Puzzle Creator Chess Puzzle Creator Chess Quote of the Day Basic Benoni Pawn Structure. The Old Benoni starts with 1.d4 c5. Search the chess games database, download games, view frequent practitioners and browse the Opening Explorer The Old Benoni is sometimes called the Blackburne Defense, after Englishman Joseph ⦠You can browse our entire chess database from this line, move by move. (long time Benoni player here) The move order 1. d4 c5 has a one (rather significant) drawback compared to 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 and that is the line 1.d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 3. One is the Schmid Benoni which often arises after 1.d4 c5 2.d5 d6 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nc3, where White refrains from playing c2-c4 in order to use the c4- square for his knight (Nf3-d2-c4); another is the Czech Benoni, arising after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5. From the data, you can expect that White will have a high 53.51% chance of winning, while Black should have a 46.49% chance of winning. A43: Old Benoni defence - 1. d4 c5 - Chess Opening explorer. Old Benoni Trap. The Old Benoni defence is some what common and occurs frequently enough that only serious chess players should be familiar and study it. Being a favor of the modern style and fianchettos (Catalan, Colle Zukertort, Modern Defense... only the French doesn't really fit) I was considering many of the variations with the king side fianchetto but the queen side just as much (Benko, etc). The old benoni is an extremely popular opening at high level play as it immediately threatens the central pawn from whiteâs d4 with blackâs c5. Many lines are extremely sharp, especially in the Old Benoni where White has all kinds of weapons at his disposal, like the ultra-sharp Taimanov ( 1.d4 c5 2.d5 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ ): The Benoni Defense is a very aggressive line that black can play to counter the very common open by white d4. Because of the fact that this opening occurs somewhat commonly and that White has such a high expected ⦠A43 - Old Benoni defence: 1. d4 c5 . Nc3, which gives white a very comfortable position and black has to be prepared for it in addition to the modern benoni. Black looks to counter attack by bringing his minor/major pieces involved into the game while continuing to threaten the central pawn support from white. Benoni Defense. The Benoni is a very combative opening from both sides of the board. The Old Benoni may transpose to the Czech Benoni, but there are a few independent variations.