Benko GambitA57 – A59
After 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6, Black is a pawn down and has nothing to show for it that a beginner would recognise: no attack, no threats, no king in danger. What Black has is structure. The a- and b-files are half-open for the rooks, the bishop on g7 looks down the long diagonal at b2, and the queen comes to a5 or b6 to join them — so the pressure falls on a2 and b2, the two pawns White cannot easily defend. The usual trade of light-squared bishops after e4 even costs White the right to castle. It is one of the few gambits whose compensation often lasts into the endgame, which is why it is played by positional players as well as attackers. What goes wrong is breaking the pattern: opening the centre with …e6 too early, letting White get a4-a5 or Nb5 unchallenged, or trading the g7-bishop, which is the piece the whole gambit is paid for.
Played by
- Pal Benko — the Hungarian-American grandmaster who played and analysed it from the 1960s, and whose name it carries everywhere outside Russia, where it is the Volga Gambit
Model game
Bareev – Kasparov, Linares 1994
Next: d4
