A65 · Indian · a defense for Black

Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line

11/11
1.d4Nf62.c4c53.d5e64.Nc3exd55.cxd5d66.e4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line1.5M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
56%860k52%
23%356k45%
8%124k50%
5.3%82k45%
3.1%49k44%
1.7%27k42%
1%15k42%
0.6%9.8k41%
0.4%6.0k43%
0.2%3.5k42%
Famous games in this line6.1k master games
So, W. (2752) – Nakamura, Hi (2788)2023½–½Topalov, Veselin (2780) – Ivanchuk, Vassily (2751)2008½–½Carlsen, Magnus (2770) – Ivanchuk, Vassily (2746)20091–0Karpov, Anatoly (2770) – Kamsky, Gata (2735)1996½–½Grischuk, A.. (2777) – Dubov, Daniil (2710)2021½–½Jobava, Ba (2717) – Mamedyarov, S. (2764)2014½–½Bareev, Evgeny (2726) – Topalov, Veselin (2745)20020–1Jakovenko, Dmitrij (2725) – Gashimov, Vugar (2734)2010½–½
Heroes of this opening Carlsen, Magnus · Topalov, Veselin
Family
Benoni Defense
Category
Indian
First move
1.d4
ECO
A65
Line
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4
Sharp
★ Read the guide: Benoni DefenseExplore all 61 Benoni Defense lines →
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Benoni Defense: Pawn Storm VariationA66 6…g6 7.f4 · 4 deeper linesBenoni Defense: Mikenas VariationA66 6…g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.e5Benoni Defense: Taimanov VariationA67 6…g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Be3A65 6…g6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Be3
Nearby lines in the family
Benoni Defense: King's Indian SystemA56 3…e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 g6Benoni Defense: Modern Variation, Snake VariationA60 5…Bd6Benoni Defense: Uhlmann VariationA61 2…e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 …
From the archives

The name comes from Aaron Reinganum's 1825 book 'Ben-Oni' — Hebrew for 'son of my sorrow,' reportedly written to distract himself from melancholy. Tal made the Modern Benoni a terror in the 1960s: give up the center, then let every piece point at White's queenside like an accusation.

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