Why the Benko Gambit against 1.d4?
With a simple question, our Grandmaster team stumbled on this opening. The question they asked was this:
"Against 1.d4 which opening is the easiest to learn, easiest to play, and most unpleasant for White?"
The Benko Gambit fit the bill perfectly! The theory is simple to remember and Black has a clear plan of deploying their pieces...
And even if Black gambits a pawn, they always get active play along the Queenside, giving them more than enough compensation.
For these reasons, many GMs even avoid accepting this gambit, especially in blitz games.
Below are positions taken from the course:
Learning the Benko Gambit will give you a better understanding of the importance of active pieces, open and half-open lines and the strength of g7-bishop that occurs from many openings.
Let's get started!
What you'll learn
- A full repertoire to play the Benko Gambit, covering all crucial variations and sidelines, move-by-move.
- How to play with a pawn deficit but happy pieces.
- The main idea behind the Benko Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5)
- How to grab the initiative with Black?
- How to counter White's 3rd move alternatives in this opening instead of 3.d5.
- The power of happy pieces — how a Bishop on a long diagonal and Rooks on open files can stifle the enemy’s position.
- A strategy where Black offers to exchange Queens and go into an endgame, despite having less material!
- Model games to help you understand the Benko Gambit better and more.
Lesson Plan 49 episode(s)
Students give this course an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars.