Be very careful how you say Forking Knight

 The terse chess informant notation definitely applies to the following position. The Houston,Texas Master did not notice his King and Queen were forkable on the f2 and d2 squares or maybe he did but did not notice the f3 pawn was ABSOLUTELY pinned by the f5 Queen.

Hobart was more concerned about the weak c2 square which led to the blunder. He moved one of his rooks to c1 guarding c2, BUT allowing Ne4 forking King and Queen followed by resignation. His position was already loose with his King quite vulnerable. He fell victim to the burden of being the higher rated player by 600 USCF rating points. In this case, the first player was not going to accept a draw under any circumstances to a much weaker 1600 player.

The lesson to be learned is try to keep tabs on all weak squares even those induced by absolute pins. The informant notation(using a times/multiplication symbol) is (Xc2,e4)

Benoni-Three Minor Pieces for a Queen

Chess luminaries Pachman and Silman both had astute observations regarding when 3 minor pieces were stronger than a Queen. Irascible "How to Reassess your Chess" Jeremy stated that as long as the Queen did not have a "disruptive pawn" that the Queen would usually lose to the three minors.

 Rewan Demontay and David Miedema have also thrown in their opinions on this fascinating imbalance which happens to be the term that made Silman's book famous but also with the significant flaw of oversimplifying at times.  Jeremy now spends some of his time reviewing Kung Fu Movies or some other Asian themed avocation. 

Cristinel Leaua of Romania unwittingly sacrificed his Queen for three minor pieces in the following Benoni Defense played at the Internet Chess Club in the United States of America.  His move Ng4 was actually a blunder as he amateurishly saw only Bd4 pinning Queen at e3 to the White King located on g1 square.  White wins two Horses and one Prelate which led to a convincing victory for the first player!
 

How to Continue in this Benoni

It is fairly well known among chess players that the guy who contributed a lot to the theory of the Benoni was plagued by abject depression and studied chess to distract him from his debilitating melancholy.

Zarod, playing at the ICC out of the Netherlands, is also a Benoni devotee and I hope a more cheerful and happy type than the aforementioned troubled soul.

In the diagrammed position, White exchange off his c1 Bishop in order to secure a protected passed pawn at d5 and a strong square at c4 for his horse. Black's play is usually on the queen side which makes a5 a good idea for White which also secures the b6 square as a strong point for his itinerant knight or peripatetic steed as Amarillo NM Gary Simms would proclaim.

With Black to move, then machine gives Nh5 as the best try and Black responding with a5. Positionally, Black would like to get his horse to the blockading square d6, but the Rook at e8 blocks the path to that square.

Some hard core Benoni defense players prefer b6 combined with Rb8 tempting White to place his Knight on e3 to avoid the tempo pawn hit with b5.

Pawn Queening Deflection

The following 3 minute blitz game played at the internet chess club is an excellent example of a deflection sacrifice leading to the promotion of a pawn to a Queen. The opening was a Benko where White managed to create a passed d pawn due to a Benoni-like e5 thrust before Black's queenside play manifested.



chichi1950 from Spain, playing with the Black pieces, must have been feeling quite comfortable with  his Rooks doubled at b2 and d2 with the threat of Rook captures pawn at f2 either drawing easily or perhaps winning.

White's trump is his passed d7 pawn which is a single square from Queening. With White to move, see if you can find a deflection move which either leads to the pawn promoting to a Queen or  the loss of a Rook.

Benko Gambit Accepted: Re2

The following chess position is from the Benko Gambit accepted or the Volga Gambit. Victor Korchnoi used to play the White side of this opening with extraordinary results. The White rook at e2 supports the e5 thrust and guards the sensitive b2 square.

This is one of the castle by hand variations where White has to be careful about his King residing on the h1-a8 diagonal in the lines where Black plays e6. GM DeFirmian recommends that White play this like a regular Benoni "forgetting" he has an extra pawn.

I like this accept the gambit pawn variation in an opening where there are so many decline the gambit pawn lines.

Jacob Aagaard from Denmark, in his excellent magnum opus titled Excelling at Positional Chess uses this tabiya to show that Black need not prove that there is compensation for the pawn he "sacrificed as the positional trumps are self-evident with the the rooks occupying the half-open a and b files, exceptionally, active pieces, and a compact pawn structure as chef John Fedorowicz describes it.

Aagaard does a remarkable job of proving that  the nebulous notion of material is just another aspect of any chess position and that one should be prepared to part with it if the position demands it!

Also Jacob, like many chess players, has a sensitive and restless mind as characterized by a John Shaw article at Quality Chess Blog. Chess was that outlet that allowed him to channel that unchecked energy into becoming a world class chess author.

How to set up against this Benoni?

Benoni is an opening for a player of the Black pieces who does not want a draw. This statement is different than referring to a Black player which many chess writers are careless about!

Forgetpoker is the handle of an ICC player who plays a very uncompromising Benoni Defense. His move order is 1.d4 e6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3  .....

Most Benoni players capture exd5 immediately, but some prefer to wait and maybe even play e5 depending on how White deploys his pieces.

In diagrammed position, if Black plays Nf6, 5. Qa4 is a non intuitive attempt to disrupt the standard Benoni Queenside expansion. It is a computer like move that this USCF expert would not have considered or discovered.

Another observation here is that if Black spends two moves to play e5, then White can try f4 which is usually not a good idea if Black plays e5 in one move.

BTW, why did this 1332 rated chess player forget poker for chess? It's usually the other way around where the poor, broke, Bohemian chess player decides to use his chessic brain power to make money gambling at Black Jack or Poker.

Blockade Benoni

BFavre of the ICC loves playing the Blockade Benoni where Black constructs a pawn triangle with pawns at the c5,d6,e5 squares.  In the position you see White did not place a pawn on c4 so he could route his Knight from a3 to to the c4 square.



Also Black has just placed his Queen on c7 and with White to move it is very tempting to play the clearance sacrifice e5 which would win a piece if the d7 knight captures at e5.

Do you see why? After Bishop captures knight and the thrust d6, Black is losing a piece owing to Bishop takes pawn check at h7. However since Black can capture at e5 with the d6 pawn, White should abstain from from the diagonal opening pawn advance.

Moving the e2 Horse to either c3 or g3 ensure the first player of a lasting initiative.

Overrated Idea

The blockade Benoni is a defensive setup where Black places his pawns on c5,d6, and e5. Since these pawns all resided on dark squares, Black's f8 Bishop is, by definition, bad. So it seems reasonable to trade it off for White's c1 Bishop.

In the following position played at ICC, Black a  Spanish GM named jelmatos did just that via g6 and Bh6. However his kingside became a bit breezy creating the preconditions for the following attraction sacrifice which set up a fork that ultimately won a piece and forced the Grand Master to resign.




It is a very straightforward temporary sacrifice to find. I think the GM may have been drinking or perhaps letting a weaker player use his account.