page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 38  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. W Drakert vs Lombardy   0-1 30 1956 CAN-op A66 Benoni 2. Spassky vs Aronson   1-0 37 1957 Ch URS A66 Benoni 3. Portisch vs O Yepez   1-0 42 1957 WchT U26 04th A66 Benoni 4. Panno vs Aitken 1-0 40 1958 13th olm qual. group 3 A66 Benoni 5. Shamkovich vs V Zheliandinov 1-0 20 1959 Soviet Championship A66 Benoni 6. V Mikenas vs Suetin   ½-½ 26 1962 URS-ch30 Yerevan ,URS A66 Benoni 7. Gipslis vs K Grigorian   ½-½ 69 1964 Ch URS (1/2 final) A66 Benoni 8. Keene vs R G Ambler   1-0 26 1965 U.K. Schools Championsihp A66 Benoni 9. J Hardinge vs Q van Abbe   1-0 16 1966 C.U. Champ A66 Benoni 10. V Mikenas vs Kliukin Boris P   1-0 27 1971 URS A66 Benoni 11. S Ball vs L Day 0-1 19 1975 6, Calgary CAN ch zt A66 Benoni 12. Sosonko vs O Jakobsen   1-0 41 1975 Barcelona (zt) 20/133 A66 Benoni 13. E Brondum vs Nunn   ½-½ 30 1975 Ostend-chT EWG A66 Benoni 14. D Rajkovic vs A Planinc   1-0 36 1976 Majdanpek A66 Benoni 15. Fedorowicz vs R Henley ½-½ 35 1977 Lone Pine (USA) A66 Benoni 16. Vuvkovich vs Petrosian 0-1 46 1980 Barcelona A66 Benoni 17. E M Green vs M Levene   1-0 38 1980 7th Winstones Tt A66 Benoni 18. H U Gruenberg vs U Boensch   ½-½ 36 1981 GDR-ch A66 Benoni 19. G Welling vs R Hartoch ½-½ 40 1985 Dutch championship A66 Benoni 20. Haufler Boris vs Hort   0-1 29 1986 SUI A66 Benoni 21. Lputian vs D Norwood 1-0 27 1986 Lvov (Ukraine) A66 Benoni 22. J Nogueiras vs Y Gruenfeld   ½-½ 29 1987 Zagreb izt A66 Benoni 23. F Destrebecq vs B Perenyi   0-1 29 1988 Belfort op A66 Benoni 24. I Ivanisevic vs A Kovacevic   ½-½ 45 1997 YUG-ch52 A66 Benoni 25. Adr Rodriguez vs W Charpentier   0-1 39 2001 ch-CRC A66 Benoni  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 38    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

Oct-27-02    ksadler: I realize that it is slow on tempo, but other than that, what is wrong with playign 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 a6 to stop the 8. Bb5+ if 7. .. Bg7 is played. Oct-27-02    Sneaky: Excellent question ksadler. The Taimanov Benoni is one of the most fearsome attacks against the defense, and that Bb5+ move is the one that absolutely slays Black since (a) 8...Nfd7 is awkward, and (b) 8...Nbd7 leads to mindbending complications which probably favor White, and (c) 8...Bb7 9. e5! is not appealing for the second player. One of my favorite chess books is a thin little manual called "Kasparov's Chess Openings" written by IM Otto Borik. In this book he writes: <Although 7...a6 prevents the following check, it allows White time to act energetically in the centre with 8.e5 dxe5 9.fxe5 Ng4 10.e6! and the knight hangs; or here 9...Nfd7 10.e6> By the way, these aggressive central pawn pushes are exactly how I like to handle the Benoni's strange cousin, the Benko gambit. Dec-18-06    2021: Is this the rarest opening? Dec-18-06    WannaBe: Looks pretty "Phony" to me! :-)) Dec-18-06    2021: I found that it isin't: A74 has only 16 games. A76 comes close with only 32 games. Dec-19-06    Phony Benoni: <2021> E57 beats that, with 13 games. In the case of A66, I think that its rarity is due to the fact that White generally follows 7.f4 with 8.Bb5+. That's A67, while this section covers other 8th moves.

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