A minor point: The Flick-Knife or Taimanov Attack is defined to be the position probably most often arrived at by 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e3 3.Nc4 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 <8.Bb5+>. Check the ECO codes. With a move other than 8.Bb5+ (e.g. 8.Nf3) it's either the Four Pawns Attack or (more properly, I think) the Three Pawns Attack. After all, I only count 3 advanced White pawns, don't you? Maybe that's why Black seems to have so much trouble with this opening, he thinks he's giving White pawn odds and that he's being attacked by 4 pawns instead of only 3! If that's the case then maybe I've managed to bring back the Benoni into favor. ;-)

I think that the Flick-Knife/Taimanov Attack would probably be more to the point of a thematic game because it's supposed to be the most difficult line for Black to meet. But I'm fearless, bring either one of them on! But, no, I'm not willing to give pawn odds to Rybka, Houdini, Stockfish, et. al.

I personally wouldn't play the move sequence listed above as Black but I'm not going to reveal my secrets until we have a real Benoni grudge match, thematic or not! ;-)

I agree with <Phony Benoni> about the unsuitability of Romantic openings in engine-assisted games. So no Muzios, no Allgaiers, no Vienna-Kampf. Nlothing that starts 1.e4 e5, in fact.

The Benko is a good idea. There are also interesting lines in the Pirc, Scandinavian (Portuguese or Iceland Gambit, maybe?), Alekhine's ... the lesser-known semi-open games.

A French Winawer would be great, although we just had one.

Don't rule out some of those recent sharp ideas in the English Opening, especially those involving g4.

That is correct. After <7.f4 Bg7> White can opt for three alternative moves:

<8.Nf3> leads to the Four Pawns Attack systems,

<8.e5> to the Mikenas Attack and

<8.Bb5+> to the Flick-Knife (Taimanov) Attack.

There's also a hybrid Benko-Benoni-Blumenfeld with ...a6, sometimes called the Dzhindzi-Indian (although Dzhindzikhashvili seems to have changed his mind and began to use that name for a weird kind of Leningrad Dutch).

Anything to get half your name attached to the word 'Indian', I suppose, like Bogo and Nimzo.

1) The OLD Benoni: Black plays e5 and white DON'T plays c4 (1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. e4 e5)

White has lots of possibilities: 4. f4, 4. Bd3, 4. Be2 and 4. Nc3

Has this been refuted in CC ? It's not played often OTB. I'm not sure if it's a good anti-computer weapon, because they don't understand very well positions with a closed center. Here, the challenge for black is to find counterplay.

2) The Czech Benoni: black don't play the e7 pawn and white DON'T plays c4 (1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. e4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6)

3) The Franco Sicilian: black plays e6 and white DON'T plays c4 (1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. e4)

4) The OLD Benoni with c4: (1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. e4 e5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3) Same remarks as in the OLD Benoni without c4

5) The Czech Benoni with c4: (1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6) A flexible form with possible transposition in the KID defence

6) The Modern Benoni: white plays c4 and Black plays e6xd5: (1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e4 exd5 6. cxd5 g6) Lots of choices for white here:

6.1) 7. f4 Bg7 8. e5 (Mikenas) or 8. Bb5+ (Taimanov) or 8. Nf3 0-0 9. Be2 (KID 4 pawns attack)

Note: 7. Nf3 Bg7 transposes in 6.7) below.

White can also delay e4 and develop with Nf3 first: (1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6)

6.2) 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. Nge2 0-0 9. 0-0 Does this have a name?

6.3) 7. Nd2 (Nimzowitsch)
6.4) 7. g3 (discussed during the GMVA game)
6.5) 7. Bf4
6.6) 7. Bg5
6.7) 7. e4 Bg7 8. Be2 0-0 9. 0-0 (Gligoric) or 8. h3

6.8) other variation that I missed?

At the end of such games, the World team is always very interested in trying to understand the game from the GM's perspective.

So, I was wondering about the possibility of having a game forum for the GM, much like the game forum that the World team uses. In this GM forum, the GM may post his/her thoughts and ideas as the game progresses.

The GM may comment on what moves he/she was considering, what motivated his/her choice, what moves he/she was expecting the world team to make, and his/her reaction to our move (surprised, impressed, thought we made a mistake, etc.).

At the end of the game, the GM gets to see our forum, and the team gets to see the GM's forum.

This shouldn't be hard to implement: In fact I think it may be implemented already, since it's essentially the same setup as we use in team-vs-team games.

The discussion was about the initial position (the pre-defined starting position) of the Flick-Knife Attack, accepting the challenge of the most difficult line for Black. <AylerKupp> rightfully remarked that, in that case, the game should start after 8.Bb5+ (instead of 7.f4 mentioned earlier). To support his argument I named the three main options after 7.f4 Bg7.

Apparently Barcza liked the 1.d4 c5 move order, and tended to play for closed positions, similar to the Old Benoni. Larsen preferrred the Franco-Sicilian route, after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.d5, and sharper play. If White avoids 3.d5 here, the game can turn into a regular Sicilian, eg Kan or Taimanov.

But I think we're talking at cross-purposes. As <cro777> points out, the Benoni debaters seem to have reached a broad consensus on a tabia starting around move 8.

Personally, in my Benoni days, I didn't enjoy facing the Flickknife, or any lines with Bb5+ -- which is why I now prefer an early ...a6.

By the way, about that thank-you page when you are kibitzing, and the notion of going straight from posting to the page you posted on. Cut out the middleman, we get it--very efficient, but we're not big fans of the idea. The "interstitial thank you page" serves two purposes. First and foremost it helps users get their bearings, being the bridge between "posting mode" and normal chessgames usage. It also avoids an ugly situation most of us have experienced, where the "back" button on your browser fails you because the page you are going back to instantly redirects you forward again. In short, some people need this hand-holding, and it has a technical purpose on the side, so we think we should keep it.