<Phony Benoni> Yes, Eddie Yost! One of my all-time favorites.

But to divert discussion away from baseball for a moment, one deduces from your handle that you are a fan of the Benoni defenses. I'm sure you know a great deal more about them than I even suspect.

I hate playing Black against 1.d4, and I've always felt (not known, based on experience) that the Benoni was among the better answers to this. But upon consulting a master, I was told the Benoni isn't worth much. Obviously that's a subjective judgment--otherwise the CG database wouldn't contain thousands of Benoni games, and you'd be calling yourself something like Counterfeit Caro-Kann.

I would appreciate your discoursing a bit on the Benoni, its objectives, its benefits for Black, and which of its practitioners I ought to study--either here or on my forum. I'd like to hear from other Benoni fans, too.

I mostly play the Albin Countergambit against 1.d4. It serves me well against players on my own level (no formal ranking--"expert" on Pogo), but seems not to be quite strong enough against players who are just flat-out better than me. I get decent games out of the Albin, but in the end, I lose. (Maybe, against these guys, I would lose no matter what opening I tried. I do a heckuva lot better against 1.e4.)

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This is the classic position of the Modern Benoni after <1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6>. The key feature of this position is its imbalance. White has the edge in the center and kingside, Black a queenside pawn majority. Both players must play dynamically or risk being overrun.

White's usual idea is to advance in the center with e4-e5, blasting away Black's bulwark at d6. Often, he will put additional pressure on these squares with Nf3-d2-c4. The move a2-a4 is usually played as well to slow Black's counterplay with ...b5.

Black seeks to advance his queenside majority, aided by the bishop on g7 which has a free line toward White's queenside. Also, there are opportunities for pressure on White's center with ...Re8, or ...c4 followed by placing a knight on c5. Another idea is an early ...Bg4, pinning the Nf3 and trading off before it can journey to c4. The Nb8 can go to d7, or a6-c7 depending on circumstances.

The Benoni, then, is more of a "feel" opening than a labyrinth of analysis. Both sides have many ideas, and the game often becomes a battle of judgment over whose plan will work out in a specific situation.

In general, at Master levels, White's central play is thought to be more dangerous and easier to play. Usually when you hear something like that, the weapon in question is deadly at lower levels. That's not the case with the Benoni; the positions are just so sharp that's it easy to misplay them at any level, as long as White has some notion of the correct ideas and doesn't drift around.

The classic games to study are Tal's from the 1950s. The game that really turned me on to the Benoni, however, was Spassky vs Fischer, 1972; it was love at first sight once I saw that game.

Frankly, if you're more familiar with the Albin, I think you'll do better with it against stronger players than with the Benoni. Most strong players are more familiar with the Benoni, and have some notion of what to do. And I honestly think the Albin is easier to handle against weaker players as well.

So why don't I play the Albin? What can I say? I'm in love! But the real key is that you will do better with an opening you are more familiar and comfortable with than with a theoretically better line you just can't get the hang of.

Finally, do you play mostly blitz or slower games? The Modern Benoni is not a good blitz opening for Black; you need time to think and discover the appropriate ideas.

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36. ? White to move. I'm pretty sure I've got it, but want to make sure. 36. Qxg6+, right?

Also, I've played the KID a bit in the past (really all internet games, a couple correspondence games but mainly blitz). It seemed weird to me to trap in my bishop on g7, so then I tried the Benoni. Well, the bishop was freed, but black creates so much weakness in his own position. I agree with you, you have to play so actively just to hold on, and the moves aren't so intuitive, at least to me.

<I have won games with the Benoni, but it always seems that white either makes a mistake or doesn't play the most challenging moves. I guess I can expect that in any opening with the opponents I'd play, so maybe it's not so bad?>

Seriously, the chances of a team going 0-16 twice in a row are probably about the same as a team going 16-0 twice in a row. Although I do recall the case of Randy.

My college chess club had an informal blitz chess competition going one year, and we kept track of all our results. Over the course of the year, Randy scored 3 wins, 238 losses. Two of the wins were on time against the slowest player in the club, and one more or less legitimate.

You must understand something about my style: I almost never win a game in which I was not dead busted at some point. Might as well play the Benoni and get that detail out of the way early!>