The Benoni

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 26 March 2010)

Many years ago there was this very thick book written by Stefan Zweig entitled Benoni: Son of Sorrow which contained detailed analysis on the Modern Benoni Defense. This was also available as a Cacho Hermanos reprint and so I am sure that many of our readers have an old copy of it. Do you know why it is called "Son of Sorrow"?

Some sources claim that it originated from the perceived weakness of the backward pawn on d6. In Chess Opening Essentials it was explained that a Jewish scholar named Aaron Reinganum suffered from depression and sought relief at the chessboard, which resulted in a published analysis of this defense. When published the title alluded to his sad period of study with the words ben-oni and thus the name.

The eminent chess historian Edward Winter has brought to light some evidence that all of the above is nonsense and there was actually a player named Benoni. Here is the passage in his Chess Notes:

Modern books record that the word Benoni comes from the Hebrew for "child/son of (my) sorrow/sadness."

Page 318 of The Chess-Player’s Companion by Staunton implied that Benoni had been somebody’s name: ‘M. St. Amant derived this somewhat bizarre defense from Benoni. (Benoni, oder [die] Vertheidigungen [gegen] die Gambitzüge im Schache, etc. Von Aaron Reinganum, Frankfort, 1825)’ was the note after 1 d4 c5 2 d5 f5. R. Rey Ardid was even more specific (about 1 d4 c5) on page 22 of Cien nuevas partidas de ajedrez (Saragossa, 1940): ‘An old, audacious defense which comes from the English player Benoni (1825)’. Presenting the game Petrosian v Schmid in his book L’intuition à l’affût, A. O’Kelly noted the Hebrew meaning but claimed that around the 1830s there were two brothers named Benoni who had regularly played the opening. O’Kelly further remarked that during a visit to South Africa he had been surprised to find a town named Benoni in the Johannesburg area. We add that there is also a place called Benoni in Malaysia.

Enough said about the name! Let us now look at the moves. The Modern Benoni usually begins after the sequence 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6. The Modern Benoni is a risky attempt by Black to unbalance the position and gain active piece play, at the cost of allowing White a pawn wedge at d5 and a central majority.

Compared to the usual lines of the King’s Indian Defense, Black’s dark-squared bishop is far more active as it is not blocked by a black pawn on e5. However, not having the pawn on e5 makes White’s center more fluid; and some of the sharpest ideas for White are based on a central breakthrough with e5. The Modern Benoni is a very involved struggle between White and Black forces and is one of the most risky defenses to 1.d4.

Black players should probably avoid using the Benoni against a computer, but it could be an ideal weapon versus a human if you intend to go for a win or even if you just want to have fun over the board.

From the European Individual Chess Championship held in Rijeka, Croatia, I bring you some of the Benoni battles fought over the chessboard.

Medvegy, Zoltan (2556) – Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter (2661) [A62]
11th EICC Men Rijeka CRO (2), 07.03.2010
REQUIRES JAVA

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (born Aug. 1, 1976) is the highest-ranked Romanian player ever. He is noted for his risky a’la Mikhail Tal attacking style. In 1999, Nisipeanu, then a complete unknown, shocked the chess world by making it to the semifinals of the FIDE World Chess Championship by beating Vasily Ivanchuk in round 4 and Alexei Shirov in the quarterfinals only to succumb to the eventual champion Alexander Khalifman.






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Moiseenko, Alexander (2668) – Lupulescu, Constantin (2598) [A61]
11th EICC Men Rijeka CRO (4), 09.03.2010
REQUIRES JAVA

GM Lupulescu is 25 years old and the current Romanian chess champion.





Remember, he who dares, wins.