The Benoni is a dynamic, counter-attacking opening that often leads to highly tactical positions. The great world champion Mikhail Tal enjoyed confusing his opponents with the Benoni's intricacies. Bobby Fischer employed it to win a critical game against Boris Spassky in the 1972 world championship in Reykjavik. Recently, the current world champion Vladimir Kramnik unexpectedly essayed the Benoni in his title fight against Peter Leko. Typically, it was in a situation where he needed to go all out for the win. With such role models, the Benoni has always been popular with club players.

This book is the latest in a new and innovative series of chess opening books. Using fresh,clear presentation, they explain the openings' key ideas in an entertaining and accessible way. The aim of the series is to provide the essential knowledge to play the opening, while at the same time revealing the current thinking of the world's elite players.

• 'First Moves' leads you through the basic opening moves.

• 'Heroes and Zeroes' gives the best and worst performances with the opening and features some of the leading exponents of the Benoni.

• 'Tricks and Traps' reveals how you might catch out your opponent.

• 'What's Hot' pinpoints the very latest ideas from the world's top players.

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Preface

The Modern Benoni is an exciting and fighting defence to 1 d4. With good reason it was a firm favourite of master-tactician Mikhail Tal. Not surprisingly the 'Magician of Riga' is one of our Benoni heroes and a study of his games can teach us much about this counterattacking opening. Though it is one of Black's sharpest defences, a number of key plans for both sides dominate most Benoni struggles, as shown in the chapter on 'Strategy'. After look­ing at these general plans our attention shifts to specific variations, with critical lines being examined under 'What's Hot?'. Then it's back to the importance of a good general understanding of Modern Benoni positions as typical pitfalls for each side are examined. Finally, to test your new-found Benoni tactical skills, there are a number of puzzles to solve...

List of Content

005 Preface

007 1 First Moves

018 2 Heroes and Zeros

046 3 Strategy

096 4 What's Hot?

160 5 Theoretical Overview

178 6 Tricks and Traps

196 7 Test Positions

200 8 Solutions

206 9 Before the Fight

208 Index of Variations