The Benko Gambit: A Pawn on Move Three for Pressure You Can Use Against Anyone

The Benko Gambit begins 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5, and it is one of the few gambits that strong players happily use against other strong players. Black offers a pawn on move three, but the point is not a quick attack. It is a lasting grip on the queenside that White spends the whole game trying to shake off.

The idea: a pawn for open files

After 4.cxb5 a6 White is a pawn up, but Black is about to open the queenside completely. Whether Black recaptures with ...axb5 or lets White take on a6, the a- and b-files end up open, pointing straight at White's pawns on a2 and b2. Black's rooks use those files, the bishop on g7 eyes the long diagonal, and Black's own position has no real weaknesses. White's extra pawn is real, but it sits on the edge of the board, and it is hard to turn it into anything useful.

The main line: 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6

The most common test is to accept everything: 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6. The bishop on a6 hits White's bishop on f1, so White cannot develop it easily or castle in peace. White usually answers with 6.Nc3 d6 and then chooses between two plans. 7.Nf3 g6 8.g3 Bg7 9.Bg2 O-O 10.O-O keeps the king safe and is the calm route. 7.e4 grabs the centre, and Black replies 7...Bxf1 8.Kxf1, so White's king loses the right to castle and has to be walked to g2 by hand after g3. Either way Black fianchettoes with ...g6 and ...Bg7, castles, and starts the slow plan: the queen goes to a5, the rooks to a8 and b8, a knight to d7 and then b6, all of it pressing on b2.

How White can avoid it

White has several ways to sidestep the full gambit. 4.Nf3, the Benko Gambit Declined, ignores the pawn and keeps the position solid. 4.cxb5 a6 5.Nc3 is the Zaitsev System: after 5...axb5 6.e4 b4 7.Nb5 d6 White gets a big centre in exchange for the pawn Black was pressing against. 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6, the Pawn Return Variation, hands the pawn back at once, and after 5...Qxb6 White keeps some space and a lead in development. Each of these takes some of the sting out of Black's play in its own way, but none of them refutes the gambit, and Black gets comfortable development in all of them.

Is the Benko Gambit sound?

Yes, with a caveat. Engines tend to give White a small edge in most lines, because White is a pawn up with a healthy structure, but that edge is difficult to convert, and the Benko has been a regular guest in top-level games for decades. At club level it is even better for Black: White rarely knows the right plans, grabs the wrong pawns or leaves the king in the middle. The caveat is that the compensation is positional. Black does not win the pawn back by force and does not get a quick attack, so a player who dislikes long, slow pressure will not enjoy it.

Where the name comes from

The gambit is named after Pal Benko, the Hungarian-American grandmaster who championed it in the 1960s. In Russian-language chess it is also often called the Volga Gambit. If you look for it in another language you will see it written 'gambit Benko' or 'gambito Benko', but it is the same opening. Its ECO codes sit in the A57 to A59 range.

Should you play it? Try the Benko Gambit if you like open files, long-term pressure and positions where the opponent is the one who has to find good moves. Learn three things before you start: the plans of the main line above, how to meet 4.Nf3, and what to do against the Pawn Return Variation. Then play twenty games with it and look at each one on the analysis board. The patterns repeat so often that you will recognise them within a week.