Quote:
Originally Posted by Archaea
Now you're going to make me get out my books, dude.
What's the Benoni, that's the only one I don't recognize?
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You can arrive at the Benoni a number of ways, but typically it goes like this:
1. d4, Nf6
2. c4, c5
This forces white to do something about her/his exposed d pawn. Allowing black to exchange it and then recapturing with the queen will result in a loss of time for white after Nc6, and worse, that Nc6 will allow black to play e5 more easily.
White often plays 3. d5 and then black responds with 3...d6, 3...e6, 3...e5 (a more passive, strategic choice) or 3...g6 (with an eye to putting the king side bishop in fianchetto). Black's pawns at c5 and d6 end up becoming important for stationing black's knight's powerfully. White looks to play e5 and black mounts a queen side attack with a6 and b5.
The strategic problem becomes whether white's center will prove to be too extended and vulnerable, or whether white will push black right off of the board. It's a fun opening to play, although white players who want to avoid the scramble will play 3. Nf3 and transpose into a drawish variation of the English opening.