Openings · A57–A59

Benko Gambit

A pawn for two open files that never close — the one gambit where trading queens does not help the defender.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5played as Black

The idea

After 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 Black has no pawn, no attack on the king and no threats. What Black has is the a-file, the b-file, a bishop on a6 and one on g7, and pressure on White's queenside that survives into the endgame.

That last part is what makes it unusual. Most gambits evaporate when the queens come off; this one is often more comfortable to play a pawn down in a rook ending than in a middlegame.

Practise the line

You play Black; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 30/3

1.d4Nf6
2.c4c5
3.d5b5

White is answering…

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

Taking the pawn back

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Nxd5

The mistake: Grabbing on d5 instead of recapturing on a6, because material is material.
Why it costs: 6.e4 hits the knight and White has the centre, the extra pawn is gone and the files the gambit was played for are still shut. Everything Black paid for has been spent buying back the thing that was being paid with.
Instead: 5…Bxa6, and let the pawn go for good. A Benko player who is counting material has misunderstood the transaction.

Rooks in the middle

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.g3 O-O 9.Bg2 d6 10.O-O Re8

The mistake: Developing the rooks to the centre files out of habit.
Why it costs: The a- and b-files are the compensation. A rook on e8 is a rook not doing the one job the pawn was given up for, and against a solid White setup Black simply runs out of ideas around move twenty.
Instead: …Qb6, …Rfb8 and the rooks doubled on the b-file, with …Nbd7 and …Ne8 behind them. Every Benko plan starts on the queenside and stays there.

Expecting the pawn to be taken

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6

The mistake: Preparing only for 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 and the positions that follow it.
Why it costs: White has several ways to decline. 5.b6 gives the pawn straight back and keeps both files closed, 5.e3 and 5.f3 change the shape entirely, and 4.Nf3 sidesteps the whole thing. None of them is a refutation and all of them are different games.
Instead: Know an answer to 5.b6 in particular — …Qxb6 or …d6 followed by …e6 — because it is the line that takes away exactly what Black came for.

Where it fits

The Benko Gambit is a variation of the Benoni Defence, whose page covers the ideas this one takes for granted.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.