CHESS EXPLAINED: THE MODERN BENONI
Author: Zenon Franco
Gambit (2007)
www.gambitbooks.com
128 pages
$23.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

The Modern Benoni is one of Black's most aggressive defenses to 1.d4, either as a stand-alone weapon or in conjunction with the Nimzo-Indian (playing the Benoni only when White has committed his Knight to f3, blocking the f-pawn). The past decade there have been several books devoted to this opening including ones by IMs Watson, Vegh and Kinsman. Now Paraguayan IM Zenon Franco has written another book on the subject in Gambit's CHESS EXPLAINED series:
 
CHESS EXPLAINED: THE MODERN BENONI follows the CHESS EXPLAINED structure with Franco offering 25 well-annotated model games of recent vintage. He covers all the main variations (Classical, Fianchetto, Mikenas, Taimanov, Knight's Tour, Bg5 and Bf4 and the Four Pawns Attack). Lines likes the Classical get the full treatment (…Bg4, …Na6 and …Nbd7 setups), but others like the Four Pawns see Franco opting to be more selective -- after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Be2 he only examines 9…Bg4 in place of the super-theoretical 9…Re8, 9…b5 or 9…Nbd7 -- though he does cover lines with Nd2 and f4  which could also arise from the Classical.
 
CHESS EXPLAINED: THE MODERN BENONI is required reading for players rated 1800-2400 interested in playing this aggressive defense.
 
Recommended

Click to buy (or get more information about) CHESS EXPLAINED: MODERN BENONI