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The BENKO GAMBIT in the BENONI is another animal altogether. I have never liked giving my opponent an initiative (unless he is willing to "pay" me lots of material for the privilege) and, by this time, I had learned that the easiest way to win was to present an opponent with difficult positional problems to solve. For one measly pawn, the BENKO gives Black both an initiative and fairly easy play (often right into the endgame!).

After much searching, I eventually took up 5.b6, a line that returns the pawn but takes away Black's mindless "stick my Rooks on the open a- and b-files" strategy. The following game against a solid International Master shows how effective 5.b6 can be.

Silman-J Schroer
California Action Championship 1990
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6 Qxb6 6.Nc3 e6 7.e4 Be7 8.Nf3 exd5? (Black falls into a pit after this.) 9.e5 Ne4 10.Nxd5 Qa5+ 11.Nd2 Nxd2 12.Bxd2 Qd8 13.Qg4 g6 14.Qe4 0-0 15.Bc4 (An excellent decision for a 30 minute game! I didn't pay much attention to 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Qxa8 Qxe5+ 17.Be2 Qxb2 18.Rd1 Nc6 threatening ...Bb7. Why go into such a line when I have full control with the move I chose?) 15...Nc6 16.0-0 Bb7 17.Bh6 Re8 18.Rfe1 Na5 19.Rad1 (Also strong was 19.e6 dxe6 20.Qe5, though Black could hang on for a while with 20...Bf8 21.Nf6+ Qxf6 22.Qxf6 Bxh6.) 19...Nxc4 20.Qxc4 Rb8 21.Qc3 Bxd5 22.Rxd5 Qb6 23.e6! Qxb2 24.exf7+ Kxf7 25.Qc4!, 1-0. The threat of 26.Rf5 discovered double mate is enough to make anyone stop the clock.

The KING'S INDIAN DEFENSE is always a major bone of contention for any 1.d4 player. I took up the Averbach Variation because it deprived Black of his usual easy to play kingside attacks, forcing him to demonstrate a subtler understanding of the opening as a whole. By sticking with one system for a long time, a player becomes acquainted with its inner workings and, as a result, often wins games effortlessly by simply following tried and true patterns from previous games.

Silman-Petranovic
Los Angeles 1989
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Be2 d6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qd2 e5 8.d5 Nc5 9.f3 h6 10.Be3 (And not 10.Bxh6 Nfxe4! 11.fxe4 Qh4+.) 10...a5 11.Bd1 (I've always been fond of this move [I just realized that it's a backwards creeping move. No wonder I fell in love with it!], opening up e2 for my g1-Knight and swinging the Bishop around to c2 where it has far more influence on the game since Black's ...f7-f5 advance will open up the b1-h7 diagonal.) 11...Nh7 (Here are two "carbon copies" of the same strategy: 11...Kh7 12.Nge2 Ne8 13.Bc2 f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.0-0-0 Qh4 16.f4 Bd7 17.h3 Kh8 18.g4 [Black's already dead, he just doesn't know it yet!] 18...a4 19.fxe5 Bxe5 20.Bxh6 Rg8 21.Nd4 a3 22.b3 Nf6 23.Bf4 Rae8 24.Nxf5 Bxf5 25.Bxf5 Re7 26.Rhf1 Rge8 27.Bg6 Rg8 28.Bg5 Bxc3 29.Bxh4 Bxd2+ 30.Rxd2 Rg6 31.Bxf6+ Rxf6 32.Rxf6 Re3 33.Rf7 Rxh3 34.Rxc7 Rh1+ 35.Rd1 Rh2 36.Rxc5, 1-0, Silman-Jones, American Open 1991; 11...Ne8 12.Bc2 f5 13.exf5 gxf5 14.0-0-0 Qh4 15.f4 e4 16.Nge2 Nf6 17.h3 Bd7 18.g4 (Black was a very strong player and immediately realized that things had turned sour. He now tries to mix it up by sacrificing his Queen, but this is, of course, inadequate to save the game.) 18...Nd3+ 19.Kb1 Nf2 20.Qe1 Nxd1 21.Qxh4 Nxe3 22.g5 hxg5 23.fxg5 Nh7 24.Nf4 Nxc4 25.Bd1 a4 26.Nh5 Bxc3 27.bxc3 Ne5 28.g6 Nxg6 29.Rg1 Be8 30.Qe7 Rf7 31.Rxg6+ Kh8 32.Qh4 f4 33.Rh6 Bd7 34.Nf6, 1-0, Silman-Ramayrat, San Francisco International 1987) 12.Nge2 f5 13.Bc2 Qe7 14.exf5 gxf5 15.0-0-0 (As seen in the examples in the notes, I've had this kind of position many times. The position is most unpleasant for Black since an ...f5-f4 advance hands White the e4-square, and an ...e5-e4 advance gives White access to f4 and d4. In the meantime, White can prepares to crack open the kingside with a well-timed g2-g4 push.) 15...Qh4 16.f4 b6 17.h3 Nf6 18.g3 Qh5 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.g4 (Black is busted since 20...fxg4 21.hxg4 gives the Black King more heat than it can handle.) 20...Qh4 21.Bxc5 bxc5 22.gxf5 Kh8 23.Rdg1 Nh5 24.Rg6 (White's Rook now take over the game.) 24...Bxf5 25.Rxh6+ Kg8 26.Rg1 Bxc2 27.Kxc2 Rad8 28.Rg5, 1-0. The lineup of heavy pieces on the c1-h6 diagonal isn't something you see every day.

By the late 1980s, my chess philosophy was simple: anyone could understand a combination or an obvious attack. Few players could deal with strategically rich positions. The following game (following typical KING'S INDIAN themes) is one of my best.

Silman - Lakdawala
Los Angeles, 1989
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 Nc6 5.Be3 e5 6.d5 Nce7 7.c5 f5 8.cxd6 cxd6 9.Bb5+ Kf8 (In general, White is delighted to exchange light-squared Bishops in KID structures. The text isn't as bad as it looks: Black's King is quite safe on f8 and his kingside pawn storm can become very threatening.) 10.Nf3 f4 11.Bd2 h6 12.a4 (First I map out huge territorial gains on the queenside.) 12...g5 13.a5 g4 14.Ng1 Nf6 15.Nge2 Ng6 16.g3!

(Killing my opponent's counterattack on the kingside. Quite honestly, after playing 16.g3 I felt that the point was already mine!) 16...f3 17.Nc1 h5 18.Qa4 h4 19.Rf1 (Getting off the h-file and defending the potentially vulnerable pawn on f2.) 19...hxg3 20.hxg3 Bh6 21.Nb3 Rb8 22.Qb4 (Targeting d6) 22...Kg7 23.Bxh6+ Rxh6 24.Nd2 (The heads for c4 where, at first glance, it will work with my Queen against Black's d-pawn. However, there is an even more nefarious purpose to this Knight maneuver.) 24...Nh8 25.Nc4 Nf7 26.Ne3 (My only weakness [on f2] is solidly defended, while Black is going to have to worry about g4, f5, d6, b7, and possible intrusions along the c-file for a long time to come.) 26...Qh8 27.0-0-0 Rh2 28.Kb1 Qh6 (Hoping to gain counterplay by sacrificing the Exchange, i.e., 29...Rxf2 30.Rxf2 Qxe3.) 29.Rde1! (As usual, patience is required. My plusses are not going away, so there is certainly no reason to rush.) 29...Nh7 (Desperate, Black hopes to put more heat on f2 by ...Nh7-g5-h3. Unfortunately, the fact that most of his army is on the kingside allows me to stomp him on the other side of the board.) 30.Qc4 (A decisive penetration into c7 is assured.) 30...a6 31.Qc7 Ra8 32.Bd7 (By getting rid of Black's light-squared Bishop, Black's weaknesses on b7, f5, and g4 all fall into my hands. Also very strong was 32.Be8.) 32...Bxd7 33.Qxd7 Nf6 34.Qxb7 Qh8 35.Nf5+ Kg6 36.Nh4+ Kg7 37.Nf5+ Kg6 38.Nh4+ (My last few moves gained a bit of time on the clock. Now I'm ready to proceed with the mopping up process.) 38...Kg7 39.Rh1! (It's ironic that Black's final demise will occur on the very file that he coveted so highly.) 39...Rxh1 40.Rxh1 Qd8 41.Nf5+ Kg6 42.Rh6+, 1-0. He didn't need to see 42...Nxh6 43.Qg7+ Kh5 44.Qxh6 mate.

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