Benoni Defense: Old Benoni

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Overview

Benoni Defense: Old Benoni is a named branch in the Flank Openings group of chess theory, classified under ECO A43.

The Flank Openings group covers flank openings — systems that delay the central pawn break and instead develop pieces and pawns on the wings.

It is reached after 2 plies of play, with the move sequence 1. d4 c5.

It branches immediately from Queen's Pawn Game in the opening tree.

5 named variations grow from this line, including Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted, Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Benoni Defense: Zilbermints-Benoni Gambit, and others.

In total, the branch covers 18 sub-variations across all depths.

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ECO code: A43
Group: Flank Openings (A)
Plies: 2
Parent: Queen's Pawn Game
Direct variations: 5
Total in subtree: 18

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Statistics from Lichess

27,083,577 games · White 47.7% / Draw 4.7% / Black 47.6%

Moves	Games	W / D / B
d5	10,574,239
dxc5	4,567,264
Nf3	2,812,457
e3	2,777,971
c3	2,528,933
c4	1,993,750
Bf4	902,671
e4	381,077

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:49:18

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Variations (5)

Show all 18 sub-variations (full subtree)

Overview

Statistics from Lichess

Variations (5)

Related variations at the same level