[Event "Krakow op-A 32nd"] [Site "Krakow"] [Date "2021.12.30"] [Round "4"] [White "Kopylov, Michael"] [Black "Vardanyan, Aras"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2391"] [BlackElo "2222"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "A58"] [Opening "Benko Gambit Accepted: Fully Accepted Variation"] [StudyName "benkonian's Study"] [ChapterName "Kopylov, Michael - Vardanyan, Aras"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/UVQ6M8n0/wTEr8W0g"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/benkonian"] [Orientation "black"] { This was one of my favorite games, as I had beaten a higher rated player with black in my favorite (and slightly dubious) opening, the Benko gambit } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. a7 { One of the critical lines. Black's rook is forced to the a7 square, where Nb5 may come with tempo at some point } 7... Rxa7 8. e4 O-O 9. Nf3 e6 { The best way to challenge white's position. It's not really a standard plan in the Benko to go for an early e6, but here slow play would have given white the typical positional bind on b5 } (9... d6 10. a4 Ba6 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. O-O Nd7 13. Rb1 { White will play Nb5-B3-Bb2 soon and black's position will not be very active }) 10. Be2 exd5 11. exd5 d6 12. O-O { We have arrived at a variation of the Benko structure. Since this is an opening I had played for a long time and studied quite a lot, I was quite optimistic that I could outplay even a higher rated opponent, no matter what the engine thinks } 12... Na6 { The knight goes to c7 to fight against the potential b5 knight and also to attack the d5 pawn which has been weakened due to the e6-exd5 operation } 13. Bf4 Nc7 14. Re1 Qd7 { The queen eyes up the f5 square for the future, opens up the path for the f8 rook to go to the queenside eventually, also stops nb5 for now } 15. a4 Ba6 (15... Bb7 { I have played a similar position before and there I decided to attack the d5 pawn with the bishop. This turned out to be a mistake as apart from attacking the pawn, the b7 bishop is simply in the way of the rooks and black can not get enough fire power to actually take the pawn. With this experience I have concluded that the bishop should be traded off } 16. Bc4) 16. Bxa6 Rxa6 { Now the d6 pawn is also protected, which lets the queen go somewhere. The next easy move is Rb8 } 17. Qd3 Rb8 18. Nd2 { Sacrifices the b2 pawn for some tempi, but the complications aren't too dangerous for black } (18. Bc1 { Engine suggests passive play and a small advantage to white, but I wasn't worried as here black has everything he can dream of in the benko. It's unfortunate that white can play like this and still have an advantage, but that's the problem with playing objectively bad openings - your opponent has more room for error than usual }) 18... Rxb2 19. Nc4 Rb3 (19... Rb4) 20. Rab1 Rb4 { This was some purposeful manoeuvre, not necessary } 21. h3 h6 22. Bg3 Qf5! { Everything comes together beautifully and now black has an advantage. Some complications ensue, where I managed to outcalculate my opponent and get an endgame with a big advantage } 23. Qxf5 gxf5 24. Nxd6 f4 25. Ndb5 Nfxd5 26. Nxd5 Nxd5 27. Rbd1 fxg3 28. Rxd5 gxf2+ 29. Kxf2 c4 30. Rd7 Rf6+ 31. Kg3 Rxa4 32. Nd6 Ra3+ 33. Kh2 Rd3 34. Rd8+ Kh7 35. Nb7 Rxd8 36. Nxd8 c3 37. Rc1 Rf2 38. Kg3 Rd2 39. Nc6 Rb2 40. Kf3 h5 41. g3 c2 { 0-1 Black wins. } 0-1