Finally, a decent explanation of the Modern Benoni Defense
Immediately I knew I was going to like this DVD, "The ABC of the Modern
Benoni."
Starting right off, in the intro, Andrew Martin gives a bunch of reasons where a DVD
has the advantage over a book or a playing engine:
a) the DVD can inspire and encourage (books, unfortunately, seldom do this);
b) the DVD can teach;
c) the DVD can provide an enjoyable method for learning;
d) playing engines tend to be souless and without human interaction.
When Andrew says “teach” I think what he is saying is that DVDs often get to
the critical moves and positions without a lot of buildup. The DVD author can
save you time in getting to what matters and give some great annotated
illustrations.
While a book does cover more and is invaluable as a complete reference, using a
book and chess set alone is often discouraging and time consuming.
The point behind the Modern Benoni is that Martin thinks it is a great
choice for the average player. It has very active counterplay, comes with a
Q-side pawn majority, and is sharp and full of complications.
There is ONE other advantage I have seen with this DVD: I have looked
through 2-3 books on the Modern Benoni and I absolutely did not GET any sense
of this defense with its accompanying counterplay. All I saw was Black getting
repeatedly smashed. As a publisher I can tell you, this is the wrong way to try
to sell a book!
Even though Englishman Jonathan Penrose is shown beating
Benoni expert Mikhail Tal in 1960, playing almost flawlessly, Martin shows how
Tal could’ve gotten more—that’s just as important I think.
White wins more often than Black in chess, but I also
believe that Black misses more defining moves than White does! Until Black
stops doing that, White will win more games. (This thought just hit me like a
brick!)
Martin gives various move orders (for White) so you can be
well-versed.
However, a name to remember is Wojtaszek. He is winning a lot of games from the
dark side.
On the other hand, a key game to play through is F. Graf-W.
Moranda, played in the German Youth League 2007. If you can understand games
like this you are well on your way to learning the Modern Benoni and I thank
Martin, heartily, for his explanations of this treacherous defense against
White.
You are bound to win many more games than usual once you
take this up in earnest.
Andrew annotates 21 games but he has many places where he offers additional
critical analyses. Thumbs up! Great DVD!
