"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:

snip
You can check all the databases. There is no game with the opening
moves 1. d5 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 in any database anywhere, prior to
when Benko started playing it.

My database, which came with Chessbase 9, gives over 50 such games that were
played prior to 1967. Many of these were played by well known players (eg
with black:Udovcic; Bilek, O'Kelly de Galway; Littlewood and with
White:Gligoric; Najdorf;Saidy; Uhlmann etc) in high-level tournaments.


Actually, I watched the first game with the Benko Gambit as it was
played. The game was Laver-Benko, American Open, Santa Monica 1967.
That is the first game in Benko's book, but he gives the wrong year,
1968. I know it was 1967 because I was there. That was the same
tournament where I beat Walter Browne.

snip

Here's a nice example of a Benko Gambit from 1948, showing the typical
themes of white keeping the extra pawn but eventually succumbing to the
long-term queenside pressure and on the dark squares:[Event "YUG-ch"]
[Site "Belgrade"]
[Date "1948.??.??"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Bozic, Aleksandar"]
[Black "Udovcic, Mijo"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A59"]
[EventDate "1948.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "17"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.11.16"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 6. Nc3 d6 7. e4 g6 8.
Bxa6
Nxa6 9. Nge2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. f3 Qd7 12. Be3 Rfb8 13. Qd2 Nc7 14. Rac1
Rb4
15. Rc2 Rab8 16. Nc1 Nfe8 17. Nd3 R4b7 18. Rb1 Na6 19. Ne2 Nec7 20. Rbc1 f5
21.
b3 fxe4 22. fxe4 Nb4 23. Nxb4 Rxb4 24. Rc4 Rxc4 25. Rxc4 Rf8 26. Rc1 Qg4 27.
Qd3 Be5 28. h3 Qh4 29. Kh1 g5 30. Bg1 g4 31. Nc3 Rf3 32. Qd2 Bf4 33. Qe2
Bxc1
34. gxf3 Qxh3+ 35. Qh2 Qxf3+ 36. Qg2 Qxc3 37. Qxg4+ Qg7 38. Qc8+ Qf8 39.
Qg4+
0-1

Regards,
Arfur

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:11:00 GMT, "John J."
wrote:

Did he make you nervous with his fidgeting? I met him during the San Juan
International Tournament I believe back in 1972? where I was an assistant
arbiter. Walter was the most nervous individual I've ever seen play chess. I
thought he was going to have a heart attack!

John

I was at that tournament. It was San Juan 1969. I played in the open
section. I defeated Hugh Myers and drew International Master Rene
Letelier of Chile. That was one of my best tournament results ever,
but it was never rated because of a dispute between Ed Edmondson and
Narcisso Rebel Mendez.

Sam Sloan

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 00:41:41 -0700, Mike Murray
wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

[Event "American Open"]
[Site "Santa Monica (USA)"]
[Date "1967.11.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sloan,Sam"]
[Black "Browne,Walter S (USA)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 O-O 7.d4
cxd4 8.cxd4 d5 9.e5 Ne4 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Qa5 12.Bf1 Bg4
13.Qd3 Bxf3 14.gxf3 e6 15.Bh3 Rfc8 16.Be3 Qa3 17.Bf1 Na5
18.Qb5 a6 19.Qb4 Rxc3 20.Qxa3 Rxa3 21.Rec1 b5 22.Rc5 Bf8
23.Rc7 Nc4 24.Bxc4 dxc4 25.h4 Rc3 26.h5 b4 27.hxg6 hxg6
28.Kg2 a5 29.d5 Bg7 30.dxe6 fxe6 31.Rh1 Rc2 32.Rb7 Rxa2
33.Bg5 Rf8 34.Bf6 Rxf6 35.exf6 Bxf6 36.Rb8+ Kg7 37.Rb7+ Be7
38.Rxe7+ Kf6 39.Rhh7 Ke5 40.f4+ Kd6 41.Rc7 Kd5 42.Rhd7+ Ke4
43.Rxc4+ Kf5 44.Rf7+ Kg4 45.f5+ Kg5 46.fxe6 Re2 47.e7 b3
48.e8=Q Rxe8 49.Rb7 1-0


He was rated 2475. I was rated about 2100. I had a bad position for
most of the game but I found a way to force a draw. He did not want a
draw and sacrificed an exchange to try to force a win. He failed to
see 41. Rc7 threatening mate and so the game was over.

Sam Sloan

41 ... Kd5? seems like his major blunder. What would you have done
after 41 ... P-N6 -- I'm not seeing the mate and those Black pawns are
rolling.

You must have the position set up wrong, because after 41. ... b3, it
is checkmate with 42. Rhd7#

You can see the position at
http://www.samsloan.com/sloanbrowne.htm

Sam Sloan

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 10:44:30 +0200, Jürgen R. wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:53:48 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

Benko clearly invented the Benko Gambit. Nobody played the Benko
Gambit before Benko did, yet the Soviets refused to call it that,
perhaps because Benko was a defector, so they called it the Volga
Gambit.

Sam Sloan

The epilogue on page 6 of the aforementioned chess pamphlet states:
"Milan wishes everyone to know that it was he, and not Pal Benko , who was
first to use what is now called the Benko Gambit. He met and played Benko in
Atlanta and it was during the next round that Momic used it against a high rated
player. He (Momic) calls it the Volga Gambit. ' Benko saw me make the first
move and said it was not a good opening; after that he started using it, and
everyone called it Benko Gambit! If you are going to call it Benko Gambit, why
not Momic Gambit , because he saw me use it first!"

The problem with this and many similar claims is that first we do not
have the game score or even the name of the opponent.

You can check all the databases. There is no game with the opening
moves 1. d5 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 in any database anywhere, prior to
when Benko started playing it.

Sloan, you are a fool; and, as usual, you are wrong.

Keres and quite a few other Russians played this opening in the
1950's. You can find all kinds of analyses in the Russian journals
around that time.

Fischer (that's right: Your personal friend Robert J. Fischer) played
the Wolga Gambit in 1966: Fischer-Johannesen, Havana Olympics.

Even in my limited library I can find all sorts of citations earlier
than 1967. For example in the 1979 edition of the Encyclopedia. Check
it yourself.

If that doesn't please you try Euwe's Opening book, second edition
1965. It has a section on the Wolga Gambit with lots of citations.

Euwe, Max - Theorie der Schacheröffnungen, Teil VI-VII, page 74.
Siegfried-Engelhardt-Verlag, Berlin, March 1965, 2nd edition.

Sloan, you are a fool.

That is not a Benko Gambit. The Benko Gambit involves a pawn sacrifice
on move three. You and others are citing games which might transpose
into some variatoion of the Benko Gambit Declined later on, but did
not start with the moves 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5.

For example, in the game Johannessen-Fischer, Havana Olympiad, 1966,
White played 2. Nf3, so when Black played 3. ... b5 he was not
offering to sacrifuce a pawn.

Sam Sloan

[Event "Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Havana"]
[Date "1966.??.??"]
[White "Johannessen,Svein "]
[Black "Fischer,Robert J "]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[Round "7"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 b5 4. c4 Bb7 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 bxc4 7. Nc3 Bg7

8. O-O O-O 9. Ne5 d6 10. Nxc4 Nbd7 11. Re1 Ba6 12. Qa4 Qc8 13. Na5 Nb6
14. Qh4 Re8
15. Bg5 Qc7 16. Nc6 Bb7 17. e4 Nbd7 18. f4 Kh8 19. e5 dxe5 20. fxe5
Nxd5 21. Nxd5 Qxc6
22. e6 Ne5 23. Rxe5 Bxe5 24. exf7 Rf8 25. h3 Rxf7 26. Nf4 Rxf4 0-1

Sam Sloan wrote:
You can check all the databases. There is no game with the opening
moves 1. d5 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 in any database anywhere, prior to
when Benko started playing it.

Actually, I watched the first game with the Benko Gambit as it was
played. The game was Laver-Benko, American Open, Santa Monica 1967.

Sam is correct that no database has any game beginning 1.d5, at least
none of good repute.
However, assuming he meant 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5, there are many
examples before 1967. The earliest I found in Chess Assistant 5.0 is
Morales-Vaitonis, Buenos Aires 1939; next is Alatortsev-Ratner, Moscow
1945.
If we refine the definition of the Benko Gambit to the point where a
gambit is actually offered, after 4.cxb5 a6, CA's first example is
Szabo-Lundin, Saltsjobaden Interzonal 1948, still 19 years before 1967.
Therefore Sloan is completely wrong to claim that there is no such
game "in any database anywhere." I doubt he even bothered to check very
many (or any?) databases before making his absolute claim, but that is
typical of Sloan's research methods.

The Oxford Companion points out that the line was played in the 1930s
by Opocensky, and "used occasionally from 1947 by Bronstein [and]
Keres." However, the OC also supports Benko's name being associated
with line: "The gambit's acceptance as a standard line owes much to
Benko who published analysis and wrote a book, 'The Benko Gambit'
(1973)."

Taylor Kingston wrote:
If we refine the definition of the Benko Gambit to the point where
a
gambit is actually offered

Correction: I meant for the above line to read "If we refine the
definition of the Benko Gambit to the point where the a-pawn is
offered,"

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 12:12:03 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 10:44:30 +0200, Jürgen R. wrote:

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:53:48 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

Benko clearly invented the Benko Gambit. Nobody played the Benko
Gambit before Benko did, yet the Soviets refused to call it that,
perhaps because Benko was a defector, so they called it the Volga
Gambit.

Sam Sloan

The epilogue on page 6 of the aforementioned chess pamphlet states:
"Milan wishes everyone to know that it was he, and not Pal Benko , who was
first to use what is now called the Benko Gambit. He met and played Benko in
Atlanta and it was during the next round that Momic used it against a high rated
player. He (Momic) calls it the Volga Gambit. ' Benko saw me make the first
move and said it was not a good opening; after that he started using it, and
everyone called it Benko Gambit! If you are going to call it Benko Gambit, why
not Momic Gambit , because he saw me use it first!"

The problem with this and many similar claims is that first we do not
have the game score or even the name of the opponent.

You can check all the databases. There is no game with the opening
moves 1. d5 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 in any database anywhere, prior to
when Benko started playing it.

Sloan, you are a fool; and, as usual, you are wrong.

Keres and quite a few other Russians played this opening in the
1950's. You can find all kinds of analyses in the Russian journals
around that time.

Fischer (that's right: Your personal friend Robert J. Fischer) played
the Wolga Gambit in 1966: Fischer-Johannesen, Havana Olympics.

Even in my limited library I can find all sorts of citations earlier
than 1967. For example in the 1979 edition of the Encyclopedia. Check
it yourself.

If that doesn't please you try Euwe's Opening book, second edition
1965. It has a section on the Wolga Gambit with lots of citations.

Euwe, Max - Theorie der Schacheröffnungen, Teil VI-VII, page 74.
Siegfried-Engelhardt-Verlag, Berlin, March 1965, 2nd edition.

Sloan, you are a fool.

That is not a Benko Gambit. The Benko Gambit involves a pawn sacrifice
on move three. You and others are citing games which might transpose
into some variatoion of the Benko Gambit Declined later on, but did
not start with the moves 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5.

For example, in the game Johannessen-Fischer, Havana Olympiad, 1966,
White played 2. Nf3, so when Black played 3. ... b5 he was not
offering to sacrifuce a pawn.

It is hard to believe that you are as dumb as you appear to be.
But you are slowlyy convincing me.
Sloan, you are a fool.


Sam Sloan

[Event "Chess Olympiad"]
[Site "Havana"]
[Date "1966.??.??"]
[White "Johannessen,Svein "]
[Black "Fischer,Robert J "]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[Round "7"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 b5 4. c4 Bb7 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 bxc4 7. Nc3 Bg7

8. O-O O-O 9. Ne5 d6 10. Nxc4 Nbd7 11. Re1 Ba6 12. Qa4 Qc8 13. Na5 Nb6
14. Qh4 Re8
15. Bg5 Qc7 16. Nc6 Bb7 17. e4 Nbd7 18. f4 Kh8 19. e5 dxe5 20. fxe5
Nxd5 21. Nxd5 Qxc6
22. e6 Ne5 23. Rxe5 Bxe5 24. exf7 Rf8 25. h3 Rxf7 26. Nf4 Rxf4 0-1

"Jürgen R." wrote in message
...
On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 12:12:03 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:
That is not a Benko Gambit. The Benko Gambit involves a pawn sacrifice
on move three. You and others are citing games which might transpose
into some variatoion of the Benko Gambit Declined later on, but did
not start with the moves 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5.

The origin of the Benko gambit is from the Benoni, after 1.d4 c5 the same
position can occur as above at move 3.

The Benoni was at one time called the Staunton Defence, but was actually
first played by St. Amant against Staunton in Paris in 1843.

Even earlier A. Reingaum published on it in Frankfurt,1825.

After 1.d4 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 b5 we have the same moves by transposition.
St. Amant is the first player to have played the "Ben Oni" proper. Unknown
is the first occurrence of 3... b5 as a gambit offer by this or other
transpositions. BTW, the b5 pawn offer an occur later than move 3, and still
properly be called a Benko - eg, after an early fianchetto with g6 and Bg7.

Phil Innes

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 11:52:22 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

[Event "American Open"]
[Site "Santa Monica (USA)"]
[Date "1967.11.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sloan,Sam"]
[Black "Browne,Walter S (USA)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 O-O 7.d4
cxd4 8.cxd4 d5 9.e5 Ne4 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Qa5 12.Bf1 Bg4
13.Qd3 Bxf3 14.gxf3 e6 15.Bh3 Rfc8 16.Be3 Qa3 17.Bf1 Na5
18.Qb5 a6 19.Qb4 Rxc3 20.Qxa3 Rxa3 21.Rec1 b5 22.Rc5 Bf8
23.Rc7 Nc4 24.Bxc4 dxc4 25.h4 Rc3 26.h5 b4 27.hxg6 hxg6
28.Kg2 a5 29.d5 Bg7 30.dxe6 fxe6 31.Rh1 Rc2 32.Rb7 Rxa2
33.Bg5 Rf8 34.Bf6 Rxf6 35.exf6 Bxf6 36.Rb8+ Kg7 37.Rb7+ Be7
38.Rxe7+ Kf6 39.Rhh7 Ke5 40.f4+ Kd6 41.Rc7 Kd5 42.Rhd7+ Ke4
43.Rxc4+ Kf5 44.Rf7+ Kg4 45.f5+ Kg5 46.fxe6 Re2 47.e7 b3
48.e8=Q Rxe8 49.Rb7 1-0

He was rated 2475. I was rated about 2100. I had a bad position for
most of the game but I found a way to force a draw. He did not want a
draw and sacrificed an exchange to try to force a win. He failed to
see 41. Rc7 threatening mate and so the game was over.

Sam Sloan

41 ... Kd5? seems like his major blunder. What would you have done
after 41 ... P-N6 -- I'm not seeing the mate and those Black pawns are
rolling.

You must have the position set up wrong, because after 41. ... b3, it
is checkmate with 42. Rhd7#

You can see the position at
http://www.samsloan.com/sloanbrowne.htm

Sam Sloan

You're right. I was looking at 40 ... Kd4 (which I think is better
than what he played) and forgot to put it back on d6. Sorry, Sam.

Sam Sloan wrote:
At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:


On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:


Benko clearly invented the Benko Gambit. Nobody played the Benko
Gambit before Benko did, yet the Soviets refused to call it that,
perhaps because Benko was a defector, so they called it the Volga
Gambit.


Sam Sloan


The epilogue on page 6 of the aforementioned chess pamphlet states:
"Milan wishes everyone to know that it was he, and not Pal Benko , who was
first to use what is now called the Benko Gambit. He met and played Benko in
Atlanta and it was during the next round that Momic used it against a high rated
player. He (Momic) calls it the Volga Gambit. ' Benko saw me make the first
move and said it was not a good opening; after that he started using it, and
everyone called it Benko Gambit! If you are going to call it Benko Gambit, why
not Momic Gambit , because he saw me use it first!"


The problem with this and many similar claims is that first we do not
have the game score or even the name of the opponent.

You can check all the databases. There is no game with the opening
moves 1. d5 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 in any database anywhere, prior to
when Benko started playing it.

Actually, I watched the first game with the Benko Gambit as it was
played. The game was Laver-Benko, American Open, Santa Monica 1967.
That is the first game in Benko's book, but he gives the wrong year,
1968. I know it was 1967 because I was there. That was the same
tournament where I beat Walter Browne.

However, in the game Weaver-Valvo, last round of the 1963 US
Intercollegiate Championship, Notre Dame Indiana, 1963, Valvo played
something very similar to the Benko Gambit. Valvo played the b5
sacrifice on move 5 or 6 and won in convincing style. However, it is
not a Benko Gambit unless b5 is played on move 3.

There is also an old game Capablanca-Nimzovitch where the b5 sacrifice
was played but again that was about on move 5 and was not on move 3.

The idea of sacrificing a pawn with b5 was known by the 1920s, but
only Benko played it on move 3.

As to whether anybody analyzed the move prior to Benko I do not know.
To make a claim like that, one would have to provide the name, date
and year of the publication. I believe there is no such publication.
If somebody analyzed it privately without publishing it and without
playing it over the board and no record was kept that would not form
the basis for any claim to name the opening.

Sam Sloan

The Chessgames.com website has more than a dozen games before 1967
with these moves, none played by Benko. He used it against Vukic in 1967
at Sarajevo also.

Phil