Benko Gambit

Main

Date: 30 Apr 2005 02:53:48
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Benko Gambit

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

>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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

Date: 10 May 2005 15:40:25
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

At 07:24 AM 5/10/2005 -0700, Vladyslav Kosulin wrote:
>Sam,
>You are going to far, IMHO.
>Benko gambit is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5, IMHO.
>4.cxb5 (the main line), 4.Nf3, 4.Nd2, 4.a4 are all Benko Gambit.
>

It so happens that I have a book in my hand on the Blumenfeld Gambit
by Malcolm Pein. (Funny coincidence because we are debating Malcolm
Pein in another context).

Malcolm Pein defines the Blumenfeld Gambit as beginning with the
moves:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5 5. dxe6 fxe6 6. cxb5 , as in
Tarrasch-Alekhine, Pistyan, 1922

Alekhine won the game in fine and convincing style and ever since
almost nobody has taken the gambit pawn.

Now, what you are saying is that there is no such thing as the
Blumenfeld Gambit because the same final position can be reached by
the moves: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 e6 5. dxe6 fxe6 6. Nf3

Is that correct?

Sam Sloan

PS I tried to look up your rating. I was going to be embarassed if you
turned out to be a grandmaster. I cannot find a rating for you. Do you
have one?

Date: 10 May 2005 08:32:20
From: Mark Houlsby
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

>--- Sam Sloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> All of the games to which
>>> you refer below were Blumenfeld Gambits. If any Soviet had ever
>>> played the
>>> Benko Gambit, they would have named the opening after him.

>>Is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 Bb7 5.a4 a6 Benko gambit?

>No. That is not a Benko Gambit. That is not a gambit of any kind,
because Black has never offered to sacrifice a pawn.

Sam,

The extent of your idiocy *staggers the mind*. In playing 3...b5, the
second player *is offering a gambit pawn*. It need not be taken (that
is, the gambit may be declined) but it most certainly *has been
offered*. Incidentally, ChessBase calls 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5
4.[anything unusual]... A57 which, in Anglophone coutries, is known as
"The Benko Gambit", and in many European countries as "The Volga
Gambit".

Stop crossposting this shit!

Moron!

k Houlsby

Date: 10 May 2005 15:13:42
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

At 07:09 AM 5/10/2005 -0700, Vladyslav Kosulin wrote:
>
>--- Sam Sloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>> All of the games to which
>> you refer below were Blumenfeld Gambits. If any Soviet had ever
>> played the
>> Benko Gambit, they would have named the opening after him.
>
>Is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 Bb7 5.a4 a6 Benko gambit?

No. That is not a Benko Gambit. That is not a gambit of any kind,
because Black has never offered to sacrifice a pawn.

Calling this a Benko Gambit would be almost like calling 1. e4 c5 2.
c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 a Morra Gambit, just because the
Morra Gambit can reach the same position with the moves 1. e4 c5 2. d4
cxd4 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. cxd4

Sam Sloan

>[Event "Olympiad"]
>[Site "Stockholm (Sweden)"]
>[Date "1937"]
>[Round ""]
>[White "Bolbochan Jacobo (ARG)"]
>[Black "Keres Paul (EST)"]
>[Result "0-1"]
>[Eco "A57"]
>[Annotator ""]
>[Source ""]
>
>1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.c4 Bb7 5.a4 a6 6.axb5 axb5 7.Rxa8
>Bxa8 8.Nc3 Qa5 9.Bd2 b4 10.Qa4 Qxa4 11.Nxa4 e6 12.Bf4 d6 13.e4
>Nxe4 14.Bd3 Nf6 15.O-O Nbd7 16.Re1 e5 17.h3 Be7 18.Bh2 O-O 19.g4
>g6 20.Nd2 Re8 21.f4 Bf8 22.g5 exf4 23.Rxe8 Nxe8 24.Bxf4 Bg7 25.Ne4
>Be5 26.Bxe5 Nxe5 27.Be2 Kf8 28.Kf2 Ke7 29.Ke3 Bb7 30.Kf4 Nd7
>31.b3 f6 32.h4 Bc8 33.Nb2 Nb6 34.Ng3 Nc7 35.Nd1 Ncxd5+ 36.cxd5
>Nxd5+ 37.Ke4 f5+ 38.Kf3 Nb6 39.Nf1 Ke6 40.Nfe3 Ke5 41.Bc4 f4
>42.Bg8 fxe3 43.Nxe3 Bb7+ 44.Ke2 Be4 45.Bxh7 d5 46.Ng4+ Kd4 47.h5
>gxh5 48.Bxe4 hxg4 49.g6 Nd7 50.g7 Nf6 51.Bf5 g3 52.Kf3 Kc3 53.Bg6
>c4 54.bxc4 dxc4 55.Kxg3 b3 56.Kf4 b2 57.Ke5 Ng8 58.Kd5 Ne7+ 59.Kc5
>Kb3 60.Kd4 c3 61.Bf7+ Kc2 62.Bg6+ Kd2 0-1
>
>
>Sincerely yours,
>Vladyslav Kosulin, New York, NY, USA

Date: 03 May 2005 14:17:05
From:
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

John J. wrote:
> Sam, what else can I do to convice you that you were incorrect in
asserting
> that the Benko/Volga gambit wasn't played before benko did?
>
> Why don't you just admit you're wrong and move on?

Sam is not one to let facts get in the way of a cherished belief, no
matter how obviously wrong. He seems to have an extremely high
threshold for cognitive dissonance. Perhaps he considers it a k of
character. He reminds me of the Red Queen in "Through the
Looking-Glass" when she boasted "Why, sometimes I've believed as many
as six impossible things before breakfast."

Date: 03 May 2005 18:53:39
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

At 11:07 AM 5/3/2005 -0400, Jim Roe wrote:

>--- Tim Sawyer <[email protected]> wrote:
>---------------------------------
>--- Sam Sloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>> At 12:24 PM 5/1/2005 -0700, Tim Sawyer wrote:
>> >Take for example the Exchange Ruy Lopez...
>> >Even Sam Sloan played this fairly early.
>
>> I also played it against Alan Borke in a tournament
>> at the Mechanics
>> Institute Chess Club in 1965. I lost again.
>
>This is the game that is in my database, although it
>is listed as "Bourke" in 1966. I have about 500 of
>your games, which is obviously just a small number.

Thank you very much for this news. About ten years ago I put all my
old game scores into PGN format and submitted them to the University
of Pittsburgh database.

However, I had big missing gaps. I had no scoresheets at all from
betwen Mid-1963 to Mid-1968. The only games I still have from that
period were games that were published in magazines. This was my most
active period. I played 120 rated games in 1964 alone.

Could you please leek at your database to see if you have any more
games played by me from 1964 to 1967 ? Please note there are three
other Sloans who play chess. There are two Tom Sloans, one in
Michigan, one in North Carolina. There is also one in Australia.
Fantastic coincidence: All four of us are about the same strength.

I still remember the Bourke Game. He checkmated me in the opening in
spectacular fashion. Could you please send me the game, as I do not
have it?

Yes. I played the 5. O-O line before Fischer did. That goes 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O . However, that was because I
read analysis of it in a Dutch publication called Chess Archives.
Chess Archives also published analysis of the Poison Pawn Variation of
the Sicilian Defense which Bobby Fischer famously busted in a famous
games against Rudolph Teschner. Chess Archives stopped publication
shortly after that.

Sam Sloan

Date: 02 May 2005 06:39:40
From:
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Sam Sloan wrote:
> I am hereby now officially redefining the Benko Gambit.
> The Benko Gambit is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6
> So, the only game that was a Benko Gambit as defined above was the
> game Szabo-Lundin which I also cited as the only game I know of in
> which the Benko Gambit was played before Benko played it.

Sam, the ChessBase Mega Database 2005 gives 28 pre-1967 games with
that opening, from Bozic-Udovcic, Yugo Ch Belgrade 1948, to
Timman-Svensson, European U-20 Ch Qualifier B 1966. They all open
exactly as you describe, no transpositions, and Benko is not among the
players, either as Black or White.
This does not mean the line should not be called the Benko Gambit;
such things do not really depend on who played the moves first. For
example the Nimzo-Indian Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) was
played at least as far back as 1882, four years before Nimzovitch was
born.
However, it clearly puts the mockers on these Sloan claims:

"You can check all the databases. There is no game with the opening
moves 1. d5 [sic - read 1.d4] Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 in any database
anywhere, prior to when Benko started playing it." -- Sam Sloan,
4/29/2005
"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 Sloan, 4/29/2005
"Other games that have been cited are not Benko Gambits, except by
transposition." -- Sam Sloan, 5/1/2005

So, Sam, can I expect you to fulfill Larry Parr's prophecy, that you
usually publish immediate corrections and thank those who provide them?

Date: 02 May 2005 03:53:40
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

At 12:24 PM 5/1/2005 -0700, Tim Sawyer wrote:

>Take for example the Exchange Ruy Lopez called the
>Fischer Variation 5.0-0. That was played many times in
>the 1800s right up until the present day. In fact
>several famous players played this as White: Paulsen,
>Chigorin, Winawer, Lasker, Albin and Tarrasch along
>with many many non-so-famous. Even Sam Sloan played
>this fairly early. Yet Bobby Fischer showed it's real
>value in ways few understood at that time. Fischer
>deserves the name.
>

It is amazing that you know this. Do you remember this from that time
(I knew you back then) or do I have a game posted somewhere with this
line?

I played this line in a game against io Campos Lopez in 1964 in
Mexico City. I lost.

I also played it against Alan Borke in a tournament at the Mechanics
Institute Chess Club in 1965. I lost again.

So, I gave it up.

I do not know when Fischer started playing it.

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 16:58:48
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

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.

Sam, I want to be sure of your definition of the Benko Gambit. Is
that it above (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5)? If so, your definition agrees
exactly with the Oxford Companion's definition.

Date: 02 May 2005 04:02:21
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On 1 May 2005 16:58:48 -0700, "Taylor Kingston"
<[email protected] > wrote:

> Sam, I want to be sure of your definition of the Benko Gambit. Is
>that it above (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5)? If so, your definition agrees
>exactly with the Oxford Companion's definition.
>

I am hereby now officially redefining the Benko Gambit.

The Benko Gambit is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6

So I have added one move. If White instead plays 4. ... e6 that is not
a Benko Gambit but a sort of Blumenfeld.

So, the only game that was a Benko Gambit as defined above was the
game Szabo-Lundin which I also cited as the only game I know of in
which the Benko Gambit was played before Benko played it.

[Event "Izt"]
[Site "Saltsjobaden (Sweden)"]
[Date "1948"]
[Round ""]
[White "Szabo Laszlo (HUN)"]
[Black "Lundin Erik (SWE)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "A58"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3
Bxa6 7.e4
d6 8.Bxa6 Nxa6 9.Nf3 Bg7 10.O-O Nd7 11.Bf4 O-O 12.Qe2
Qc7 13.Rfc1
Rfb8 14.Rab1 Bxc3 15.Rxc3 Qa5 16.Nd2 Nc7 17.Ra3 Qb6
18.Rxa8
Rxa8 19.a3 Nb5 20.Be3 Ra4 21.Rc1 Nd4 22.Bxd4 cxd4 {!}
23.Nf3 Nf6 24.Qc2 {?} Ra5 25.Nd2 d3 26.Qc7
Qxb2 27.e5 Qxd2 28.exf6
exf6 29.h4 Kg7 30.Qc3 Qxc3 31.Rxc3 Rxd5 32.Rc1 g5
33.Kf1 gxh4 34.Ra1
f5 35.a4 Kf6 36.Ke1
Re5+ 37.Kd2 Re2+ 38.Kxd3 Rxf2 39.a5 Rxg2 40.a6 Rg8
41.Kc4 f4 42.Kd5 Kf5 43.Kc6 f3 44.Kb7 Re8 0-1

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 08:42:08
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Browne bribed?

J=FCrgen R. wrote:
> On Sun, 01 May 2005 13:57:02 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
> wrote:

> >Taylor Kingston is such a stiff he cannot take a joke.
> >
> >Jurgen G. is joking. Jurgen was not at the American Open in Santa
> >Monica 1967. Pal Benko did not tell Jurgen that Sam Sloan was the
real
> >inventor of the Benko Gambit. Walter Browne did not tell Jurgen that
> >Browne had been paid $1200 to lose the game to Sloan.
> >
> >Sam Sloan
>
> If I ever forget where I was in 1967, or at any other time, I simply
> ask Sam Sloan, who invariably knows.
>
> What actually happened is this: Creighton Sloan heard about the
> upcoming match between his brother and Walter Browne. He knew that
Sam
> was both a Patzer and an egomaniac. Therefore he figured that if Sam
> could somehow win against Browne he would subsequently waste all of
> his time trying to learn chess, thinking that maybe he had talent
> after all. And thus he wouldn't be paying attention when it became
> time for Creighton to steal his brother's inheritance, clean out his
> mother's bank accounts and hire cooks to kidnap Sam's bastard
> children. That's why he made the deal with Browne.
>
> J=FCrgen

This one is rather good. I think I will use it in my next court filing
in South Carolina Supreme Court, where this case is pending.

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 07:09:39
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: Browne bribed?

Sam Sloan wrote:
> Taylor Kingston is such a stiff he cannot take a joke.
> Jurgen G. is joking. Jurgen was not at the American Open in Santa
> Monica 1967. Pal Benko did not tell Jurgen that Sam Sloan was the
real
> inventor of the Benko Gambit. Walter Browne did not tell Jurgen that
> Browne had been paid $1200 to lose the game to Sloan.
> SAm Sloan

Ah, that is good to know. Since J=FCrgen's post did not have any
emoticons (e.g. ;-) or <g >), I chose to take it provisionally at face
value. In the future, I will avoid trying to come to your aid, lest I
again be branded a stiff.

Date: 01 May 2005 13:49:23
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

At 12:23 AM 4/30/2005 -0600, Richard Laver wrote:
> Sam,
> As I recall a Russian theorist played the Benko Gambit in the 1950's.
> A famous guy, very imaginative, I am spacing out his name. He played the line,
> don't know that he played it a large number of times, maybe even only once.
> Remember now---Bronstein.
> Best,
> Rich

Dear Richard,

I had this debate when I travelled to the Soviet Union in 1977. My
friend, Vadim Kantarovich, a Soviet player and journalist, who was a
frequent contributor to Shakhmaty Bulletin, was arguing that the name
"Benko Gambit" was wrong. However, the only game he cited was
Szabo-Lundin. Other games that have been cited are not Benko Gambits,
except by transposition.

Kantaroivich knew every game that had ever been played by a Soviet
player. He and others had been searching the literature trying to find
a game played by a Russian so that they could name the opening after a
Russian. They could not find any such game in spite of a diligent
search. Lundin of course was a Swede so it was unacceptable to name
the opening after him.

As a result, I am confident that certainly no famous player like
Bronstein or Keres had ever played a Benko Gambit. Any new discoveries
especially of Russians who had supposedly played the Benko Gambit must
be treeated with suspicion.

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 17:27:24
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Is the 1959 game between Arthur Bisguier and Sid Bernstein also a Soviet
fabrication? Played during the US Championship....

Seems like your theory is falling apart, just like my body is... lol

John
"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> At 12:23 AM 4/30/2005 -0600, Richard Laver wrote:
>> Sam,
>> As I recall a Russian theorist played the Benko Gambit in the
>> 1950's.
>> A famous guy, very imaginative, I am spacing out his name. He played the
>> line,
>> don't know that he played it a large number of times, maybe even only
>> once.
>> Remember now---Bronstein.
>> Best,
>> Rich
>
> Dear Richard,
>
> I had this debate when I travelled to the Soviet Union in 1977. My
> friend, Vadim Kantarovich, a Soviet player and journalist, who was a
> frequent contributor to Shakhmaty Bulletin, was arguing that the name
> "Benko Gambit" was wrong. However, the only game he cited was
> Szabo-Lundin. Other games that have been cited are not Benko Gambits,
> except by transposition.
>
> Kantaroivich knew every game that had ever been played by a Soviet
> player. He and others had been searching the literature trying to find
> a game played by a Russian so that they could name the opening after a
> Russian. They could not find any such game in spite of a diligent
> search. Lundin of course was a Swede so it was unacceptable to name
> the opening after him.
>
> As a result, I am confident that certainly no famous player like
> Bronstein or Keres had ever played a Benko Gambit. Any new discoveries
> especially of Russians who had supposedly played the Benko Gambit must
> be treeated with suspicion.
>
> Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 19:29:30
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sun, 01 May 2005 17:27:24 GMT, "John J." <[email protected] >
wrote:

>Is the 1959 game between Arthur Bisguier and Sid Bernstein also a Soviet
>fabrication? Played during the US Championship....
>
>Seems like your theory is falling apart, just like my body is... lol
>
>John

Why do not you post at least the first moves of the opening so that we
can see if it is really a Benko Gambit.

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 19:47:44
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

(47737) Bisguier,Arthur Bernard - Bernstein,Sidney Norman [A57]
USA-ch New York (2), 1959

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 e6 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Nf3 d5 8.e4 d4
9.e5 Ng4 10.h3 Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Nb1 Bg7 13.Bc4 0-0 14.Bxe6+ Kh8 15.Nbd2
Qe7 16.Qb3 Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Rf6 18.0-0 Rxe6 19.f4 Nd7 20.Ndf3 Rg8 21.Rf2 Bxf3
22.Nxf3 Re4 23.Qa3 Nf6 24.Rc1 Re3 25.Qxc5 Qg7 26.Rcc2 Ne4 27.Qxd4 Qxd4
28.Nxd4 Nxf2 29.Rxf2 Rd8 30.Nc6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 h5 32.f5 Kg7 33.f6+ Kf8 34.Nxa7
h4 35.Rf4 Rd2 36.Rxh4 Rxb2 37.a4 Ree2 38.Rg4 h5 39.Rg7 Ra2 40.b6 Rxa4 41.b7
1-0

Sam, what else can I do to convice you that you were incorrect in asserting
that the Benko/Volga gambit wasn't played before benko did?

Why don't you just admit you're wrong and move on?

John

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 01 May 2005 17:27:24 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>Is the 1959 game between Arthur Bisguier and Sid Bernstein also a Soviet
>>fabrication? Played during the US Championship....
>>
>>Seems like your theory is falling apart, just like my body is... lol
>>
>>John
>
> Why do not you post at least the first moves of the opening so that we
> can see if it is really a Benko Gambit.
>
> Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 21:01:14
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sun, 01 May 2005 19:47:44 GMT, "John J." <[email protected] >
wrote:

>
>(47737) Bisguier,Arthur Bernard - Bernstein,Sidney Norman [A57]
>USA-ch New York (2), 1959
>
>
>1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 e6 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Nf3 d5 8.e4 d4
>9.e5 Ng4 10.h3 Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Nb1 Bg7 13.Bc4 0-0 14.Bxe6+ Kh8 15.Nbd2
>Qe7 16.Qb3 Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Rf6 18.0-0 Rxe6 19.f4 Nd7 20.Ndf3 Rg8 21.Rf2 Bxf3
>22.Nxf3 Re4 23.Qa3 Nf6 24.Rc1 Re3 25.Qxc5 Qg7 26.Rcc2 Ne4 27.Qxd4 Qxd4
>28.Nxd4 Nxf2 29.Rxf2 Rd8 30.Nc6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 h5 32.f5 Kg7 33.f6+ Kf8 34.Nxa7
>h4 35.Rf4 Rd2 36.Rxh4 Rxb2 37.a4 Ree2 38.Rg4 h5 39.Rg7 Ra2 40.b6 Rxa4 41.b7
>1-0
>
>
>
>Sam, what else can I do to convice you that you were incorrect in asserting
>that the Benko/Volga gambit wasn't played before benko did?
>
>Why don't you just admit you're wrong and move on?
>
>John

Wrong. That is a Blumenfeld Gambit which was mentioned in all the
standard opening books when I was a kid in the 1950s.

The Blumenfeld Gambit usually starts with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6
3.Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5.

It is easy to see how someone could confuse the two openings, but in
the Benko Gambit Black never plays e6 which is a characteristic of the
Blumenfeld Gambit.

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 23:51:53
From: Arfur Million
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 01 May 2005 19:47:44 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>(47737) Bisguier,Arthur Bernard - Bernstein,Sidney Norman [A57]
>>USA-ch New York (2), 1959
>>
>>
>>1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 e6 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Nf3 d5 8.e4 d4
>>9.e5 Ng4 10.h3 Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Nb1 Bg7 13.Bc4 0-0 14.Bxe6+ Kh8 15.Nbd2
>>Qe7 16.Qb3 Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Rf6 18.0-0 Rxe6 19.f4 Nd7 20.Ndf3 Rg8 21.Rf2 Bxf3
>>22.Nxf3 Re4 23.Qa3 Nf6 24.Rc1 Re3 25.Qxc5 Qg7 26.Rcc2 Ne4 27.Qxd4 Qxd4
>>28.Nxd4 Nxf2 29.Rxf2 Rd8 30.Nc6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 h5 32.f5 Kg7 33.f6+ Kf8
>>34.Nxa7
>>h4 35.Rf4 Rd2 36.Rxh4 Rxb2 37.a4 Ree2 38.Rg4 h5 39.Rg7 Ra2 40.b6 Rxa4
>>41.b7
>>1-0
>>
>>
>>
>>Sam, what else can I do to convice you that you were incorrect in
>>asserting
>>that the Benko/Volga gambit wasn't played before benko did?
>>
>>Why don't you just admit you're wrong and move on?
>>
>>John
>
> Wrong. That is a Blumenfeld Gambit which was mentioned in all the
> standard opening books when I was a kid in the 1950s.
>
> The Blumenfeld Gambit usually starts with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6
> 3.Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5.
>
> It is easy to see how someone could confuse the two openings, but in
> the Benko Gambit Black never plays e6 which is a characteristic of the
> Blumenfeld Gambit.
>
> Sam Sloan

In addition to the highly thematic Benko example that I posted earlier from
1948 (Bozic-Udovcic), the standard database that comes with Chessbase 9
gives another true Benko game played in Moscow in 1966:

[Event "URS-chT"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1966.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shipov, B."]
[Black "Volovich, Anatoly A"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A58"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "1966.09.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nf3 g6 8.
g3
Bg7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Re1 Qa5 12. a3 Rfb8 13. Rb1 Ng4 14. Bd2 Bc4
15.
Qc1 Ngf6 16. Bh6 Bh8 17. Nd2 Ba6 18. h3 c4 19. Nf3 Bb7 20. Qg5 Bxd5 21. Nxd5
Qxd5 22. Qxd5 Nxd5 23. Nd2 N5b6 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. b3 c3 26. Nc4 Nxc4 27.
bxc4
Nc5 28. Rb4 f5 29. Reb1 Kf7 30. Rb8 c2 31. R1b5 Bf6 32. Bc1 Ra4 33. Rb4 Ra7
34.
Kg2 Bc3 35. Kf3 Bxb4 36. Rxb4 1/2-1/2

Regards,
Arfur

Date: 01 May 2005 23:47:37
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Ok, what about this?

[Event "Trencianske Teplice"]
[Site "Trencianske Teplice"]
[Date "1949.??.??"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Golombek,Harry"]
[Black "Sefc,Jan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "A58"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 d6 7.g3 g6 8.Bg2 Bg7
9.Nh3 0-0 10.0-0 Qb6 11.Re1 Nbd7 12.Kh1 Ne5 13.Qc2 Rfb8 14.f4 Nc4 15.b3 Qb4
16.bxc4 Ne4
17.Qxe4 Bxc3 18.Bd2 Bxd2 19.Red1 Bc3 20.Rab1 Qxc4 21.Qxe7 Rxb1 22.Rxb1 Qxa2
23.Be4 Qa4 24.Bf3 Re8
25.Qxd6 Bxe2 26.Bg2 Qc2 27.Rg1 Bd4 28.Qd7 Rf8 29.d6 Bxg1 30.Nxg1 c4 31.Bc6
c3 32.h3 Qd1
33.Qe7 c2 0-1

[Event "YUG-ch 6th"]
[Site "Ljubljana"]
[Date "1951.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Trifunovic,Petar"]
[Black "Kozoa,Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "A59"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 g6 7.e4 Bxf1 8.Kxf1 d6
9.g3 Bg7 10.Kg2 0-0 11.Nf3 Nbd7 12.Re1 Ng4 13.h4 Nge5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.f4 Nd7
16.Qc2 Qb6
17.Bd2 c4 18.Nd1 Rfc8 19.Bc3 Bxc3 20.Qxc3 Nc5 21.Re2 Nb3 22.Rb1 Rxa2 23.Qe3
Qxe3 24.Rxe3 Ra7
1/2

[Event "Sarajevo"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "1963.??.??"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Szabo,Laszlo"]
[Black "Kozoa,Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "A58"]
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 d6 8.g3 Bg7
9.Bg2 0-0 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.h3 Qb6 12.Re1 Rfb8 13.Qc2 Ne8 14.Rb1 Nc7 15.Bg5 Re8
16.Qd2 Bc4
17.a3 Qb3 18.e4 Ne5 19.Nxe5 Bxe5 20.Bf4 Bd4 21.Be3 Bg7 22.e5 Rab8 23.Bf4
Red8 24.Rbc1 Ba6
25.exd6 exd6 26.Re7 Ne8 27.Bg5 f6 28.Bh6 Rb7 29.Rce1 Rxe7 30.Rxe7 g5 31.Qe3
Bxh6 32.Qe6+ Kh8
33.Rxe8+ Rxe8 34.Qxe8+ Kg7 35.Qe7+ Kg8 36.Ne4 Qd1+ 37.Kh2 Bg7 38.Qe8+ Bf8
39.Nxf6+ Kg7 40.Nd7
1-0

[Event "Reggio Emilia 6465"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia"]
[Date "1964.??.??"]
[Round "0"]
[White "Bagnoli,Paolo"]
[Black "Bilek,Istvan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "A57"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6 d6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.e4 g6 8.Bd3 Bg7
9.a4 Qxb6 10.a5 Qc7 11.Nge2 0-0 12.0-0 Rb8 13.Ng3 c4 14.Bc2 Nc5 15.Qe2 Nb7
16.Kh1 Nxa5
17.e5 dxe5 18.Re1 Nb3 19.Bxb3 Rxb3 20.Qxe5 Qxe5 21.Rxe5 e6 22.dxe6 Bxe6
23.Re2 Nd5 24.Nce4 c3
25.bxc3 Nxc3 26.Nxc3 Bxc3 27.Rxa6 Rd8 0-1

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 01 May 2005 19:47:44 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>(47737) Bisguier,Arthur Bernard - Bernstein,Sidney Norman [A57]
>>USA-ch New York (2), 1959
>>
>>
>>1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 e6 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Nf3 d5 8.e4 d4
>>9.e5 Ng4 10.h3 Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Nb1 Bg7 13.Bc4 0-0 14.Bxe6+ Kh8 15.Nbd2
>>Qe7 16.Qb3 Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Rf6 18.0-0 Rxe6 19.f4 Nd7 20.Ndf3 Rg8 21.Rf2 Bxf3
>>22.Nxf3 Re4 23.Qa3 Nf6 24.Rc1 Re3 25.Qxc5 Qg7 26.Rcc2 Ne4 27.Qxd4 Qxd4
>>28.Nxd4 Nxf2 29.Rxf2 Rd8 30.Nc6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 h5 32.f5 Kg7 33.f6+ Kf8
>>34.Nxa7
>>h4 35.Rf4 Rd2 36.Rxh4 Rxb2 37.a4 Ree2 38.Rg4 h5 39.Rg7 Ra2 40.b6 Rxa4
>>41.b7
>>1-0
>>
>>
>>
>>Sam, what else can I do to convice you that you were incorrect in
>>asserting
>>that the Benko/Volga gambit wasn't played before benko did?
>>
>>Why don't you just admit you're wrong and move on?
>>
>>John
>
> Wrong. That is a Blumenfeld Gambit which was mentioned in all the
> standard opening books when I was a kid in the 1950s.
>
> The Blumenfeld Gambit usually starts with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6
> 3.Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5.
>
> It is easy to see how someone could confuse the two openings, but in
> the Benko Gambit Black never plays e6 which is a characteristic of the
> Blumenfeld Gambit.
>
> Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 23:34:50
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

I'm just going by what you have stated in this thread. And I quote:

"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"

Your statement above is obviously incorrect or incomplete. It's also the
source of this whole debate.

John
"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 01 May 2005 19:47:44 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>(47737) Bisguier,Arthur Bernard - Bernstein,Sidney Norman [A57]
>>USA-ch New York (2), 1959
>>
>>
>>1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 e6 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Nf3 d5 8.e4 d4
>>9.e5 Ng4 10.h3 Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Nb1 Bg7 13.Bc4 0-0 14.Bxe6+ Kh8 15.Nbd2
>>Qe7 16.Qb3 Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Rf6 18.0-0 Rxe6 19.f4 Nd7 20.Ndf3 Rg8 21.Rf2 Bxf3
>>22.Nxf3 Re4 23.Qa3 Nf6 24.Rc1 Re3 25.Qxc5 Qg7 26.Rcc2 Ne4 27.Qxd4 Qxd4
>>28.Nxd4 Nxf2 29.Rxf2 Rd8 30.Nc6 Rd1+ 31.Kh2 h5 32.f5 Kg7 33.f6+ Kf8
>>34.Nxa7
>>h4 35.Rf4 Rd2 36.Rxh4 Rxb2 37.a4 Ree2 38.Rg4 h5 39.Rg7 Ra2 40.b6 Rxa4
>>41.b7
>>1-0
>>
>>
>>
>>Sam, what else can I do to convice you that you were incorrect in
>>asserting
>>that the Benko/Volga gambit wasn't played before benko did?
>>
>>Why don't you just admit you're wrong and move on?
>>
>>John
>
> Wrong. That is a Blumenfeld Gambit which was mentioned in all the
> standard opening books when I was a kid in the 1950s.
>
> The Blumenfeld Gambit usually starts with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6
> 3.Nf3 c5 4. d5 b5.
>
> It is easy to see how someone could confuse the two openings, but in
> the Benko Gambit Black never plays e6 which is a characteristic of the
> Blumenfeld Gambit.
>
> Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 05:25:45
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Browne bribed?

J=FCrgen R. wrote:
> At about move 20 your position is lost, and one might think that your
> opponent then proceeded to fall asleep. However, this is not what
> happened. Browne told me the next day that he was paid $1200 to let
> you win. And who do you think paid him? (Hint: it wasn't our Hero
> Sloan - 1200 was much more than he ever had at one time in those
> days.)

J=FCrgen, we are still waiting for some substantiation of your rather
serious claim. Browne should not be impugned unfairly. Neither should
Sloan have the satisfaction of a once-in-a-lifetime win taken from him
without basis.
If Browne was indeed bribed, it seems more likely he would keep it
secret, rather than tell you the next day. Please explain?

Date: 01 May 2005 13:57:02
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Browne bribed?

On 1 May 2005 05:25:45 -0700, "Taylor Kingston"
<[email protected] > wrote:

>
>J=FCrgen R. wrote:
>> At about move 20 your position is lost, and one might think that your
>> opponent then proceeded to fall asleep. However, this is not what
>> happened. Browne told me the next day that he was paid $1200 to let
>> you win. And who do you think paid him? (Hint: it wasn't our Hero
>> Sloan - 1200 was much more than he ever had at one time in those
>> days.)
>
> J=FCrgen, we are still waiting for some substantiation of your rather
>serious claim. Browne should not be impugned unfairly. Neither should
>Sloan have the satisfaction of a once-in-a-lifetime win taken from him
>without basis.
> If Browne was indeed bribed, it seems more likely he would keep it
>secret, rather than tell you the next day. Please explain?

Taylor Kingston is such a stiff he cannot take a joke.

Jurgen G. is joking. Jurgen was not at the American Open in Santa
Monica 1967. Pal Benko did not tell Jurgen that Sam Sloan was the real
inventor of the Benko Gambit. Walter Browne did not tell Jurgen that
Browne had been paid $1200 to lose the game to Sloan.

SAm Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 17:18:20
From: J�rgen R.
Subject: Re: Browne bribed?

On Sun, 01 May 2005 13:57:02 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

>On 1 May 2005 05:25:45 -0700, "Taylor Kingston"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>J=FCrgen R. wrote:
>>> At about move 20 your position is lost, and one might think that your
>>> opponent then proceeded to fall asleep. However, this is not what
>>> happened. Browne told me the next day that he was paid $1200 to let
>>> you win. And who do you think paid him? (Hint: it wasn't our Hero
>>> Sloan - 1200 was much more than he ever had at one time in those
>>> days.)
>>
>> J=FCrgen, we are still waiting for some substantiation of your rather
>>serious claim. Browne should not be impugned unfairly. Neither should
>>Sloan have the satisfaction of a once-in-a-lifetime win taken from him
>>without basis.
>> If Browne was indeed bribed, it seems more likely he would keep it
>>secret, rather than tell you the next day. Please explain?
>
>Taylor Kingston is such a stiff he cannot take a joke.
>
>Jurgen G. is joking. Jurgen was not at the American Open in Santa
>Monica 1967. Pal Benko did not tell Jurgen that Sam Sloan was the real
>inventor of the Benko Gambit. Walter Browne did not tell Jurgen that
>Browne had been paid $1200 to lose the game to Sloan.
>
>SAm Sloan

If I ever forget where I was in 1967, or at any other time, I simply
ask Sam Sloan, who invariably knows.

What actually happened is this: Creighton Sloan heard about the
upcoming match between his brother and Walter Browne. He knew that Sam
was both a Patzer and an egomaniac. Therefore he figured that if Sam
could somehow win against Browne he would subsequently waste all of
his time trying to learn chess, thinking that maybe he had talent
after all. And thus he wouldn't be paying attention when it became
time for Creighton to steal his brother's inheritance, clean out his
mother's bank accounts and hire cooks to kidnap Sam's bastard
children. That's why he made the deal with Browne.

J�rgen

Date: 01 May 2005 02:27:31
From: Dan Scoones
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

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

<deletions >
>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.
>

Others have already cited the pre-1967 "Benko Gambit" games. I just
wanted to point out that Benko himself played his first game with the
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 move order against Milan Vukic in round one
of the Sarejevo 1967 tournament. That was on ch 4, 1967; in other
words, several months before the American Open.

Great player; great opening. The other stuff is fairly trivial.

Cheers,
Dan

Date: 30 Apr 2005 12:29:22
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Sam Sloan wrote:
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:53:21 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >Sam, I think you're wrong. I just searched the online Chessbase and
there
> >are about 70 published games of the Benko Gambit before 1967. The
first one
> >was way back in 1936.
>
> I believe that all those games are transpositions, and not really
> Benko Gambits.

Another false Sloan belief. The great majority of the pre-1967 games
mentioned begin exactly as Sloan specified, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5.
Sam, do you ever actually check to make sure something is true before
believing it?
For further comment, see my post further on in this thread, under the
"Busting Sloan's Claims" heading.

Date: 30 Apr 2005 12:01:45
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Browne bribed?

This was one of the most embarassing defeats Walter Browne ever
suffered. It was published in the Los Angeles Times the following day
by Isaac Kashdan and it was published in the February, 1968 issue of
Chess Life Magazine. This was the first game Walter Browne had lost in
a Swiss tournament in more than six months.

Somebody wouild have had to pay Walter Browne a lot more than $1200 to
dump this game.

Sam Sloan

Date: 01 May 2005 20:51:53
From: StanB
Subject: Re: Browne bribed?

"samsloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Somebody wouild have had to pay Walter Browne a lot more than $1200 to
> dump this game.

You're dodging the question Sam. Who gave you the money?

Date: 30 Apr 2005 11:32:20
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Browne bribed?

Date: 30 Apr 2005 14:54:12
From: Philip Feeley
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Sam Sloan wrote:
> At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>
>
>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 05:29:37
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: Busting Sloan's Claims on Benko Gambit

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,"

Date: 30 Apr 2005 05:23:46
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Busting Sloan's Claims on Benko Gambit

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)."

Date: 30 Apr 2005 10:36:07
From: Arfur Million
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 22:24:53
From: Lee Harris
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

"Arfur Million" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Sam Sloan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> 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

I don't think you found any games starting with d5 :-)

Date: 01 May 2005 10:50:38
From: Arfur Million
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

"Lee Harris" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Arfur Million" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> "Sam Sloan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> 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
>
>
> I don't think you found any games starting with d5 :-)
>

Come to think of it, you're right. Perhaps I need a bigger database :-)

Date: 02 May 2005 10:46:53
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

<[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 1 May 2005 16:58:48 -0700, "Taylor Kingston"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Sam, I want to be sure of your definition of the Benko Gambit. Is
>>that it above (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5)? If so, your definition agrees
>>exactly with the Oxford Companion's definition.
>>
>
> I am hereby now officially redefining the Benko Gambit.
>
> The Benko Gambit is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6

The Benko is normally characterised by BLACK's 2nd move, c5, and 3rd move b5
[when its a pawn sac against White's c4.]

Although it is still a Benko if black plays 3...g6 and 4...Bg7 and 5...b5,
which is a transposition of another Benko line. Black even has 5...0-0, and
6...b5

Additionally, although Whites 3rd move is usual, it isn't forced, and the
quiet continuation 3.e3 is one possibility, or even 3. dxc. These are still
variants of the Benoni, which become a Benko when a later b5 is played as a
sac.

Phil Innes

[I snipped chess politics and soc.culture.magyar and
rec.thought.lunar-landings from these proceedings]

Date: 30 Apr 2005 09:54:45
From: Lee Harris
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall 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.
>

Can someone please please explain to me how White can open with d5? Is this
more evidence of early steroid abuse?

Date: 30 Apr 2005 10:44:30
From: J�rgen R.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

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

>At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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.

>
>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.

No need to be so modest. I was also at the Santa Monica tournament and
Benk� told me himself that he learned the Benk� Gambit from you.

>
>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.

Euwe, Max - Theorie der Schacher�ffnungen, Teil VI-VII, page 74.
Siegfried-Engelhardt-Verlag, Berlin, ch 1965, 2nd edition.

Sloan, you are a fool.

> 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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 12:12:03
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 10:44:30 +0200, J�rgen R. <[email protected] > wrote:

>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:53:48 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
>wrote:
>
>>At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>>
>>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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 Schacher�ffnungen, Teil VI-VII, page 74.
>Siegfried-Engelhardt-Verlag, Berlin, ch 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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 14:53:21
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Sam, I think you're wrong. I just searched the online Chessbase and there
are about 70 published games of the Benko Gambit before 1967. The first one
was way back in 1936.

John

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 10:44:30 +0200, J�rgen R. <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:53:48 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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 Schacher�ffnungen, Teil VI-VII, page 74.
>>Siegfried-Engelhardt-Verlag, Berlin, ch 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
>
>

Date: 30 Apr 2005 19:15:13
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:53:21 GMT, "John J." <[email protected] >
wrote:

>Sam, I think you're wrong. I just searched the online Chessbase and there
>are about 70 published games of the Benko Gambit before 1967. The first one
>was way back in 1936.
>
>John

I believe that all those games are transpositions, and not really
Benko Gambits.

However, there is one game that is mentioned as having been played
before Benko played it. That is Szabo-Lundin. I cannot find it in my
database but as I recall Lundin misplayed it so badly that it is not
regarded as a Benko Gambit.

Sam Sloan

Date: 30 Apr 2005 19:34:46
From: John J.
Subject: Sam, please give me some credit!

I know what a transposition is and the games I mentioned were not
transpositions!!! Geezz
Do a search for yourself..

John

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:53:21 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>Sam, I think you're wrong. I just searched the online Chessbase and there
>>are about 70 published games of the Benko Gambit before 1967. The first
>>one
>>was way back in 1936.
>>
>>John
>
> I believe that all those games are transpositions, and not really
> Benko Gambits.
>
> However, there is one game that is mentioned as having been played
> before Benko played it. That is Szabo-Lundin. I cannot find it in my
> database but as I recall Lundin misplayed it so badly that it is not
> regarded as a Benko Gambit.
>
> Sam Sloan

Date: 30 Apr 2005 14:55:58
From: J�rgen R.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 12:12:03 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 10:44:30 +0200, J�rgen R. <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:53:48 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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 Schacher�ffnungen, Teil VI-VII, page 74.
>>Siegfried-Engelhardt-Verlag, Berlin, ch 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
>

Date: 30 Apr 2005 13:46:05
From: Chess One
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

"J�rgen R." <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 12:12:03 GMT, [email protected] (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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 05:23:09
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

You beat Walter Browne? Awsome !! What were your ratings back then? Do you
have a copy of the game?

John
"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 05:23:09 GMT, "John J." <[email protected] >
wrote:

>You beat Walter Browne? Awsome !! What were your ratings back then? Do you
>have a copy of the game?
>
>John

Sure:

[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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 18:56:15
From: J�rgen R.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

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

>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 05:23:09 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>>You beat Walter Browne? Awsome !! What were your ratings back then? Do you
>>have a copy of the game?
>>
>>John
>
>Sure:
>
>[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

At about move 20 your position is lost, and one might think that your
opponent then proceeded to fall asleep. However, this is not what
happened. Browne told me the next day that he was paid $1200 to let
you win. And who do you think paid him? (Hint: it wasn't our Hero
Sloan - 1200 was much more than he ever had at one time in those
days.)

Date: 30 Apr 2005 18:55:44
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

That's a serious charge. It's a crying shame that folks can post
unsubstantiated charges like the one you just posted.

Many of the games I've won were initially lost. Of course, my 'official'
USCF rating was only 1589.. and I'd like to keep it that way until the next
World open. <wink >

John
"J�rgen R." <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 05:23:09 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>You beat Walter Browne? Awsome !! What were your ratings back then? Do
>>>you
>>>have a copy of the game?
>>>
>>>John
>>
>>Sure:
>>
>>[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
>
> At about move 20 your position is lost, and one might think that your
> opponent then proceeded to fall asleep. However, this is not what
> happened. Browne told me the next day that he was paid $1200 to let
> you win. And who do you think paid him? (Hint: it wasn't our Hero
> Sloan - 1200 was much more than he ever had at one time in those
> days.)
>

Date: 30 Apr 2005 14:44:30
From: Mike Vetto
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

i would'nt let my opponent win even if i was paid a million dollars. Its not
for money that i play the game, its for respect and intregrity for the game.
So hence, Browne is more of a coward than Sloan is!!!

"J�rgen R." <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51 GMT, [email protected] (Sam Sloan)
> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 05:23:09 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>You beat Walter Browne? Awsome !! What were your ratings back then? Do
>>>you
>>>have a copy of the game?
>>>
>>>John
>>
>>Sure:
>>
>>[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
>
> At about move 20 your position is lost, and one might think that your
> opponent then proceeded to fall asleep. However, this is not what
> happened. Browne told me the next day that he was paid $1200 to let
> you win. And who do you think paid him? (Hint: it wasn't our Hero
> Sloan - 1200 was much more than he ever had at one time in those
> days.)
>

Date: 30 Apr 2005 03:42:47
From: Mike Vetto
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Sam Sloan, i Challenge you to a match, 1st person to get 7 points wins.

Date: 30 Apr 2005 00:41:41
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51 GMT, [email protected] (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.

Date: 30 Apr 2005 11:52:22
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 00:41:41 -0700, Mike Murray
<[email protected] > wrote:

>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51 GMT, [email protected] (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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 14:19:37
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

What's this 'Sexual Freedom League and what is the felony conviction people
keep talking about?

Heck, maybe I'll join the USCF one day, again..

John
"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 00:41:41 -0700, Mike Murray
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:01:51 GMT, [email protected] (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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 07:13:40
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 11:52:22 GMT, [email protected] (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.

Date: 30 Apr 2005 06:11:00
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

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
"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 05:23:09 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>You beat Walter Browne? Awsome !! What were your ratings back then? Do you
>>have a copy of the game?
>>
>>John
>
> Sure:
>
> [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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 11:49:25
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:11:00 GMT, "John J." <[email protected] >
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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 14:09:37
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

Yep ! You're right! it was 1969 ! Wow, time has past..... Hugh Myers was a
good friend of mine. He was one of my English teachers in H.S. in Puerto
Rico.

I remember staying up every night until the wee hours of the morning trying
to get the tournament bulletin out. Some of the writing on the score sheets
were virtually unreadable.

The highlight of that experience, besides meeting many of the greats of that
time, was sitting at the Larsen-Kaplan game to write the moves down and
watching my friend Julio Kaplan kick Larsens rear..... unfortunately, Kaplan
was too nice and he drew with the local yokels and didn't make GM... I
wonder what he's doing now..

John
"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 06:11:00 GMT, "John J." <[email protected]>
> 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

Date: 30 Apr 2005 19:08:35
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 14:09:37 GMT, "John J." <[email protected] >
wrote:

>Yep ! You're right! it was 1969 ! Wow, time has past..... Hugh Myers was a
>good friend of mine. He was one of my English teachers in H.S. in Puerto
>Rico.
>
>I remember staying up every night until the wee hours of the morning trying
>to get the tournament bulletin out. Some of the writing on the score sheets
>were virtually unreadable.
>
>The highlight of that experience, besides meeting many of the greats of that
>time, was sitting at the Larsen-Kaplan game to write the moves down and
>watching my friend Julio Kaplan kick Larsens rear..... unfortunately, Kaplan
>was too nice and he drew with the local yokels and didn't make GM... I
>wonder what he's doing now..
>
>John

Yes. I remember that very well. Kaplan defeated four top grandmasters,
Larsen, Donner and O'Kelly and one other, and would have gotten the
Grandmaster title from that one tournament except that he gave all
four local Puerto Rican Patzers draws, for what reason nobody knew
because the four puerto Ricans said that they were trying to lose to
Kaplan so that he would become the first Puerto Rican Grandmaster.

Browne did get the GM title in that tournament by defeating Kavalek
and all four Puerto Ricans and drawing nine other grandmasters
including Spassky, who won the tournament.

Kaplan missed the GM title by a half point. All he had to do was win
one out of four games against a Puerto Rican 2100 player.

Kaplan was a solid 2470 player but he never got that close to the GM
title again. Later, he owned a computer chess programming company in
Berkeley California, but I understand that it closed down a few years
ago. I believe that he still lives in Berkeley somewhere around 7th
Street and University Place.

Sam Sloan

Date: 30 Apr 2005 05:00:39
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

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

>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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!"

Another point about this I just remembered.

This reference to a chess tournament in Atlanta undoubtedly refers to
the 1967 US Open in Atlanta which was won by Benko.

It so happens that in 1995 Eric Schiller hired me to type the entire
tournament bulletins for the 1967 US Open in Atlanta into PGN Format.
This brings up another subject. I am deeply thankful to Eric Schiller
for hiring me and giving me work when I was absolutely flat broke. If
I ever do get elected to the USCF Executive Board, one of my first
motions will be to reinstate Eric Schiller who is now on persona non
grata status.

The 1967 US Open in Atlanta was played in August. The American Open
where the first published game of the Benko Gambit took place, which
was Laver-Benko, American Open 1967, took place in November, two
months later.

Milan Momic was a high 2300 player. In fact, it was once reported in
Chess Life that he had never lost a rated game. If he had played the
Benko Gambit in the 1967 US Open, the game would have been in the
tournament bulletins and I certainly would have noticed it when I
retyped those bulletins.

By the way, Bill Goichberg played in the 1967 US Open in Atlanta and
finished with one of the top scores. Pehaps he remembers this.

Sam Sloan

Date: 30 Apr 2005 04:27:38
From: Sam Sloan
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

At 04:01 AM 4/30/2005 -0000, Ervin Matthew/ Maliq Adonai Soter wrote:
>Peace...
>
>Sam, how is this not CLEARLY a Benko Gambit? It is the equivalent
>of playing 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. a4 bxa4, which,
>although not the most common line of the opening, does amount to a
>Benko Gambit. Pray tell, how was the pawn never offered when c4 was
>not addressed by protection of the b-pawn? Here, you are quite
>overzealous in your assertions. This is, indeed, a living,
>breathing Benko Gambit from before Benko was born.
>
>Hotep,
>
>Maliq

I disagree completely and I am surprised at your rek.

The game Rubinstein-Spielmann went 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 b5 4. c4
Bb7 5. a4 bxc4 6. Nc3 e6 7. e4 Nxe4

Spielmann never offered to sacrifice a pawn. If Rubinstein had
captured the pawn with 5. cxb5, Spielmann would have captured the
center pawn with Nxd5 which would clearly be bad for White.

Calling the game Rubinstein-Spielmann a Benko Gambit would be like
calling a game that starts with the moves 1. e4 e5 2. d3 d6 3. f4 a
King's Gambit.

Sam Sloan

Date: 29 Apr 2005 23:58:41
From: Mike Vetto
Subject: Re: Benko Gambit

starting with 1. d5, is just plain stupid and you are insulting all the fans
of chess. Dunt you have to write about some conspericy or something? Go do
what your good at and get off the chess dude

"Sam Sloan" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> At 10:32 AM 4/29/2005 -0600, Brian Wall wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 19:15:00 GMT, [email protected] (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