Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit, Schlenker Defense
1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 Na6
The Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit, Schlenker Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A43, reached after 1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 Na6. It is a line of the Benoni Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 248 times by this move order. White won 42%, 6% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 3. Be3 (23% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.72 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 3. Nc3 Nxc5 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 a6)
- ECO
- A43
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pp1ppppp/n7/2P5/8/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 Na6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 55 | |
| 1500-1999 | 129 | |
| 2000+ | 64 | |
| All | 248 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Be3 | 57 (23%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 46 (19%) | |
| 3. e4 | 33 (13%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 23 (9%) | |
| 3. e3 | 17 (7%) | |
| 3. Qd4 | 14 (6%) | |
| 3. c4 | 14 (6%) | |
| 3. c6 | 13 (5%) |
Master games
67 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 15%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- IM Eric Rosen (2360) – GM Raunak Sadhwani (2619) 0-1 · Titled Tue 31st May Late · 2022-05-31
- GM Mikhail Demidov (2562) – FM Aleksey Ivlev (2315) 1-0 · ch-RUS Blitz 2023 · 2023-10-14
- Quoc Dung Tran (2286) – GM Thien Hai Dao (2476) 0-1 · ch-VIE 2016 · 2016-04-28
- GM Aryan Gholami (2513) – Ellan Asuela (2248) 1-0 · Asian Individual Hybrid · 2021-05-27
- IM Olexandr Bortnyk (2539) – Kirill Reshetkov (2197) 1-0 · Nebesna sotnya Mem Blitz · 2015-02-20
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit, Schlenker Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Pastukhov_Nicolay (2496) – Viktor_Tahirov555 (2429) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- KJO144 (2508) – Grigoriy1997 (2315) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- CapitanAfrica (2491) – Grigoriy1997 (2306) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted 1. d4 c5 2. dxc5
More Benoni Defense lines (all)
- Benoni Defense: Franco-Sicilian Hybrid A40
- Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense A43
- Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense, Kingside Move Order A43
- Benoni Defense: Benoni-Staunton Gambit A43
- Benoni Defense: Cormorant Gambit A43
- Benoni Defense: French Benoni A43
- Benoni Defense: Hawk Variation A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1. d4 c5) A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1… c5 2. d5) A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (2. d5 d6) A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Mujannah Formation A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Schmid Variation A43
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.