Benoni Defense: Hawk Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 c4
The Benoni Defense: Hawk Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A43, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 c4. 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 8 times by this move order. White won 50%, 0% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nc3 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.11 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 4. e4 Nxe4 5. Bxc4 d6 6. O-O g6)
- ECO
- A43
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp1ppppp/5n2/3P4/2p5/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 c4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 3 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 8 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nc3 | 4 (50%) | |
| 4. e3 | 2 (25%) | |
| 4. Bg5 | 1 (13%) | |
| 4. Qd4 | 1 (13%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 0%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- Andrey M. Souza Neves (2218) – FM Ivan Kuhlmann Nogueira (2308) 0-1 · 83rd ch-BRA 2017 · 2017-02-09
- Edgar Mamedov (1973) – Kateryna Banina (1210) 1-0 · UKR-KAZ U16 Team Battle · 2020-07-02
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: Hawk Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- munkhbat5 (2102) – Chinomontana (1974) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
- TMerton (2026) – drmarwan (2016) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- MikeMann (1724) – VJ-FROGGY (1695) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Spielmann-Indian 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5
More Benoni Defense lines (all)
- Benoni Defense: Franco-Sicilian Hybrid A40
- Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted A43
- Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit, Schlenker Defense A43
- 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: 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
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.