Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line (7. f3 Bg7)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7
The Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line is a chess opening classified as ECO A65, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7. It is a line of the Benoni Defense. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 60 times by this move order. White won 57%, 1% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 8. Be3 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 8. Bg5 O-O 9. Qd2 a6 10. a4 h6)
- ECO
- A65
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pbp/3p1np1/2pP4/4P3/2N2P2/PP4PP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 17 | |
| 2000+ | 42 | |
| All | 60 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Be3 King's Pawn Line, with Be3 | 22 (37%) | |
| 8. Bg5 King's Pawn Line, with Bg5 (7… Bg7 8. Bg5) | 20 (33%) | |
| 8. Bd3 | 4 (7%) | |
| 8. Bb5+ | 4 (7%) | |
| 8. Nge2 King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 (7… Bg7 8. Nge2) | 3 (5%) | |
| 8. Bd2 | 2 (3%) | |
| 8. Bc4 | 2 (3%) | |
| 8. Be2 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
5 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 20%, draw 40%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- Ansh M Shah (2163) – FM Ruslan Murtazin (2247) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 27th Sep Late · 2022-09-27
- David Komarek (2142) – FM Josef Kratochvil (2243) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-CZE 1 Liga Vychod · 2015-12-13
- FM Bahne Fuhrmann (2244) – CM Marcel Winkels (1897) 1-0 · Titled Tue 22nd Apr Early · 2025-04-22
- Mubassar Uddin (2087) – FM Poompong Wiwatanadate (2040) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 24th Nov · 2020-11-24
- Benjamin Lin (1862) – CM David Gordon (2199) 0-1 · Varennes Open 2017 · 2017-10-08
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- colnago_master (2389) – IM Donde_esta_tu_rey (2500) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- duca (2420) – Mukha73 (2419) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- namesha (2433) – FM WitteVanHaemstede (2396) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line (5… d6 6. e4) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4
Continuations
- Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Be3 A65 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be3
- Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Bg5 (7… Bg7 8. Bg5) A65 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Bg5
- Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 (7… Bg7 8. Nge2) A65 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Nge2
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: 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
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.