Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Be3
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be3
The Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Be3 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 8. Be3. It is a line of the Benoni Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 22 times by this move order. White won 55%, 0% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 8… O-O (91% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.15 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 8… O-O 9. Qd2 a6 10. a4 Qa5 11. Bf4)
- ECO
- A65
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pbp/3p1np1/2pP4/4P3/2N1BP2/PP4PP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 2 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 10 | |
| 2000+ | 11 | |
| All | 22 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… O-O | 20 (91%) | |
| 8… a6 | 2 (9%) |
Master games
29 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 10%, Black 52%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2732) – IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (2378) 1-0 · chess.com Speed Poland · 2024-01-24
- IM Dragos-Nicolae Dumitrache (2423) – IM Alan Pichot (2486) 0-1 · 14th Rochefort Open 2015 · 2015-02-26
- FM Piotr Brzezina (2296) – IM Matvey Galchenko (2435) 0-1 · Titled Tue 29th Jul Early · 2025-07-29
- FM Juan Sebastian Melian (2275) – IM Matvey Galchenko (2438) 0-1 · Titled Tue 2nd Jul Early · 2024-07-02
- IM Tatjana Vasilevich (2404) – Alagulian, K. (2294) 1-0 · TCh-RUS Rapid 2015 · 2015-05-09
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Be3 and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Yalb (2396) – AndreyRus77 (2336) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- jose_luis17 (2193) – Magnus-Calzone (2236) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- nelk19 (2153) – Roman_Olegov1ch (2195) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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
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.