Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Bg5 (7… Bg7 8. Bg5)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Bg5
The Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Bg5 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. Bg5. 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 20 times by this move order. White won 60%, 5% were drawn and Black won 35%. The most popular continuation is 8… O-O (65% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8… O-O 9. Qd2 a6 10. a4 h6 11. Be3)
- ECO
- A65
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pbp/3p1np1/2pP2B1/4P3/2N2P2/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. Bg5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 20 | |
| All | 20 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… O-O | 13 (65%) | |
| 8… h6 | 7 (35%) |
Master games
115 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 51%, draw 12%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2779) – GM Levan Pantsulaia (2607) 0-1 · World Rapid 2016 · 2016-12-27
- GM Gergely Aczel (2522) – GM Marin Bosiocic (2619) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Bundesliga Sud 19-20 · 2020-02-08
- GM Kamil Miton (2612) – IM Toms Kantans (2513) 1-0 · Paul Keres Memorial 2015 · 2016-01-10
- GM Cristhian Camilo Rios Gomez (2464) – GM Alan Pichot (2630) 0-1 · Iberoamericano Chess24 · 2020-06-01
- IM Diego Rafael Di Berardino (2484) – GM Alexandr Fier (2604) 1-0 · Gaudium Chess Masters B · 2023-06-29
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Bg5 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 (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.