Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 (8… exd5 9. cxd5)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Ng3 exd5 9. cxd5
The Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 is a chess opening classified as ECO A65, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Ng3 exd5 9. cxd5. 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 6 times by this move order. White won 33%, 17% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 9… a6 (83% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 9… Nbd7 10. a4 a6 11. Be2 Rb8 12. Be3)
- ECO
- A65
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/pp3pbp/3p1np1/2pP4/4P3/2N2PN1/PP4PP/R1BQKB1R b KQ - 0 9- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Ng3 exd5 9. cxd5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 6 | |
| All | 6 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9… a6 | 5 (83%) | |
| 9… h5 | 1 (17%) |
Master games
242 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2731) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2814) 1/2-1/2 · 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015 · 2015-08-26
- GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2733) – GM Liren Ding (2680) 1/2-1/2 · 8th RUS-CHN Summit Men Classical · 2012-07-04
- GM Nikita Vitiugov (2737) – GM Ivan Cheparinov (2672) 1/2-1/2 · Gibraltar Masters TB 2014 · 2014-02-06
- GM Victor Bologan (2681) – GM Liren Ding (2702) 0-1 · SportAccord Blitz Men 2012 · 2012-12-17
- GM Maxim Matlakov (2689) – GM B. Adhiban (2674) 0-1 · World Rapid 2015 · 2015-10-12
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Spiegelstufe (2600) – symbiote (2548) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Spartron (2486) – shashist26 (2558) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- oldryuk (2418) – RO130 (2245) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bobotsov-Korchnoi-Petrosian Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. 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.