Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 (7… Bg7 8. Nge2)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Nge2
The Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 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. Nge2. 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 3 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 8… O-O (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.21 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8… Nbd7 9. Ng3 h5 10. Be2 Nh7 11. Nf1)
- ECO
- A65
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pbp/3p1np1/2pP4/4P3/2N2P2/PP2N1PP/R1BQKB1R 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. Nge2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… O-O | 3 (100%) |
Master games
57 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 23%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- GM Abhijeet Gupta (2612) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2648) 1-0 · 4th Sharjah Masters 2021 · 2021-09-19
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2684) – GM Ioan-Cristian Chirila (2504) 1-0 · 32nd Benasque Open · 2012-07-12
- IM Mika Karttunen (2489) – GM Aleksandar Indjic (2613) 0-1 · Titled Tue 19th Apr Late · 2022-04-19
- GM Abhijeet Gupta (2587) – IM Marcin Krzyzanowski (2504) 1-0 · 33rd Cannes Open 2019 · 2019-02-20
- GM Sahaj Grover (2467) – GM Levan Pantsulaia (2556) 0-1 · 15th Dubai Open 2013 · 2013-04-09
Search all games of the Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2 and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- colnago_master (2383) – Ernest_chigavara77 (2364) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- eltvillekuhn (2103) – GreekTal05 (2148) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- eltvillekuhn (2035) – Osechka (2148) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
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.