Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1… c5 2. d5)

1. d4 c5 2. d5

The Benoni Defense: Old Benoni is a chess opening classified as ECO A43, reached after 1. d4 c5 2. d5. It is a line of the Benoni Defense. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 35,893 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2… d6 (38% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.60 (Stockfish, depth 61; best line 2… e6 3. e4 Nf6 4. Nc3 d6 5. dxe6)

ECO: A43
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/2pP4/8/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. d4 c5 2. d5

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	5,365	52%45%
1500-1999	20,692	49%47%
2000+	9,836	49%46%
All	35,893	50%46%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… d6 Old Benoni (2. d5 d6)	13,601 (38%)	49%46%
2… e6	7,598 (21%)	50%46%
2… Nf6 Benoni-Indian Defense	6,605 (18%)	49%47%
2… e5 Old Benoni (2. d5 e5)	4,074 (11%)	48%47%
2… g6	1,667 (5%)	47%50%
2… b5	715 (2%)	52%44%
2… c4	444 (1%)	56%40%
2… f5 Old Benoni, Mujannah Formation	263 (1%)	47%47%

Master games

2,152 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 17%, Black 35%). The strongest:

PlentyChess 7.0.55 (3693) – Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-12
Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) – PlentyChess 7.0.55 (3693) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-09
GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2750) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2678) 1-0 · Duda-Ivanchuk Help UKR m · 2022-07-20
GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2730) – GM Levan Pantsulaia (2597) 1-0 · World Blitz 2022 · 2022-12-30
GM Nicolas Checa (2517) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) 0-1 · Titled Tue 14th Jan Late · 2025-01-14

Search all games of the Benoni Defense: Old Benoni and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

GladiatorDefence (2801) – FM Guary1 (2847) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
RiseP (2729) – FM Guary1 (2836) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
GM Fabsid (2777) – firstJuly2024 (2714) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1. d4 c5) 1. d4 c5

Continuations

Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (2. d5 d6) A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (2. d5 e5) A44 · 1. d4 c5 2. d5 e5
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Mujannah Formation A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5
Benoni Defense: Snail Variation A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Na6

More Benoni Defense lines (all)

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.