Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1. d4 c5)

1. d4 c5

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

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 104,515 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 2. d5 (34% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.61 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 2. d5 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 g6)

ECO: A43
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/2p5/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. d4 c5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	26,416	49%48%
1500-1999	57,112	48%48%
2000+	20,987	48%46%
All	104,515	48%48%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. d5 Old Benoni (1… c5 2. d5)	35,893 (34%)	50%46%
2. dxc5 Benoni Gambit Accepted	21,192 (20%)	47%49%
2. Nf3	10,638 (10%)	47%48%
2. e3	10,466 (10%)	49%46%
2. c3	9,914 (9%)	50%46%
2. c4	6,704 (6%)	47%48%
2. Bf4	4,865 (5%)	45%51%
2. e4	1,957 (2%)	47%49%

Master games

3,223 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 18%, Black 48%). The strongest:

Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) – rofChade 2.321 (3467) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-22
rofChade 2.321 (3467) – Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-19
Igel 3.0.10 (3495) – SlowChess Blitz 2.83 avx2 (3490) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-22
SlowChess Blitz 2.83 avx2 (3490) – Igel 3.0.10 (3495) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-19
GM Grigoriy Oparin (2660) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2807) 0-1 · Titled Tue 8th Jul Early · 2025-07-08

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
Sunrise34 (2846) – notkevich (2749) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
RiseP (2729) – FM Guary1 (2836) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4) 1. d4

Continuations

Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. dxc5
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1… c5 2. d5) A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. d5
Benoni Defense: Zilbermints-Benoni Gambit (1… c5 2. b4) A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. b4
Benoni Defense: Zilbermints-Benoni Gambit (2… cxd4 3. b4) A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. Nf3 cxd4 3. b4
Queen's Pawn Game: Liedmann Gambit A43 · 1. d4 c5 2. c4 cxd4 3. e3

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.