The King's Fianchetto Opening or Benko's Opening (also known as the Hungarian Opening, Barcza Opening, or Bilek Opening) is a

chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defen ...

characterized by the move: :1. g3 White's 1.g3 ranks as the fifth most popular opening move, but it is far less popular than 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. It is usually followed by 2.Bg2,

fianchetto In chess, the fianchetto ( or ; "little flank") is a pattern of wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent b- or g-, the having been moved one or two squares forward. The fianchetto is a staple of many " hypermodern" ...

ing the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

. Nick de Firmian writes that 1.g3 "can, and usually does, transpose into almost any other opening in which White fianchettos his king's bishop". Included among these are the Catalan Opening, the King's Indian Attack and some variations of the English Opening. For this reason, the ''

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). It is curre ...

'' has no specific code devoted to 1.g3. The move itself is classified under A00, but the numerous transpositional possibilities can result in various ''ECO'' codes. While this opening has never been common, the

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

player Ghulam Kassim, annotating the 1828 correspondence match between Madras and

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, noted that "many of the Indian players commence their game in this way." The hypermodern player

Richard Reti Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

played 1.g3 several times at Baden-Baden in 1925, with mixed results. 1.g3 received renewed attention after Pal Benko used it to defeat

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

and Mikhail Tal in the 1962

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The w ...

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coa ...

, part of the 1963 World Championship cycle. Benko used the opening the first eleven times he was White in the tournament.

Theory

By playing 1.g3, White prepares to

their bishop along the and also to push e4 since the bishop is supporting that square. White can also play Nf3 in the future, then

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

to transpose into the King's Indian Attack. This opening generally leads to , and White can also build up a strong kingside attack.

Sample lines

The following lines are examples of the kinds of positions which can develop from the King's Fianchetto opening. Move order is flexible in each case.

King's Indian Attack

King's Indian Attack, Yugoslav Variation (''ECO'' A07): :1.g3 d5 2.Bg2 Nf6 3.Nf3 c6 4.0-0 Bg4 5.d3 Nbd7 6.Nbd2 e5 7.e4 (''diagram'').

English Opening

English Opening, Botvinnik System (''ECO'' A26): :1.g3 g6 2.Bg2 Bg7 3.c4 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.d3 f5 6.e4 Nf6 7.Nge2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nd5 (''diagram'').

References

Bibliography * {{chess Chess openings 1962 in chess

Theory

Sample lines

King's Indian Attack

English Opening

See also

References