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

chess opening The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...

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 spelling pronunciation ; "little flank") is a pattern of wherein a bishop is developed to the second of the adjacent b- or g-, the having been moved one or two squares forward. The fianchetto is a staple of man ...

ing the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Nick de Firmian Nicholas Ernest de Firmian (born July 26, 1957) is an American chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1985. He is a three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied f ...

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 Catalan Opening is a chess opening where White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, although various other openings can transpose into the Catalan. The ''Encyclopaedia of ...

, the

King's Indian Attack The King's Indian Attack (or KIA) is a chess opening where White adopts the setup more commonly seen being played by Black in the King's Indian Defence. The King's Indian Attack is characterised by the following moves: the central pawns are de ...

and some variations of the

English Opening The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move: : 1. c4 A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, one of the four most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins ...

. For this reason, the ''

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of Chess theory#Opening theory, opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugos ...

'' 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. Transposition by delayed fianchetto occurs in the Barcza Opening (1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 or 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3).

Use

While this opening has never been common, the

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

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. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, noted that "many of the Indian players commence their game in this way." The hypermodern player Richard Reti played 1.g3 several times at

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

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 Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

and

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...

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 win ...

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

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

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (, ; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Bor ...

employed it once against

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

in the 1978 World Chess Championship.

Theory

By playing 1.g3, White prepares to

the on the and also to push e4, since the fianchettoed bishop supports that square. White can also

transpose In linear algebra, the transpose of a Matrix (mathematics), matrix is an operator which flips a matrix over its diagonal; that is, it switches the row and column indices of the matrix by producing another matrix, often denoted by (among other ...

into the

by playing Nf3, then

castling Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king (chess), king two squares toward a rook (chess), rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king ...

. This opening generally leads to .

Sample lines

The following lines are examples of the kinds of positions that can develop from the King's Fianchetto Opening. is flexible in each case.

King's Indian Attack

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 Nf6 3. Nf3 c6 4. 0-0 Bg4 5. d3 Nbd7 6. Nbd2 e5 7. e4 (diagram).

English Opening

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

Use

Theory

Sample lines

King's Indian Attack

English Opening

See also

References