The Modern Benoni was invented in 1927 by Frank Marshall at the New York Chess Tournament. Marshall played it twice, first for a draw against Capablanca, and again later losing to Aron Nimzowitch whom labeled the Modern Benoni an "unfortunate extravagance" in his annotations. In the 1950s interest in the system revived, as the King's Indian Defense gained in popularity among Soviet players and their investigations branched into related opening systems such as the Benoni. The imbalance inherent in the pawn structure of the Modern Benoni and the counter-chances this implies for Black appeals to aggressive players.
ECO: A70, A67, A77
Content: 3.4 hours of chess theory and discussion, with example games, over a series of 7 lectures on 2 DVDs.
Members of ChessLecture.com rated this series a 4.05 out of 5
Fans on ChessLecture.com said: A great game by Tal, demonstrating some typical black ideas. Well presented.
IM Bryan Smith: grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and currently resides in Philadelphia, PA. Some of his accomplishments include clear first in the 2008 National Chess Congress, first place in the 2006 U.S. Masters (qualifying to the 2007 U.S. Championship) and first place in the 2008 King's Island Open, as well as winning many other Grand Prix tournaments. He was on the national champion UMBC chess team from 1999 to 2001. Bryan is the highest rated player ever from Alaska.