Benoni Defense: Old Benoni
Chess opening · ECO A43 · 2 half-moves
1. d4 c5
The Benoni Defense: Old Benoni is reached after 1. d4 c5. It is White's move in the position shown.
It branches from the Queen's Pawn Game with 1… c5.
How often it is played
The Benoni Defense: Old Benoni and its variations appeared in 0.99% of games — 29,768 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 51 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 48%, 3.5% were drawn and Black won 49%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.74 — a clear edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Defense | 1. d4 Nf6 | 5.1% |
| Queen's Gambit | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 | 4.5% |
| Queen's Pawn Game: Zukertort Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 | 2.3% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted | 1. d4 c5 2. dxc5 | 0.17% |
| Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense | 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 | 0.03% |
| Queen's Pawn Game: Liedmann Gambit | 1. d4 c5 2. c4 cxd4 3. e3 | 0.01% |
| Benoni Defense: Semi-Benoni | 1. d4 c5 2. d5 e5 3. e4 d6 | 0.01% |
| Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Schmid Variation | 1. d4 c5 2. d5 d6 3. Nc3 g6 | 0.00% |
| Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Mujannah Formation | 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5 | 0.00% |
| Benoni Defense: Snail Variation | 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Na6 | 0.00% |
| Benoni Defense: Zilbermints-Benoni Gambit | 1. d4 c5 2. b4 | 0.00% |
Check your own games
Paste a game, or share one straight from lichess or chess.com, and Chess Analyzer names the opening, marks where the game left known theory and grades every move after it.
Open the analyzer