You can play this opening against anyone. This opening is especially well suited forrapid and blitz games, since in the reduced time control in particular the role of theinitiative increases. Generally speaking, not in every opening will you find such athing as Black having the initiative from the very first moves (although this pleasureis paid for with a whole pawn!). I played this opening with a classical time controlagainst the ex-champion of Russia, Grandmaster Igor Lysyj, and very comfortablyequalized in the opening, although later the class difference showed and myeminent opponent beat me. Nevertheless, the opening had absolutely nothing todo with it. This opening worked great when I played it in Rostov-on-Don, when Ibeat many strong players and after that they preferred to play 1.c4, doing whateverthey could to avoid the Benko Gambit. Of course, to my understanding this openingis especially good to play against amateurs, or weaker players than yourself, whodo not know its intricacies – you can quickly get a promising position. This openingis suitable for active players striving for a lively, initiative-rich game, with a strongspirit. After all, you need to understand that if something goes wrong, you may facebig problems, since you do not have a pawn, but as in any opening there are plusesand minuses, and in the Benko Gambit there are also disadvantages. First of all, insome places you need to play very accurately (this will be especially evident in thepositions that we will consider in volume 2) and the cost of an error is quite high.But if the reader carefully studies the books, then I think that there should be noproblems and the Benko Gambit will give you many of your most interesting fights!
