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Akiba Rubinstein vs Pavel Pavlovich Benko
3rd All-Russian Masters, Kiev (1903), Kiev, UKR (Russian Empire), rd 3, Sep-17
Dutch Defense: Normal Variation (A84)  ·  1-0

8
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1
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White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-21-04  iron maiden: Pal Benko? I think not.
Sep-21-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Perhaps there was another player called PP Benko. What is Pal's middle name?
Sep-22-04  notsodeepthought: Regardless of Pal's middle name, this is another player, since (a) Pal Benko was not born until about 20+ years later...; (b) PP Benko's play totally sucked; and the real clincher (c) white opened d4 and black did not try to play the Benko gambit! I might be willing to consider time travel and a bad day to explain (a) and (b), but (c) is proof positive that it was another player.
Sep-22-04  Calli: His first name is not known. My hunch is that he got into the DBs as Pal and then when they realized the mistake, someone made it "PP" in order to distinguish the two.

Chess Cafe's yearly quiz had a question where you had to match up "Benko" with finishing 16th at Kiev in 1903. In the answers, they commented that it was not the well known GM and that "His first name and other details seem to be lost in the mists of time."

Sep-22-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Benko is a Hungarian name. It would be odd for some crappy player to go all the way to Kiev from Hungary to play a Pole in the Russian championships.
Sep-22-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  chessgames.com: Every time we process more games this guy slips in again under the Pal Benko page. Around here we like to call him "the other Benko."

Other sources of confusion include "the other Kasparov" (Sergey Kasparov) and "the other Petrosian" (Tigran L Petrosian) and "the other Karjakin" (Sergei Karjakin) so why not another Benko?

Jan-13-05  GreenDayGuy: Ah. Thanks for cearing that up. I was getting scared for a second.
Dec-18-06  Bridgeburner:

A very efficient miniature by Rubinstein.

In light of the brevity of the game, it's probably churlish to criticise White's play, but 10.e4 is objectively probably better than 10.f4, freeing White's game.

Still, chess is largely a game of psychology and Black was quickly overwhelmed after his inappropriate response (10...Bf6). 10...Qe8 is thematic and good.

11.g4! is the winning move, completely refuting the ill-thought out 10...Bf6 which occupies the King Knight's flight square. To save the Knight, Black must compromise his King side and then loses a piece anyway!

Nov-10-07  Karpova: <A very efficient miniature by Rubinstein.> This is not a miniature but lasted 35 moves. The rest of the game score is not available.
Aug-08-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  jessicafischerqueen: From <Karpova>:

"1-0 Black didn't really test Rubinstein"

Jan-23-13  Diglot: 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.e3 <This is a stereotypical Rubinstein move in the opening, though it isn't always the best. More mainstream here is 3.Nf3, 3.g3, or 3.Nc3> 3...e6 4.Bd3 b6 5.Ne2 <Leaving the door open for a f-pawn push. A nice surprise by White instead of the expected 5.Nc3 or 5.Nf3> 5...Bb7 6.0–0 Be7 7.Nbc3 0–0 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 Nh5 <Not a terribly good move. 9...Qe8 or 9...Rc8 are to be preferred> 10.f4 Bf6 <Another unwise move. 10...Qe8 is needed> 11.g4 < ! The Knight cannot flee back to a safe square due to Black's previous ...Bf6> 11...fxg4 <Definitely not the best move. 11...Qe8 12.gxh5 Qxh5 or 11...Nxf4 12.Rxf4 g6 are both more desirable, though White retains a good advantage> 12.Bxh7+ Kh8 13.Bg6 <White misses the better continuation of 13.Qg6 Qe8 14.Qxe8 Raxe8 15.Bg6 Rd8 16.Bxh5> 13...Nxf4 <Also no help is 13...Bxd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.exd4 Qh4> 14.Rxf4 e5 <Not much Black can do here as White enjoys a strong advantage no matter what. 14...Bg5 is probably a better shot though> 15.Qf5 <15.Rxg4 is better> 15...Bg5 <Everything else leads to mate> 16.Qxf8+ <The only correct move. Not 16.Qg4? exf4 17.Nxf4 Kg8 and Black has equalized> 16...Qxf8 17.Rxf8+ Rxf8 18.Be4 <18.b4 is also good> 1–0

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