The Modern Benko Gambit - A Complete Repertoire for Black
Chapter 5: Alternatives Move 3
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5
We begin covering the third-move alternatives: 3.dxc5 and 3.e3. Against 3.dxc5 Black replies ...e6 and often reaches a comfortable reversed Queen's Gambit Accepted, met by ...g6 or the more precise ...d5. The main caution: against 3.e3, Black should avoid drifting into unfamiliar Caro-Kann or Panov-type structures and instead play ...d5 to keep the game on his own terms.
3.dxc5 and 3.e3
Against 3.Nf3, Black takes on d4 and chooses the sharpest, most Benko-spirited reply - the pawn sacrifice ...e5 - and after Nb5 ...d5 and ...Bc5 reaches lively positions where Black's compensation is aggressive and king-hunting, with weakened light squares around White's king and thematic breaks like ...f5–f4 giving a genuinely dangerous attack.
3.Nf3