About this opening
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, New York Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code A70. ECO group A (A00–A99)
covers flank and irregular openings, including the English, Bird, Réti and Dutch defences. This particular variation is reached
after 15 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. e4 Bg7 8. h3.
It belongs to the Benoni Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Classical Variation → New York Variation line). The immediate parent line is Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, transitioned via 8.h3.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.d4 Nf6, 2.c4 e6, 3.Nf3 c5, 4.d5 exd5, 5.cxd5 d6, 6.Nc3 g6. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of A70 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.