Benkner won the Frankfurt City Championship in1930, the Rhine Chess Congress in 1934 and was a bronze medalist in the German Team Championship.
Few people today have have probably ever heard of Saarland, also called Saar, which is located in southwestern Germany. The capital is Saarbrucken.
After World War I, Saar’s coal mines were awarded to France and Saarland was placed under the administration of the League of Nations for 15 years, at the end of which time the inhabitants could choose (in a plebiscite) between being part of France or Germany and on January 13, 1935, more than 90 percent of the inhabitants voted to return to Germany.
In 1945, following World War II, French military forces occupied Saarland and two years later the first Saar state parliament adopted a constitution that called for an autonomous Saar in an economic union with France.
By 1954, however, West Germany’s renewed prosperity was looking good to residents and France and West Germany agreed to give Saar’s autonomy under a European commissioner, but voters rejected the proposal. In 1956 the French agreed to return Saar to West Germany, and on January 1, 1957.
From 1938, Benkner lived in Saarbrucken and he was the champion of the Saar 11 times, the last time being in 1966. He served as head of the press service of the Saar Chess Federation. From 1948 to 1990 Benkner was the chess solumnists for the newspaper Saarbrucker Zeitung.
Benkner played for Saar in two Olympiads: Helsinki 1952, at second board (+6, =6, -2) and Moscow 1954, at first board (+8, =4, -4).
In the Second World War Benkner fought on the Eastern Front and in 1943 he was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment and lost his left arm. Due to problems with his own health and a serious illness of his wife, he retired from tournament play in 1967.
Chessmetrics retro-rating site assigns Benkner a high rating of 2527 on its November 1954 rating list which placed him at number 128 in the world. Smyslov, Botvinnik, Resjevsky, Keres and Bronstein topped the list.
In the following game Benkner conjures up a smashing attack against Canadian GM Abe Yanofsky. It was played in the Final B group (won by Switzerland) with Canada (Yanofsky, Anderson, Vaitonis, Bohatyrchuk, Fox, Divinsky) finishing second (out of 13 teams). Saar (Benkner, Lorson, Morena, Kastel, Weichselbaumer, Haas) finished tenth.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
Otto Benkner–Abe Yanofsky1–0E80Amsterdam ol (Men) fin-BAmsterdam NED1954Stockfish 15
King's Indian: Saemisch 1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.f3
The Saemisch used to be a critical challenge to the King's Indian, but today,
statistically it scores no better than other popular moves. A favorite of
Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov and Kasparov the Saemisch gave
Fischer so much trouble that he came to avoid the K-Indian if he believed he
would face the Saemisch. It wasn't until his 1992 match with Spassky that he
figured out how to handle it.. 0-0 6.g5 c5 Positionally this, white's most
popular reply, is black's most natural break because it attacks the center
with a wing P and it leaves the a1–h8 diagonal open. However, statistically
black does better Robert Byrne's flexible approach using ...c6 and ...a6 in
order to prepare the push ...b5. Black's direct counter in the center is
postponed so that the Q-side advance can proceed quickly. 7.d5 h6 Much
better is 7...e6 8.e3 h7 Black should still play ...e6 8...e8 9.d2 h7 10.ge2 bd7 11.g3 f8 12.e2 a6 13.a4 e5 and white has the much
more active position. Strikovic,A (2559)-AlHuwar,J (2285) Paris 2012 8...bd7 9.d2 h7 10.h3 e5 11.f2 e6 12.e2 exd5 13.cxd5 e8 White's
position is more promising. Pakhomov,A (2356)-Potapov,A (2390) Sochi 2015 8...e6 9.d2 exd5 10.cxd5 e8 11.ge2 bd7 12.c1 a6 Black stands quite
well. Carlsen,M (2881)-Inarkiev,E (2682) Dubai 2014 9.d2 a6 Yanofsky's
Q-side operations turn out to be too time consuming. 9...a6 10.e2 a5 11.g4 e8 12.h3 b5 White has a slight edge, but at least black has launched
his counterplay. Sagalchik,O (2155)-Epstein,E (2255) Modesto 1995 10.g4 g8 A poor retreat. Going to d7 was better. 11.h4 Clearly a storm is brewing
on the K-side and in the meantime black's Q-side counterplay is lagging behind.
c7 11...e5 Trying to stem the tide would nit have been any better. 12.ge2 d7 13.g3 c7 and here, too, white has a promising attack while black
must tend to defending against it rather than developing counterplay. 12.h3 a6 A better try was 12...Kh8 to get out of the range of the N. 12...h8
was worth a try. 13.g5 e6 14.dxe6 xe6 15.b5 White has a commanding
position. 13.a4 This is by no means bad, but he could have
played the N to g5 with even greater effect. 13.g5+ h8 14.h5 e5 15.0-0-0 b5 16.d3 Black's Q-side play has come to slowly and white has a near
decisive attack on the K-side. 13...d7 14.a5 b8 15.d3 b5 16.g5+
Even better was 16...axb6 first. h8 17.h5 bxc4 18.b1 Obviously white wanted to keep his B on its present
diagonal from which it attacks g6, but it is a subtle mistake because it shuts
out his R on a1 which would be very handy in the K-side attack. Additionally,
it offers black an opportunity to defend his K. 18.xc4 is not bad.
Although here is no real need to recapture the P immediately this looks like
the best line in practical play, engine suggestions notwithstanding. b4 19.hxg6 fxg6 19...xc4 20.gxf7 f6 21.e6 is winning for white. 20.b3 b5 and although white is better black at least has some counterplay. 18.hxg6 This is the move of choice of engines because it keeps the pressure on, but
the resulting positions are tricky. fxg6 19.xc4 b4 20.b3 b5 21.xb5 xb3 Pushing on with
his attack! 21...xb5 22.e6 21...axb5 22.a3 White is better. 22.e5 xe5 23.ge4 xf3 24.e2 f7 25.c2 b8 26.b1
A difficult position. White has a N vs two Ps and the better game, but the
position would be hard to play. 18...b3 18...hxg5 would lose quickly... 19.hxg6+ h6 20.xg5 fxg6 21.xh6 etc. 18...e6 puts the shoe on the
other foot. Suddenly it's black that has the advantage though it must be
admitted that things get really messy. For example... 19.f4 exd5 20.xd6 d4 21.e5 21.xf8 xf8 22.e2 d3 23.c3 e6 24.xe6 xe6 and it's black
that is winning. 21...dxc3 22.bxc3 xg5 23.xg5 hxg5 24.xc7 be8 25.hxg6+ h6 26.d6 fxg6 27.xf8 xf8 28.xg6 xe5+ 29.e4 In OTB play this
position is certainly unclear. 19.e5 e8 19...hxg5 lose quickly after 20.hxg6+ h6 21.xg5 xb2 22.xh6+ g8 22...xh6 23.f6+ g8 24.xh6
mates 23.xb2 White has a winning position. 19...e6 As in the past
this excellent move is best. The ensuing complications are enormous and
anything could go go wrong for either player. In the end though the chances
should be equal...assuming correct play by both sides! 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.dxe6 xe6 22.xe6 xe6 23.e4 d5 24.xd5 xd5 25.xh6 xh6 26.xh6+ g7 27.xg6+ f7 28.0-0-0 xe4 29.f4+ xg6 30.xe4+ 20.xf7+ Technically 20.
Ba2 or first 20.hxg6 was "correct" but the text sets a nice trap into which
Yanofsky falls. xf7 This earns two question marks. 20...xf7 results in equality after 21.hxg6 xd5 22.xh6 xh6 23.xh6+ g8 24.h8+ xh8 25.h6 xf3 26.h7+ f8 27.xh8+ g8 28.h6+ e8 29.e4 The only
move to avoid incurring a disadvantage. d5 Ditto! 30.xf3 b8 with equal
chances. 21.hxg6 xf3 22.xh6 xh6 23.xh6+ g8 24.h2 e3+ Stockfish
gleefully points out this allows mate in 14 and the old standby by 24...e6 was
better. No matter...it loses, too. 24...e6 25.h8+ xh8 26.h7+ f8 27.xh8+ e7 28.h7+ f7 29.e4 e3+ 30.f2 g8 31.exd6+ xd6 32.xf7
and wins 25.d1 xg6 White could still go wrong here. 26.xg6 26.xg6
hands over the advantage to black. f8 and it's white who is in serious
trouble. 27.f5 xe5 White is down only P, but black is much better. For
example... 28.g5 f6 29.h7+ f8 30.xe5 might be worth a try. 30.xe5 xe5 31.xe5 xe5 Black is much better. 30...xe5 30...dxe5 31.f5 31.xe5 xe5 with the better ending. 26...d3+ 27.c1 Alertly played as
capturing the R results in black getting right back in the game. 27.xd3 cxd3 27...xh6 But not this! 28.xc4 xc3 29.bxc3 g7 and white is
winning. 28.h5 b8 29.d2 c4 30.g5 xb2 31.xg7+ xg7 32.g5+ f8 33.h6+ e8 34.h8+ d7 35.xb8 xb8 36.a4 dxe5 37.xc4 b2 Black is
slightly better. 27...dxc3+ He gets mated in 9 after 27...Bxh6+ 28.bxc3 xc3+ 29.d1 d3+ 30.e2 Another alert move. Yanofsky resigned. His
position is hopeless; white has a mate in 11. 30.xd3 is a blunder. After cxd3 31.g6 b8 32.exd6 exd6 33.xd6 b3+ 34.e1 c3+ 35.f2 xa1 36.xc7 b2+ black achieves a draw. 30.e2 xh6 31.xh6 e3+ 32.xe3 xd5+ 33.d2 xa5+ 34.xa5 c3+ 35.e1 f6 36.exf6 exf6 37.h7+ f8 38.f7# 1–0
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