Otto Benkner

     Few people, if any, have probably ever heard of the German player Otto Benkner (April 5, 1909 – January 26, 1996). 

     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.

[Event "Amsterdam ol (Men) fin-B"] [Site "Amsterdam NED"] [Date "1954.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Otto Benkner"] [Black "Abe Yanofsky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E80"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1954.09.04"] {King's Indian: Saemisch} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 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..} O-O 6. Bg5 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. Be3 Kh7 {Black should still play ...e6} (8... Re8 9. Qd2 Kh7 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. Ng3 Nf8 12. Be2 a6 13. a4 e5 {and white has the much more active position. Strikovic,A (2559)-AlHuwar,J (2285) Paris 2012}) (8... Nbd7 9. Qd2 Kh7 10. Nh3 Ne5 11. Nf2 e6 12. Be2 exd5 13. cxd5 Re8 {White's position is more promising. Pakhomov,A (2356)-Potapov,A (2390) Sochi 2015}) ( 8... e6 9. Qd2 exd5 10. cxd5 Re8 11. Nge2 Nbd7 12. Nc1 a6 {Black stands quite well. Carlsen,M (2881)-Inarkiev,E (2682) Dubai 2014}) 9. Qd2 Na6 {Yanofsky's Q-side operations turn out to be too time consuming.} (9... a6 10. Be2 Qa5 11. g4 Ne8 12. Nh3 b5 {White has a slight edge, but at least black has launched his counterplay. Sagalchik,O (2155)-Epstein,E (2255) Modesto 1995}) 10. g4 Ng8 {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. } Nc7 (11... e5 {Trying to stem the tide would nit have been any better.} 12. Nge2 Bd7 13. Ng3 Nc7 {and here, too, white has a promising attack while black must tend to defending against it rather than developing counterplay.}) 12. Nh3 a6 {A better try was 12...Kh8 to get out of the range of the N.} (12... Kh8 { was worth a try.} 13. Ng5 e6 14. dxe6 Nxe6 15. Nb5 {White has a commanding position.}) 13. a4 {[%mdl 32] This is by no means bad, but he could have played the N to g5 with even greater effect.} (13. Ng5+ Kh8 14. h5 e5 15. O-O-O b5 16. Bd3 {Black's Q-side play has come to slowly and white has a near decisive attack on the K-side.}) 13... Bd7 14. a5 Rb8 15. Bd3 b5 16. Ng5+ { [%mdl 512] Even better was 16...axb6 first.} Kh8 17. h5 bxc4 18. Bb1 {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. Bxc4 {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.} Rb4 19. hxg6 fxg6 (19... Rxc4 20. gxf7 Nf6 21. Ne6 {is winning for white.}) 20. b3 Nb5 {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. Bxc4 Rb4 20. b3 Nb5 21. Bxb5 Rxb3 (21... Bxb5 22. Ne6) (21... axb5 22. Ra3 {White is better.}) {Pushing on with his attack!} 22. e5 Bxe5 23. Nge4 Rxf3 24. Be2 Rf7 25. Qc2 Qb8 26. Rb1 { A difficult position. White has a N vs two Ps and the better game, but the position would be hard to play.}) 18... Rb3 (18... hxg5 {would lose quickly...} 19. hxg6+ Nh6 20. Bxg5 fxg6 21. Bxh6 {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. Bf4 exd5 20. Bxd6 d4 21. e5 (21. Bxf8 Qxf8 22. Ne2 d3 23. Nc3 Ne6 24. Nxe6 Bxe6 {and it's black that is winning.}) 21... dxc3 22. bxc3 Qxg5 23. Qxg5 hxg5 24. Bxc7 Rbe8 25. hxg6+ Nh6 26. Bd6 fxg6 27. Bxf8 Bxf8 28. Bxg6 Rxe5+ 29. Be4 {In OTB play this position is certainly unclear.}) 19. e5 Be8 (19... hxg5 {lose quickly after} 20. hxg6+ Nh6 21. Bxg5 Rxb2 22. Rxh6+ Kg8 (22... Bxh6 23. Bf6+ Kg8 24. Qxh6 { mates}) 23. Qxb2 {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 Nxe6 22. Nxe6 Bxe6 23. Be4 d5 24. Nxd5 Bxd5 25. Bxh6 Bxh6 26. Rxh6+ Kg7 27. Rxg6+ Kf7 28. O-O-O Bxe4 29. Qf4+ Kxg6 30. Qxe4+) 20. Nxf7+ {Technically 20. Ba2 or first 20.hxg6 was "correct" but the text sets a nice trap into which Yanofsky falls.} Rxf7 {[%mdl 8192] This earns two question marks.} (20... Bxf7 {results in equality after} 21. hxg6 Bxd5 22. Bxh6 Nxh6 23. Rxh6+ Kg8 24. Rh8+ Bxh8 25. Qh6 Rxf3 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Qxh8+ Bg8 28. Qh6+ Ke8 29. Be4 {The only move to avoid incurring a disadvantage.} d5 {Ditto!} 30. Bxf3 Qb8 {with equal chances.}) 21. hxg6 Rxf3 22. Bxh6 Nxh6 23. Rxh6+ Kg8 24. Qh2 Re3+ {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. Rh8+ Bxh8 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Qxh8+ Ke7 28. Qh7+ Bf7 29. Be4 Re3+ 30. Kf2 Qg8 31. exd6+ Kxd6 32. Qxf7 { and wins}) 25. Kd1 Bxg6 {White could still go wrong here.} 26. Bxg6 (26. Rxg6 { hands over the advantage to black.} Qf8 {and it's white who is in serious trouble.} 27. Bf5 Rxe5 {White is down only P, but black is much better. For example...} 28. Rg5 Qf6 29. Bh7+ Kf8 30. Qxe5 {might be worth a try.} (30. Rxe5 Qxe5 31. Qxe5 Bxe5 {Black is much better.}) 30... Qxe5 (30... dxe5 31. Rf5) 31. Rxe5 Bxe5 {with the better ending.}) 26... Rd3+ 27. Kc1 {Alertly played as capturing the R results in black getting right back in the game.} (27. Bxd3 cxd3 (27... Bxh6 {But not this!} 28. Bxc4 Rxc3 29. bxc3 Bg7 {and white is winning.}) 28. Rh5 Qb8 29. Qd2 c4 30. Rg5 Rxb2 31. Rxg7+ Kxg7 32. Qg5+ Kf8 33. Qh6+ Ke8 34. Qh8+ Kd7 35. Qxb8 Rxb8 36. Ra4 dxe5 37. Rxc4 Rb2 {Black is slightly better.}) 27... Rdxc3+ {He gets mated in 9 after 27...Bxh6+} 28. bxc3 Rxc3+ 29. Kd1 Rd3+ 30. Ke2 {Another alert move. Yanofsky resigned. His position is hopeless; white has a mate in 11.} (30. Bxd3 {is a blunder. After} cxd3 31. Rg6 Qb8 32. exd6 exd6 33. Qxd6 Qb3+ 34. Ke1 Qc3+ 35. Kf2 Qxa1 36. Qxc7 Qb2+ {black achieves a draw.}) (30. Ke2 Bxh6 31. Qxh6 Re3+ 32. Kxe3 Nxd5+ 33. Kd2 Qxa5+ 34. Rxa5 c3+ 35. Ke1 Nf6 36. exf6 exf6 37. Qh7+ Kf8 38. Qf7#) 1-0