Chess: How does Black win?

CHICAGO proved to be Timur Gareyev's "kind of town", as Frank Sinatra might say. The Uzbek grandmaster took the top prize during last weekend's Chicago Open, as he clinched outright first place ahead of a strong cosmopolitan pack of chasing grandmasters.

Going into the final round in the Windy City, there was a four-way grandmaster tie on 6.5 points with Gareyev, Pentelea Harikrishna (India), Tamaz Gelashvili (Georgia) and Alejandro Ramirez (formerly of Costa Rica, now USA) sharing the lead.

But Harikrishna and Ramirez battled themselves to a tough draw that left Gareyev out on his own after he easily beat Gelashvili.

Gareyev, who has lived in the US for the past five years, took the title and first prize of $10,200 (about 6,188) with his final score of 7.5/9, a half point ahead of the chasing pack of GMs Harikrishna, Ramirez and Robert Hess (USA), who each took home $2,900 (about 1,760) for their efforts.

The Benko gambit shot to instant fame and near universal club-level adoption around the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s after its eponym, Pal Benko, honed and developed it into a potent, attacking weapon on the back of his many big US Swiss victories during this period. It has always been a big crowd-pleaser on the notoriously tough US circuit, as ably demonstrated today by the tournament winner.

R Hungaski - T Gareyev

Chicago Open, (8)

Benko Gambit

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 4 f3 bxc4 5 e4 d6 6 Bxc4 g6 7 Nc3 Bg7 8 Nge2 Nbd7 9 0–0 Rb8 10 Rb1 Nb6 11 Bb5+ Nfd7 12 b3 0–0 13 Bd2 Ne5 14 Qc2 a6 15 Bd3 e6 16 dxe6 fxe6 17 Nc1 d5 18 Be2 Nc6 19 Nd3 Nd4 20 Qd1 Qe7 21 Nf2 Bb7 22 Bd3 Qd6 23 Rc1 Rbd8 24 Bg5 Rd7 25 Ng4 c4 26 bxc4 dxc4 27 Bb1 h5 28 Nf2 Qa3 29 Qe1 Rxf3 30 Kh1 Rff7 31 e5 Nf5 32 Nh3 Nd5 33 Rf3 Nxc3 34 Rfxc3 Qa5 35 Bf6 Bxf6 36 exf6 Rxf6 37 Nf4 Rd4 38 Qf2 Qxc3! 39 Rxc3 Rd1+ 40 Qg1 Rxg1+ 41 Kxg1 Nd4 0–1