One of my favorite chess books of all time is “Son of Sorrow, Modern Benoni, Survey of a Structure’’ by Steffen Zeuthen.

It’s a big pink-covered book, which for many years was the only comprehensive book on the Benoni defense. And for me, one very nice point of the book is its dramatic biblical explanation of the origin of the name Benoni (Son of Sorrow) on its opening page.

In addition, Zeuthen dedicated the book to its buyers, which is a first for me.

So I have had a special place in my heart for the opening. Not to lie, it has been a bad era for the Benoni. Its high point was in 1972, when Bobby Fischer used it in great fashion to win the 15th match game against Boris Spassky. Sadly, the only recent world class grandmaster that regularly used it, Vugar Gashimov, died in 2014. And it’s considered dubious at the highest levels.

So, whenever I see a game where the Benoni is not swept off the board, I pay very close attention.

 Today’s game is one of those. It’s between Yaroslav Zherebukh and the Blindfold King himself, Timur Gareyev (BlindfoldKing.com). It’s a wild and woolly affair with much going on. The always aggressive Gareyev sacrifices a pawn early on for the initiative. Though he gets the pawn back and perhaps stands better at times, he has to resign when Black gets his third queen!

 2016 US Masters, Greensboro, N.C.

Timur Gareyev (2686) — Yaroslav Zherebukh (2680)

 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 Behold the “Benoni’’ the true Son of Sorrow. 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ The Taimanov variation, one of the most aggressive lines for White, not a surprising choice for such an aggressive player like Timur. 8...Nfd7 Forced as 8...Bd7 is bad due to 9.e5 dxe5 10.fxe5 Nh5 11.Nf3 and 8...Nbd7 should lose to 9.e5 dxe5 10.fxe5 Nh5 11.e6 Qh4+ 12.g3 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Qxh1 14.Be3 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 a6 16.exd7+ Bxd7 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.Qb3 b5 19.0–0–0 9.a4 0–0 10.Nf3 Na6 11.0–0 Nb4 12.h3!? 12.Re1 is the preferred choice here 12...a6 13.Bxd7 Bxd7 14.f5?! The computer really dislikes this move; I guess the White just does not get enough for the pawn. 14...gxf5 15.Bg5 f6 16.Bf4 Re8 16...c4 is better when 17.Kh1 Nd3 18.Bxd6 Re8 19.exf5 Qb6 20.Ba3 (20.Bg3 Qxb2 21.Qd2 Qxd2 22.Nxd2) 20...Nf2+ 21.Rxf2 Qxf2 with the advantage. 17.Nd2 b5 18.Bxd6 White gets his pawn back but Black has made great progress in getting his queenside pawns rolling.18...Qb6 19.Bg3 Nd3 20.axb5 axb5 21.Rxa8 Rxa8 22.exf5 c4+ 23.Kh2 Qd4 24.Nb3 Qb6 25.d6 Bc6 Not 25...b4 26.Qf3! Rf8 (26...Bc6 27.Nd5 Qd8 (27...Qb7 28.Ne7+ Qxe7 29.Qxc6 winning)) 27.Nd5 26.Nc1 b4 Not 26...Nxc1 27.Nd5! Qb7 28.Ne7+ Kh8 29.Nxc6 Qxc6 30.Qxc1 b4 31.Qf4 27.Nxd3 27.N3e2 Nxc1 28.Qd4 Qxd4 29.Nxd4 Bxg2 30.Kxg2 Nd3 31.Nc6 White is winning. 27...bxc3 28.Nf4 cxb2 29.Ne6?? The losing move. 29.Nh5 should hold as after  29…Ra1 30.Qg4 Qb7 31.d7 Qxd7 is not good due to 32.Nxf6+. 29...Ra1! Now Black will queen one or more of his pawns. 30.Qg4 Qb7 31.Nxg7 Rxf1! No need to worry about the discovered check 32.Ne6+ Kh8 33.Be5 33.Bh4 still loses to 33…Rh1+ 34.Kg3 Qb3+ 35.Kf4 (35.Kf2 Qc2+) 35...Rf1+ 33...Rh1+ 33...fxe5 34.Qh4 Rh1+ also wins. 34.Kxh1 or 34.Kg3 fxe5 35.Qg5 Qf7 36.Qd8+ Qg8+ 34...b1Q+ 35.Kh2 fxe5 36.Qg5 Qf7 37.Qd8+ Be8 38.d7 Qb5 39.Nc5 c3 40.Qc8 c2 41.d8N Qfc4 42.Nde6 c1Q A third black queen is enough for White; 0–1

Chris Chase can be reached at BostonGlobeChessNotes@gmail.com.