DoubledPawns wrote on 03/24/08 at 16:12:55:
You should also see "Beating the Fianchetto Defences" by Grivas, which has coverage of this line (admittedly I don't have the book).
I'd agree that the endgame after 10.Bb5 is not really what Black is after, and I suppose it is not too surprising that the Benoni is not too popular at GM level nowadays, given that this variation is one where White is more or less assured of a theoretical edge if he is well prepared.
To be honest I believe that black can hold the endgame. I have played it as white in correspondence chess and black's job is not too difficult.
However the statement about all the chances lying with white is certainly true. Looking at the chessbase online database there is a score of +15 -0 =35 (65%) for white after the moves
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.e4 Bg7 8.h3 0-0 9.Bd3 b5 10.Bxb5 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Qa5+ 12.Nfd2 Qxb5 13.Nxd6 Qa6 14.N2c4 Nd7 15.0-0 Nb6 16.Nxb6 Qxb6 17.Nxc8 Raxc8 18.Rb1 Rfd8 19.Bf4 Qb7 20.d6, which to me very accurately reflects the situation: objectively it may be a draw, but I'd be happy to try for a win as white over the board against a weaker player and would love to have little winning chances with no risk against someone stronger.
In practice over the board hardly anyone ever plays the b5 main-line though, everyone seems to prefer the lines with Nbd7+a6+Re8 (in some order), which while possibly objectively a little bit better for white are not as forcing. The Nh5 lines seem to be the second most popular thing, probably due to Watson's advocacy. b5 lines with early deviations from the main line are the third most popular thing.