Markovich wrote on 08/17/09 at 12:45:23:
Returning to the original topic, I think that Palliser's Modern Benoni Revealed is an outstanding book. I have some issues with mode of organization of the "Revealed" series, but notwithstanding that, Palliser's book is quite readable and jammed with useful information. Also Palliser is an avid practitioner of the Modern Benoni and as such, dishes out a lot of useful practical advice.
Having said that, I would like to call attention to a small error in this book. Against 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3, Palliser advocates 2...c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.Nxd5 Nxd5 6.Qxd5 d6 "!" and remarks that after 7.Ng5 (7.e4 is more usual) 7...Qf6 Black is good in the complications that follow. But Black is by no means good after 8.Nxh7!, which just wins a pawn. There is a GM game from the 90s (sorry, I forget who the players were) that continued 8...Qf5 9.Qxf5 Bxf5 10.Nxf8 and now with 10...Nc6?! Black pretended that he had comp. White allowed himself to be bluffed and played 10.c3. But 10.Bf4! would have left Black even worse off than if he'd played 10...Kxf8. So much for 7...Qf6!
If Black's previous play can be justified, it must be by means of 7...Qe7. However this doesn't look too terribly bad for Black, So I think that 3...e6 may hold up. Black also has 3...b5!?, of course, but I would think that a Modern Benoni player might prefer 3...e6 with its invitation to "forgive and forget" after 4.c4.
Last of all, as pointed out by Palliser, Black can fall back on 2...e6. This is unobjectionable, but it does require him to prepare for the Torre and the London.
More on this subject. I've looked some more at 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.Nxd5 Nxd5 6.Qxd5 d6 7.Ng5 Qe7, and I really don't like Black's game after 8.Bf4 Be6 9.Nxe6 fxe6 10.Qh5+. E.g. 10...g6 11.Qg4 appears to be "w" in my parlance (
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1266527927) . So my provisional conclusion is that 4...exd5 is no good.
However 4...b5 looks quite interesting. We discussed this briefly before, though I have been unable to locate the thread. I recall saying that 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nxb5 d5 7.Nc3 looked strong to me, intending soon e2-e4. But more recently I noticed 7...Be7 8.e4 d4! 9.e5 dxc3 10.exf3 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1 Bxf6 and Black seems to be O.K. To take advantage of 7...Be7 it would seem that White has to refrain from 8.e4. I'm not sure if Black has full comp, but it looks worth testing. Black would rather have his KB on d6, but on the other hand, he hasn't spent a tempo on a6 and it doesn't look like he'll have to.
If White plays more normally 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nxb5 d5 7.e3, it appears to me that after 7...a6 8.Nc3 Nc6 Black again has pretty good practical compensation. I have a hunch you could score a lot of points with this gambit in open Swiss sections, notwithstanding that it has no discernable support at the top.
Instead of 5.dxe6, the more positional 5.Bg5 b4 6.Ne4 Bb7 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.c4 bxc3 9.Nxc3 f5 looks quite interesting for either side. I suppose you have to like White a little better, but as compensation for his ragged pawns, Black will have the two bishops, and the play will be fairly complex. In this line White also has 6.Na4, but that line also looks both complicated and playable for Black.
So I think the most testing line is to accept the pawn, though it gives Black serious practical chances with his central pawns and his potential play on the half-open f-file.
After 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5, I don't think that 3...b5 fits in too well with a Modern Benoni repertoire, since it throws away the chance to get back into the system after 3...e6 4.c4. Also Black has to be willing to play the Benko declined that arises from 4.c4.
In any case, Black's solid option is 2...e6, though he then has to be willing to play a Torre and also that Catalan/Symmetrical English borderland line, 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 cxd4 5.Nxd4, or 4.c4 cxd4 5.Nxd4. He'll also have to play the ...e6 version of the Colle, which is no big deal, but some people including me like the ...g6 version. If I were developing an MB repertoire not linked to the Nimzo, I would probably have both 2...e6 and 2...c5 3.d4 b5 in my repertoire and pick my targets according to my perception of their vulnerability.