halbstark wrote on 04/13/20 at 19:53:13:

Well, another old possibility against Nd2 is 9...Ne8 with the idea of ...f5.

Thirded, at least for OTB play.

halbstark wrote on 04/13/20 at 12:30:34:

In the old-school Classical (no early Nd2) I would have thought that 9...a6 10. a4 Bg4 is still quite respected, as in equal or unclear in the best-play lines.

h3+Bd3 is in my eyes really not a problem. I am always happy, if my opponents go for it. I play 9...b5 and have a decent plus score with black. There are a "few" critical ideas, but in reality that means, that black has to know 2-3 precise moves and that´s about it. Considering, that Bd3 does still seem to be main line for most d4-players, you meet these set-ups so frequently, that it is more or less impossible to forget your lines there:)

I am not sure, about these ...Nh5-ideas in the Bd3-line. IMO White can answer Nh5 always with Be2!, which avoids the Ne5-idea and makes it very hard for black to create counterplay.

TBH when it comes to setups with Nf3 I find the classical Be2 the most annoying one. From the white side I always thought, that 9...Bg4 or 9...Na6 are just slightly better for white and my pet lines with 9...Nbd7 have so many special move orders, that it is barely possible to solve the problems with pure memorization. (I started playing these lines going for Ne5 and g5 against everything - and I think this is working well against Re1 and Nf1-, but if White plays moves like Qc2, a4, Ra3, h3 in a random move order, it is hard to equalize on autopilot.)

gewgaw wrote on 04/12/20 at 21:32:01:

I thought the endgame line after 9...b5 10.Bxb5 was more or less analyzed out to a draw. And therefore the focus had shifted to the Classical and Bf4 lines in recent years (given that Nf3 has been played). So while it makes the Benoni problematic as a try for winning chances for Black, h3+Bd3 isn't a theoretical threat.

I could be wrong though. And maybe there is still some play for White in the 10.Nxb5 lines.

ErictheRed wrote on 04/11/20 at 16:17:13:

I understand that this move order is a problem for Benko players (at least if they don't want to play the Maroczy Bind) but can't a Modern Benoni player just go 2... e6 with the intention of playing 3... c5 against any of 3. c4, 3. g3, 3. Bg5, 3. Bf4, or 3. e3? I don't know if black is supposed to be in trouble after 2... c5 3. d5, but it does seem like a lot of unnecessary extra work to me.

What's considered to be Black's best way meeting 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 these days? 

I used to enjoy playing the Benoni particularly after the move order 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 and now ....c5 as it avoided the four pawn type set-ups...but nowadays not so sure about how sound it is. However, I am getting tired of facing the Catalan so perhaps this new material might be worth a closer look!