True. Though besides the obvious benefit of knowing Symmetrical English lines, this line doesn't necessarily add complexity to the list of anti-Benonis black has to study since 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 or 3...e6 can be compact transpositions.

Kerangali wrote on 02/12/23 at 18:01:52:


I don't know of any materials on it, people who've plaid it probably got the recommendation straight from the engine too.
I've looked at it before maybe once or twice with the main takeaways being that white needs to find some energetic plays to keep the initiative going and at the end of the day it's just another addition to the pile of challenging Benko lines for black. 

In reply to the main topic, 2...e6 is the way for a Benoni player, what other critical move is there besides 3.c4? Then 3...c5 and it's familiar territory, besides 4.e3 which requires a stylistic compromise, but with 4...d5 black gets excellent versions of IQP positions with a dynamic game.
Some players will only play the Benoni this way to avoid the Flick knife/Taimanov.

Here's another somewhat related engine idea for black:
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Bg5 g6
You can explore it for yourself, but I think black has a very fun game given they know some dynamics:
5.Bxf6 exf6 6.e4 b4
As someone who enjoys the modern Benoni, this is a dream in my experience casual players like Bxf6 quite a bit. Black has excellent play on the center with Re8 and f5. Notably, the problem c8 bishop also has both the g4 and a6 routes and the pawn on b4 causes practical issues in the defence of b2.
5.d6 exd6 6.Nc3 Be7
This is far more problematic, but if black dodges the pitfalls, which should be possible in 5...exd6 (other moves I'm not equally certain of), they get an active Blumenfeld-esque position. Looking for O-O,Bb7,a6,d5/Ne4, the aborted fianchetto is a bit unintuitive, but not really punishable. The engine fancies 7.h4, which looks quite slow and defendable.
I wouldn't recommend the line to a Benoni player though, white could for example play 4.c4 or 4.a4 with Benko positions.

I believe that it makes sense to learn and play 2...e6. A few years ago, I would not have done it out of fear of the London, thinking that I committed myself to a passive variation. But once I had a closer look at it, my doubts vanished. Black is simply doing fine there.

kylemeister wrote on 07/02/22 at 19:50:33:


This is covered in the last 4 pages of the book pps 277-280.

He goes with 3...e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5.Nxd5 Nxd5 6. Qxd5 (says precision is required for black here as difficult to kick the queen) Nc6.

He then looks at 7. e4 as the main move from here for white but also mentions the following alternatives - Bg5, Ng5, c3 and Bf4. 

His line ends on move 15 concluding that 'if black fights back he can at least equalize the game without difficulty'.

I just checked his book on the Benko (which was published later) and he recommends 3...b5 there, which is probably to be expected.

Best wishes,
Roley

Mtal wrote on 06/20/22 at 19:35:43:


I think Kovalchuk's book Modernized Modern Benoni has a chapter on 2. Nf3. Not sure which other books or DVDs do (the Chessable Lifetime course covers all of whites options but I don't enjoy the presenter's voice...I have a similar difficulty with some of the chessbase videos.. ). I guess it will often feature in books on early deviations (such as the Cox book which is quite old now?). You could always pick up a book on the Benko with these lines to supplement your Benoni sources (again the latest Kovulchuk books on the Benko cover deviations).

I think I used to play as @ericthered suggested...

I used to play 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5, because other moves never transposed to where I wanted them to go.  When White plays 2.Nf3 he's often a London, Colle, or Tromp player, so 2...c5 annoys them a bit.  If 3.d5 I played b5, which is perhaps not completely equal but it's complicated and if you do the work it's a reasonable way to play for a win as Black, which you're probably trying to do with the Benoni.

Well some good post hear has got me thinking , thanks to everyone for their input. Yeah I might have to learn a second opening vs d4. I did like the suggestion about ne4 and b5, maybe I will take a quick look at them (i think ne4 might be in an SOS, b5 not too sure if there is anything). Oh I'm actually thinking of playing the Czech benoni, so I'm not sure about g6, but that is an idea also if I just want to learn the kid where white plays nf3. Probably leaning more toward a qgd or slav though. Oh someone one said what if nf3 on move one. Lol that's another hole in my repertoire, was thinking of playing b6 but still looking into it.

You know I think I have decent lines if people play queen pawn openings but this transposition to a qgd got me thinking.

MNb wrote on 06/22/22 at 06:21:24:

Is that question for me or for MTal (OP) ? I have considered it, in fact currently in offhand games I play the Budapest Gambit if allowed, otherwise the Queen's Indian. In serious games it's still the Slav.