Crap opening: Reit Advance 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4?!

This has got to be bad? But how to best play against it as black? Anyone know any good ideas here?

e3

It's not a bad move at all. In fact, White is going to be stuck with that black pawn on d4 cramping his game in a benoni-like position. And the Benoni is suspect enough for Black that it doesn't become amazing when White plays it and has an extra tempo.

So against it, typical Benoni stuff, like e3, exd, g3, Bg2, a3, b4, stuff like that. Well, assuming Black plays c5 at some point. He doesn't have to in which case... hm, don't know. I like Black's position.

I don't play this as white. I want to know what black is supposed to do after d4. White is obviously bad here but I want to kill this opening because so many seem to play it.

Well the most "killy" (uh, killiest?) way to play would be c5, Nc6, e5 and play for e4 and smash your opponent through the center. It's basically a Benoni so keep in mind things like the Nf6-d7-c5 thing and playing a5 to stop b4... really there are a lot of ways to play that are good. You should probably just look at some Benoni ideas and see if they work...

Great thanks.

I'm not really sure what theory thinks of 2...d4, it seems to be looked upon negatively yet I think things are far from clear. White is able to get "good" benoni positions, but considering that regular benonis are rather good for white, I would imagine going into the structure as black, while not as good as usual, would still seem like a decent way to get an imbalanced position. I'm not sure if the fact that white can play b4 right away makes him better, but anyway it's certainly worth trying if you want to "kill" it!

Even 2...dxc4 (always condemned) is probably better than it's reputation, which is sort of like a QGA.

2...e6 and 2...c6 are queen's gambit ish that, if white plays in quiet reti fashion with a double finachetto etc, should give black good freedom, but it requires a lot of patience to play as black at the same time, because there are so many ways for him to overextend. In fact I think white can transpose into the queen's gambit with 3 d4 against these moves if he wants. Even if white doesn't play d4, black can still adopt QGD setups like the semi slav, tartakower etc with reasonable chances.

Here's what GM Neil McDonald has to say about 2....d4 in his Starting out: The Reti...

"The move 2...d4, which is sometimes called the Reti Benoni, was recommended by the positional maestro Akiba Rubinstein when the Reti Opening first appeared on the scene in the 1920s. Nowadays it has been championed at the highest level by Vladimir Kramnik and other elite players...

It isn't difficult to see what attracts a great strategist to this variation...."

After d4 it's white's move... ? But at any rate you are't going to refute the Reti, it's a very well established opening. Capablanca didn't like it much when he first encountered it either. ;)  

I don't play the Reti but I have played against it. I don't know why but I loose most of my game playing against it. If someone could give me a line that I can play against the reti would help.        :)

You just have to play against c5 to support d4, from the looks of the games in the database, so play moves like b4 and if a5, then b5, and suddenly the d4 pawn might be overextended. You're not going to kill this reply right away, it doesn´t work like that. This is a nice example from classic chaps: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1007029

It looks like crap, but do not be fooled. I got blown off the board by it in an OTB game about 20 years ago by an Expert.

If you really want to get into it, there are books on the Reti.

Call it crap one more time, I dare you.

Its a Benoni with an extra tempo, so I dont think at all its crap.  White plays d3, e3, g3 Bg2, Na3-c2 and gets a very playable position.

I think 2...d4 is the most principled move. You can refer to Delchev and Semkov's book on the Reti and English for details.

As I recall, White can play 3. b4 right away, preemptively undermining the c5-d4 Pawn chain. (eg: 3. ... e6 4. Bb2).

2...d4 is the sharpest move, some GMs avoid 1...d5 2.c4 and chose 2.e3 because of this.

Theory is very heavy here and the play is very sharp. In the main line, black goes for a f6-e5-d4 setup and white will use Bc4 and Qb3.

It'll be like a reversed Benko Gambit, but in this version black has the excellent f6 move available, which is not possible on a regular Benko.

If you know the Benko, you know things get wild. They're waay wilder here!