1. d4. Nf6.... 2. d5!?

I think after 2...e6, if White takes then fxe6 is obviously =+ already, but 3.c4 b5!? would be fun and certainly fine for Black.

FM Langer is a friend of mine and is aware of Kasparov's opinion. My guess is that he would rather be an expert in something like the Nimzo-Indian instead of the Benoni, but I don't think he has the time/inclination to learn something else at this point.

What exactly is it kasparov considers refuted?

1.d4 c5? or 1 d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5?  or does he mean something more specific. Do you have reference I could look at? 

(My db finds 60 modern benoni (no benkos included) in the past year btw 2600+ players on both sides... 21 different GMs played on the black side. It seems to be a staple part of Gashimov's black repertoire. Tomashevsky and Fier also play a good bit of it with black.

actually you admitted yourself it is probably inferior, but you would do it for the psychological advantage (just like your example of transposing into the french as your own personal preference). personal preferences, aren't proof that something is viable either. i think ozzie's point is that if you know something is objectively best its worth it to learn it in the first place, so the situation you described where you were forced to avert the main line of an opening/transpose it into something you know but is slightly inferior objectively is avoided.

Because of the complexity of chess, you often can't be 100% sure that the refutation should hold up or that black won't have an improvement, but you can be confident depending on your view that black if he's just living on random tactical resources probably shouldn't come out with a such a great position with precise play by white. Just an example.

The KID is much harder to refute than the benoni, not that the benoni is easy. Even top GMs have trouble "refuting" every variation of the KID, which does make it a good weapon to have anyway. But the benoni has been looking shaky lately; white has both good positional variations without f4 and extremely challenging lines with f4 and Bb5+, that makes it hard for black to generate enough counterplay. I could imagine this being tough for black players to swallow for strong players these days.

I mean there were strong players (like topalov!) who challenged white in some of the "refutations" involving Bb5+ (though not too recently I don't think, im thinking the 80s and 90s), but by now it's been played out enough to "know" (sort of...) it's pretty good for white, probably more than slightly better.

But black can avoid the Flick Knife Attack variation or whatever if he delays e6 OR plays 2...e6 and 3...c5 only if 3.Nf3.

Or Black might be able to get to Modern Benoni type Positions through the KID move order but play 6...c5 instead of 6...e5 (but he has to be ready for a Sicilian Accl Dragon Maroczy-Bind here)

Of course followed by an eventual e6- The only thing is that white has the option of taking exd5 instead of cxd5.

I don't think openings like the KID or the Benoni are going to be refuted in the near future. The way people are saying "refuted", you might as well say the Dragon is refuted by the Yugoslav Attack or the Bayonet Attack refutes the KID which isn't the case. Black has problems, but it isn't refuted and should still be ok below master level.

I read it as an offhand comment in a chess life article. The article was about Kasparov's time at a camp for very strong US players. I _think_ he was talking about one one strong GM or another, and why he played the openings he did. (Was it Rajabov?) (I can look for the article if you like, but I'll make a later post for that.) Kasparov said that he played objectively worse openings because he wasn't as good a player if he played "real" openings. I'm paraphrasing there. And then later in the same article he said something like "you can play anything as black - well except the Benoni", and then went on to say it was refuted, or terrible, or something.

Apparently FirebrandX is more interested in semantics than offhand comments from the world's greatest player.

And I'm still pretty sure that if FM Langer could transfer his wealth of Benoni knowledge to some other opening, he would.

As to why Radjabov has revived the Kings Indian Defense, he remarks, “Radjabov must play complicated unbalanced positions, because his level of understanding of simple positions is not sufficient to top level tournaments.”

For more down to earth advice, he suggests that, with the caveat that each player is different, you can exclude certain lines. “There are dead openings, like, you know, the Benoni.” Everyone laughs. “What would you recommend instead of the Benoni?” asks Andrew.

“Anything!” Kasparov says.

http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9152/504/

So I messed up "dead" and "refuted", sorry about that.

Absolutely spot-on.

One interesting direction to take this is whether there is any drop of "poison" in 2.d5. In other words, if black just plays "normal" moves, is it possible that the position drifts slowly into a +/= type of position. Does black have to play energetically in order to get the equality that we all believe is there.

I might even prefer to play black after these two moves, but I agree that it's difficult to think that the position is =/+. If anything it is =, leaning ever so slightly towards =/+, but not nearly there.

Ozzie, I played the Benoni occasionally through high school, and Andrew Ng started there my senior year.  During preparations for some high school league match, he brought up what Kasparov had told him.   That was a sad day....  But now I'm more than happy to play the pseudo-Benoni / Benko positions from the KID from either side.  

I've been wondering what "dead" means -- seems that it's not the same thing as "refuted". Perhaps it means that white's advantage (whatever that means as Kasparov's level) seems to be persistent in all lines, despite the best efforts of the Rybkas, Fritzes, and GM crowd to find new ideas.

its called the Indian game; Pawn Push variation. (A45) and is folloed by 2...c5 3.c4

Um, that's just the Benoni or Benko.

Great Post! Also, it's always good to learn a few things from a NM. Thanks ozzie.

I found 101 games from the Online ChessBase Database for 1.d4 Nf6 2.d5. I sorted the games in order of highest to lowest rated players on the Black side. Also, each game has a different second move from Black and I included a game where White won. Most of the games out of the 101 played were won by Black. Last, I didn't find any of the famous players I know using this opening.

After viewing the games again, as a 1.d4 player, I would be most comfortable playing 2...e6. I've never seen this in a game yet, but if I ever do, it will be 2...e6 for me.

I think the modern benoni is a good weapon below master level .  I used it and the KID for years as my main defenses to anything other than 1 e4 with success. However, in EVERY game in which I have tried the MB against 2300s and up.... I have lost and in many of those I was slaughtered ! So, I now only play the MB against players under 2200 AND only when white has played an early Nf3 ..... 

I just happened to have a game in this line today and remembering Ozzie's recommendation, played that. It wasn't an easy game. Anybody want to comment on how black can get out of the opening better?

I was cramped out of the opening, but I'm not sure if I was really worse. Then I got lucky and my opponent hung a piece. I'm sure there are improvements in the opening and would like comments.

@Loomis

9...a5!
Always be on the lookout for such moves. Here it is good because white cannot maintain the tension with 10.a3.

12...a5!
Same move, different reason (sort of). Previously, a3 was ill-advised because of the pin on the a-file, now it is just illegal. If black can get the c5 square, he is ok.

I would have focused the main game on the squares for your pieces. c5 is very important. Also e5, but only when your opponent made the (in my opinion) mistake of playing f4. If you can get both, wow. Then your knights are happy, your bishop is on d7, and your queen and rooks always have enough space.

I'm flattered you used my recommendation! (-:

My browser malfunctioned earlier. Very strange. It was typing Chinese characters!

Meh really. The benoni is crap. Everyone knows that.

White wouldn't want to play 5.Bd2 in that line, because white really wants to play Nc3 in response to ...Bb4+. So if black trades pawns, white can play that way. If black doesn't trade pawns, then white shouldn't play Nc3, because black will take on c3.