Benoni

I was wondering why nobody is playing Benoni like openings. You can play Old Benoni and force your enemy to play it so you can transpose to other lines. Literally it's forcing uncommon weapon to equilize game as black and play some gambits with hopes for the win. So why is it so uncommon? Which Benoni or gambit is your favourite and have you ever heard of it?

the backwards d6 pawn can become a liability. as the saying goes, if the d pawn drops you will probably lose and if you tye down your pieces protecting it, you will probably lose.

I'm listening to this saying but there is always Old Benoni

It’s uncommon because it’s bad. If you want to playa Benoni, learn the KID transpositions, as the Old Benoni is actively bad and the Modern Benoni is not very good either.

Benoni isn't bad at any means. It can lead to Benko gambit or Blumenfeld countergambit. Engine isn't recognizing it but engines never understood openings. It's giving strong play on the queenside and Benoni bishop. It isn't transposing to KID but to Grunfeld which can be easily countered by Trompowsky attack while you can get a standard Benoni position thanks to Old Benoni.

no, the Benoni is not bad. but it can be like walking a tight rope for black. the old Benoni is solid because the e pawn doesn't move and protects d6. But the drawback is that white usually gets e4 in controling the center. the best variation for black is if white doesn't play d5 and protects d4 with e3 or c3. the old Benoni is good against a known London player. the transitions to the modern Benoni and the Benko gambit have their own issues but they are playable. the four pawns KID and the Meikanas attack in the Modern Benoni can arrive at the same position around move number seven.

The Old Benoni is bad. After 2. d5 3. Nc3/e4 4. e4/Nc3 Black is already in a much worse position due to having literally no good squares for pieces to go to, so White just gets a massive advantage in all aspects: space, time, tactical, and positional.

The Modern Benoni, Benko, and Blumenfeld are all playable but suboptimal. White will get a rather sizable advantage but I don’t think White’s immediately pressing for a win if Black plays perfectly.

The best way to play a Benoni is by playing a KID setup and being willing to play a KID but playing 6… c5 or 7… c5 against the Fianchetto KID leading to a Modern Benoni rather than 6… e5 or 7… e5 leading to the Fianchetto KID.

B8 knight is trying to get on a6 and then to c7 to support b5 breakthrough or to d7 controling e5 so you can always jump there. G8 knight is deciding where it wants to land when the game goes on. Mostly helping stop any attack on the kingside. Rooks are going to b8 and a8 to help push pawns in queenside play. You can play Bg4 and exchange bishop for a knight so your weakness on d6 isn't so easy to target. Their bishop pair isn't effective in closed positions anyway. If you play correctly you can have advantage by thanks to a and b pawns. Sometimes you can even get rid off the e4 pawns which negates white's play on the kingside. Queen can manouver jumping from one side of the board to another. It is technically better for white but it's hard to use this advantage. Benoni bishop on g7 can always help in any attack on the queenside where mostly you'll get an open file. That means almost every time endgame is in black's favor. Once again. This isn't KID's structure or setup. This is more like Grunfeld setup.

in most Benoni structures, black will start in a cramped position. but as minor pieces get exchanged, black usually finds sufficient counter play in the middle game.