Benoni Defense

Hi! I want to learn a n opening against d4 (as black). Someone recommended the Benoni Defense. If anyone of you plays this as black, can you please share some themes to keep in mind when I play Benoni?

DO NOT PLAY THE BENONI UNLESS YOU ARE A GM!!!

Benoni is far too complex, even for 2000+ players- only GMs and IMs should be playing it. If you want something easy, how about the Dutch Defence? Or 1... d5. If they play a Queen's Gambit, I like the Queen's Gambit Declined/Semi-Slav Defence. If they play the London, mirroring them and trying to play an early c5 is a good counter. Finally, King's Indian Defence can be very strong at lower levels, and is a simple enough setup to wrap your head around. That's my advice, hope this helps!

Benoni for life, best opening! plus you can play the benko gambit

What do I, a 1200 know.

I believe it's not too sound at top level, but as a beginner you can play the worst opening of all time but still win because that +0.9 doesn't matter if your opponent blunders a piece or your tactics are sharper. I looked into it myself as well, and the Benoni is not a horrible opening even at top level and is seen there sometimes. It looks very fun and sharp, and you will almost always surprise your opponent, and if they misplay the opening you'll easily be better! Also the Benko gambit looks amazing, Agadmator made a very fun video on it where black absolutely crushed white. So yeah, definitely give it a try and see if you like it! (: 

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx4hsgoOBpY

Also if you want a source to learn it I can definitely recommend hanging pawns on YouTube. He's great, always explains the idea's behind the opening, the theory, why certain moves are bad, and it's very beginner-intermediate friendly

literally no chess coach in history would ever tell a beginner/intermediate player to play the benoni! why are people recommending it? you'll just get a terrible position from the opening and lose, because you don't know all the positional details of the opening! it's the same reason the Grunfeld and the Ruy Lopez are terrible openings below 2100/2200- they are far too theoretical and positional

Same for the Benko Gambit- ask Levy Rozman, he would never in a million years recommend Benko or benoni. go and look at the beginner openings tier list video he did with Hikaru

Hey, what are you saying? I analyzed the Lichess database, and found that at beginners level, 51% win as black with the Benoni...

Yes, because at beginner level you can blunder your queen, but your opponent will hang backrank checkmate with 7 minutes left on their clock. When you get to 1300+ having a strong opening base becomes really important. Like I said, Benoni is a great opening in the hands of GMs- but should be avoided by practically everyone else.

I'm only telling you what IMs and GMs are saying- the Benoni+/Benko Gambit are some of the worst openings a beginner can play.

Eyy e41803, at beginner level it doesn't matter what you play, and where has gothamchess said anything about benko? I'm pretty sure it won't hamper your chess progression, and it's also about just having fun sometimes (:

Benoni is not very sound, but benko is!

don't play the benoni or benko. Both are bad in the beginner level, benko is way too theoretical. Just like what @E41803 said, benoni/benko gambit are some of the worst openings a beginner can play

Ok sorry guys

):

thank you

Personally I like playing the old Benoni, 1...c5, since it gives your opponent less chances for transposing and mostly gets rid of the d6 backwards pawn you get in the modern Benoni. Mostly it's pretty straightforward black develops and attacks on the queenside, white develops and attacks on the kingside. Giving more details about strategies and ideas is a bit difficult since, at least at my level, theory doesn't matter that much, it's mostly attack or be attacked. Someone here recommended Hanging Pawns' videos for the opening and I agree, they're pretty good with plenty of details.

Benoni is not a too easy opening to play because White has space advantage and while the positions are often equal, White has the easier plans. There are two major variations, the Czech one (Black pawns on c5-d6-e5, White pawns on c4-d5-e4) and the modern one (Black pawns on c5-d6, White pawns on d5-e4). The center is completely blocked in the Czech Benoni, so the attacks are based on the flanks, pushing the pawns on either b- or f-files. In the Modern Benoni there are a bit more attacking chances as one pair of pawns has been traded off.

As Black has less space, Black would want to trade off some pieces so that there would be at least some additional squares for the pieces. Black also has some gambits (Benko/Blumenfeld) to get more space and open files. White wants to keep the pieces on the board and use them to create a kingside attack.

I can find at least one reason to learn some ideas of the Benoni. Against the London system the 1. ... Nf6, 2. ... c5 is one of the better replies and if White would play 3. d5 (happens rarely, but got a couple of these) we get a Benoni. If White played 2. Bf4, Black will have a nice game as the Bishop is misplaced, while 2. Nf3 is OK for White. Another thing at the beginner level is that White may play 3. dxc5 thinking the pawn is free and after 3. ... e6 Black is fine and will regain the pawn with at least an equal position. But if White knows what they should do, the game is not too easy for Black (though obviously Black is not without chances, but needs to know quite well what to do).

I still believe benko gambit is not bad because you get a huge initiative and it becomes very tactical.

It's way too theoretical for any beginner to play, and even for intermediate players. I'm sure Hikaru can agree with me, just check out his opening tier list