Why is the Snake Benoni so rarely played?

Has it been refuted or is it simply out of fashion? I watched Mark Ginsburgs video on it and it made it look like a very good, playable opening.

What is it?

^ same question ^

Hehe sorry the moves are

Here is a game with the opening, as in Mark Ginsburgs video

Thats a bold statement, some top players have played this line. Anand, Radjabov, Gashimov and Kortchnoi have all played it.

Edit: Nakamura and other masters only do that once though, as a suprise in blitz. Gashimov is actually a big practioneer of the Snake, and has won a lot of games with it

There's a pretty significant difference between "has played" and "continues to play".  So on that note, I too am on the side that this line is pretty rubbish.

Gashimov "continues to play" the Snake though

I sometimes play the BenOni. The black dark squared bishop on g7 can become very strong. Would not put that piece on a5. The snake is a different line of thought then the main goal for the BenOni. I think that is the main reason why it is not played quite often.

Take a look at the other fora:

http://www.chess.com/forum/search?keyword=Snake+Benoni

P.S.: some people dislike the Taimanov - variation. But because you chose to play the BenOni you might know it better then your opponent. And to play a snake, because you do not want to play a Taimanov? Why then play a BenOni anyhow?

Two of those games are rapid/blitz.  This openning seems okay though, but nothing special.

What is the critical line against the Snake then, where Black is reduced to passive defence?

First answer to us: it may be sound, but what makes it better than putting the bishop on g7? What are the advantages of the bishop on c7?

Rather than comparing the Snake to a normal Benoni where the bishop on g7 is very important, think of it like a Nimzo-Indian.  Black would like to develop the KB, be willing to exchange it for White's QN and then fix his center pawns on dark squares.  In the Snake it happens in the reverse order though, first White closes the center with d4-d5 and later Black's bishop finds its way outside the pawn structure.  At least, most of the time.  Flip through those games above though and you'll see all kinds of things could happen to this bishop, sometimes it goes back to f8 and lives inside after all, sometimes ...c4 and the bishop can live on the a7-g1 diagonal.

GreenCastleBlock, you seem to have quite some knowledge about the Snake, have you played it? And what do you think the critical line against it is?

Because the Snake Benoni is too slippery for most black players to handle. The game wriggles away from you.

lol very good one

I think it is not opted so often since the bishop on g7 has a lot of power since it is very active on the a1-h8 diagonal....and also maybe this line is not yet analysed in so much depth to see if it is good for black

You can also play the bishop to a5

I had an idea for a reverse line: