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I'll look into and respond later, if someone else doesn't cover what you're asking for.
Need help with game analysis: Modern Benoni
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I did some light analysis. By all rights, white should have won that but he stumbled with 22. Qd5+ and then just fell apart after that.
As a side note, it seems your biggest issue (and that of your opponent) was a lack of positional understanding. That's understandable for your level, no one expects you to be a positional wizard. The Benoni is positional by nature, though. I'm no Benoni expert myself, I've only played it a handful of times and that was years ago and never OTB. The best advice I know to give is to find a good book on it or browse the web (like youtube) for some resources to learn more about it.
9...a6 preparing for b5 and c4
But then you found b5 was better and 10.a4 would prevent b5 (noted by MrMorphi).
This is the right path to follow. Unfortunately, you might have slim to no chances for an advantage here. One downside to the Benoni (imo) getting the LSB into the game without any help from the opponent.
Asymmetric Benoni Structure (after exd5 cxd5)
White has a pawn majority in the center, Black on the queenside. Creating a passed pawn is one idea both sides share naturally from this situation. Black's passed pawn may be more dangerous in an endgame, White's in the middlegame can lead to mating attacks.
White- has more space and should not look to trade pieces without good reasons
- e4-e5 pawn break for an attack or central passed pawn
- f4-f5 after e4-e5 for the attack
- f4-f5 pawn break without e4-e5 (using f-file)
- b2-b4 to prevent Black's b5-b4
- a2-a4 to prevent Black's b7-b5, c5-c4
- h2-h3 to prevent Black's LSB from entering the action
Black-
- Attempt to create a passed pawn (b7-b5, c5-c4, b5-b4, and so on)
- Pressure the e-file (Bg7/Re8/Nd7) to prevent e4-e5
- f7-f5 pawn break (after f3-f4 is played) to isolate the d5 pawn
- Counterplay on kingside (h7-h5-h4) after White plays Ng3
Here's an interesting game by Jobava from a decade ago. His opponent was quite a bit weaker than him but it's still an impressive game in the Benoni
Aug 8, 2021
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#7
Thank you PerpetuallyPinned and MrMorphi for your thorough evaluations, I appreciate you taking your time to explain to me the logic and reasoning behind all of the moves - and what I could have done better. Hopefully this demonstration of common beginner mistakes will be of value to other players of my level!
In this game, I decided to play the Modern Benoni variation. This is a game that I have won, however, after the comfortable opening phase, I felt that I have made some errors and misjudgements at the start of the middle game, which led to very stressful play from my side, before I eventually managed to secure a win. Please, take a look at my annoted game below. Of course this is not a perfect game, with blunders present from both sides. The reason I am posting this is to learn from more experienced players about the typical plans and objectives that I should aim to accomplish during the middle game in these types of Benoni-like positions.