@chessblackbelt I feel like you played your opening a little too passively. I think 7.Be2 was basically inviting black to win a tempo off of you with ...dxc4. 7.Qb3 I think is a better choice since it pressures black's center and b7.
Also 13.d5 seemed to overextend your pawn structure and made it difficult to keep the pawn. Overall seems like it can work well for you, just gotta learn that balance between passive and solid 
My logic was I'm probably losing the pawn anyway so let's lose it in an active way
And yeah takes Qb3 seemed like a better idea
Ahhhh ok yeah that makes sense
What's the most boring and unambitious way to play against the Benoni that requires no theory?
I think I'll do that
You are against having fun lmao
To play safe against the Modern Benoni, do as I did before I learned any Benoni lines. I got a lot of wins just by treating it as a c4 ...c5 English Opening. You just play 3.Nf3. I was a strong player and won a lot of big tournaments at the 1800 FIDE level in the 1990s.
Then later I took up the M.B. and it was a good weapon for me for about 10 years. Then the new ways of playing against it came out, such as playing early h3.
Today Black uses a slower approach to the Benoni, which avoids at least three critical, annoying lines:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 d6, followed by ...0-0, ...e6 and probably ...Re8 before taking at d5.
This has advantages and disadvantages. It was considered inferior because white can take back at d5 with his e4 pawn instead of the c4 one, but modern engines do not think this is a big deal.
If you prefer this to a Benoni, then you should switch to 1.e4:
After 4...d5 this is a Caro-Kann, Panov attack.
Yes, but... this isn't the Benko any more.
The main line has switched to 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 e6! which surprisingly works very well, but the resulting positions are wide open- nothing similar to the quiet, strategic nature of the traditional Benko.
My OTB record with 1. d4 is so good I can't switch
I was worried about playing against the caro and asked about it earlier but apparently it's rare to transpose
Today Black uses a slower approach to the Benoni, which avoids at least three critical, annoying lines:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 d6, followed by ...0-0, ...e6 and probably ...Re8 before taking at d5.
This has advantages and disadvantages. It was considered inferior because white can take back at d5 with his e4 pawn instead of the c4 one, but modern engines do not think this is a big deal.
@chessblackbelt I feel like you played your opening a little too passively. I think 7.Be2 was basically inviting black to win a tempo off of you with ...dxc4. 7.Qb3 I think is a better choice since it pressures black's center and b7.
Also 13.d5 seemed to overextend your pawn structure and made it difficult to keep the pawn. Overall seems like it can work well for you, just gotta learn that balance between passive and solid
You're the goat. I had my first OTB game against the Benoni (since this post) and won using your e3 line
I don't see a lot of benonis on lichess but on chess.com its in like 20% of my games. It's got to the point where I'm considering premoving 2. d5 because I see c5 more than Nf6
OTB I've only played against it once before. What's going on?
fyi, 1. d4 ...c5 is a benoni but it is dubious ?! for black. Black shouldn't be playing ...c5 unless c4 has been playerd by white, which is why black's normal first move is Nf6.
Of course, white can transpose into a main line Benoni by playing 3. c4 but that would only happen where white didn't understand the position. To get a big advantage white must play 2. d5.
Well I didn't play d5 but at least I didn't play c4
I was able to just play the colle system with a later c3
Yes, when I switched to 1. d4 from 1. c4, which was back in about 1993, I only knew the Queens Gambit Declined and Accepted and a good line for white in the Kings Indian, so I had to learn one opening at a time. If I had success playing safe lines with things like e3 or Nf3, I'd carry on with them until the time came to learn more aggressive lines. At that time I avoided the Nimzo-Indian like the plague, whereas for the past 10 years it's been my favourite thing to play against. At some point I started playing the Modern Benoni as black and had a lot of success with it against opponents up to 2000 FIDE. beyond that I used to get blasted off the board but it was worth it for the wins I used to get. So then I started working out lines against it as white and deciding which I prefered of the book lines for White.
Against 1. d4 c5, then 2. d5 Nf6 (to prevent an immediate 3. e4) 3. Nc3 (intending to play e4) is still very good for white. If there's danger of b5 disrupting your game, play a4 if b7 - b5 - b4 would be bad for you but in some positions it might be like a badly played QGA by black and you can allow b5 and attack it with a4. White is usually up a move having played e2 - e4 in one move instead of two as in the classical QGA with 3. Nf3 and then 4. e3, intending to castle and play Qe2, e4 and Rfd1 in one order or another. White gets fast development against the Benoni when 3. Nc3 is played instead of c4.
hai