I'm not too knowledgable when it comes to the Benoni but 3.dxc5 just looks bad for white. Trading a center pawn for a wing pawn since you can't even defend the pawn after 3...e6. 4.b4 is met by a5 and 4. Be3 is positionally crap and met be Na6. After the most popular reply 4.Nf3 black is faster in development.
Benoni Defense
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Dec 9, 2018
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#4
Newtonian6 wrote:
Hi,
After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5, why is 3. dxc5 not a very good move? I have now had this position as black twice in tournament play and responded with 3...e6. What are the general ideas in this position? Thanks!
After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5, why is 3. dxc5 not a very good move? I have now had this position as black twice in tournament play and responded with 3...e6. What are the general ideas in this position? Thanks!
Because White gives up a central pawn for a non-central pawn for no reason. Black even has a lead in development, unlike the open Sicilian, where White also gives up a central pawn but gets a lead in development and the initiative, hence why you see many sacrifices by White, the most classical of all cases being the knight sacrifice on d5 or the knight sacrifice on 26th in the Najdorf. This is because Black spends time making pawn moves like a6, b5, etc.
Here, there is no reason for Black to waste time on grabbing space. White surrendered the center. 3.d5 is far better both in that it does not develop Black's bishop for him and gains space in the center, creating a wedge on d5.
After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5, why is 3. dxc5 not a very good move? I have now had this position as black twice in tournament play and responded with 3...e6. What are the general ideas in this position? Thanks!