Proper Response to 1.D4 - C5

Hi i'm trying to practice Queen's Gambit opening for white.

 i have encountered this response in one game (1. ...c5) and i have been thinking what is the best response for it as my 2nd move.?! Can U help ?!

I have 3 answers, number 1 is the weakest theoretically, number 3 is the strongest:

1: Play 2. e4, transposing to the Smith-Morra Gambit, which gives a complicated game. Idea is 2.. cxd4 3. c3!

2: Play the modern benoni with 2. d5 followed by 3. c4. Black has some extra options, but not very dangerous options.

3: Play in the old-benoni style, playing 2. d5! and Nc3, the manouvre Nf3-d2-c4 is the idea. With a pawn on c4, this is obviously not possible. I am not very good at these structures, but maybe white can play Bb5+, trading off his ¨bad¨ bishop before playing c4.

Thnx All for reply ..

1-am not familiar with Benoni (d5) but i know that generally pushing paw to 5th rank so early is not a good idea !! and it means i'll have to be sharp with all my coming moves ! 

2- playing e4 is actually giving blak what he wants ! trading central pawn with flank pawn as classical Scilian ! and i'm behind on moves when i take with Queen (d4) or stressed if i delayed !

3- defending with e3 is also eventually in favour of black for having one center pawn and he has 2 .. and it is his game now to make tactical choices !

7... Qxd4 8. Qxc8+ and white is winning immediatly.

@ Rasparovov oh ya that was a free Bishop and a game winner ! how come i didnt see that !! despite i have some flashbaks that i was planning that when i moved Queen to c2 ! - mayb i panic when i see my King Naked !

ViktorHNielsen answered this right. This is the Old Benoni. 2. d5 is the best move. Following that with c4 will take you into normal Benoni lines. Avoiding c4 and White should be better with the main threats being to occupy c4 with a Knight and put pressure on d6 especially. I would add, however that in case Black plays e5, closing the center, Bb5 check is not a very good move. That is a dangerous option if Black plays e6, though. I will say, however, that I play 1. c5 all the time as Black and rarely ever run into White playing it right. The responses that annoy me the most are moves like e3 and c3 transposing back into odd Qgd c5 stuff, Siclians, and annoying irregular Queen's pawn stuff.

You get a tactical, not very classical sicilian after 1. d4 c5? 2. e4! cxd4 3. c3!.

@ViktoriHNielsen.

I think your Quote #3 says it all . It's like listening to myself .

When I can , after 1.d4 c5 2.d5  I like to keep the option of what to put on c4 open. So I play 3.Nc3 and decide later where to put the K-Bishop. The main candidates seem to be Bd3 and Be2 . You can sometimes disturb Blacks development by an early Bb5+ and depending on what he plays next , you can either retreat to e2,d3 or even defend the Bishop with a4 . The pawn on a4 seems to be well placed anyway.

No matter what you play , the game will revolve around who gets the control over the White squares . White can even play f3 and create a strong centre . Or he can play an early h3 making it harder for Black to developpe his Q-Bishop.

i'm still not comfortable with the continuation after (2.d5) .. can anyone play an unratted game(s) to explore the options ?!

It isn't really a common thing that bishops are hanging that way. I guess that's why, I have some patterns that I'm still missing out even though they're pretty obvious.

Play 2) c3 and bore your opponent to death.  Otherwise learn the Benoni.

That's why opening books are written.  Buy a good 1) d4 repertoire book.  Simple.

move 8, you missed Qxc8.

oh, someone already said that lol. nevermind...

@ zborg  i looked Benoni and it is still looks v tricky ! do u have recommendations for d4 book ?!

 and that is why i'm asking if anyone ready to play games for trial !

Analysing your lost games is certainly a good way to improve. If you have your games in a database on your laptop , a nice thing to do is to quickly scroll through them and only stop laughing when you cannot find your (obvious) mistake.

1...c5 is almost never played at the master level for one reason, and a person earlier in the thread has already identified it.  Play 2.d5! and 3.Nc3!.  The idea is the other Knight will go to c4 via Ng1-f3-d2-c4 (not immediately), the LSB will usually be developed to e2, the DSB is usually the last minor piece developed for White, and sometimes Black goes out of his way to trade it on c1.

More intelligent benoni players, whether that be Modern Benoni players (3...e6) or Czech Benoni players (3...e5) will proceed to play 1...Nf6 first.  Then only after 2.c4 does he play 2...c5 and after 3.d5, the White pawn on c4 prevents White from plopping his Knight on that square, hitting the weak d6 pawn.

@ThrillerFan ,

Maybe another reason they delay 1. .. c5 is that they fear the Morra-gambit. In this more intelligent line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 they might think about 3. .. b5 the Benko-gambit.

(a 1... c5 player myself I somewhat resent the idea that it's less intellegent than playing the more accurate move order. The fact is I've only met the best response once or twice since I've been playing the Old move order and avoided a lot of irregular Queen pawn openings and pet 1. d4 but not 2. c4 lines, not to mention all the wins against players who take on c5 or play the Bishop check. I just don't think many White players study 1... c5. Of course 1... Nf6 is better. 1... c5 is certainly riskier; it's "hope chess," but it may be a fine practical choice up to a certain level. I wouldn't call it stupid.)

At QXD4 black's white bishop is hanging, just saying free piece and taking away the enemy's castling, lol

I just played a game where I got a c5 response for the first time. Since I had no idea what opening it was I transposed it to the smith morra gambit, a line I knew. I did win the game but thats probably because he had no idea how to play the sicilian. 

I was playing a game where my opponent responded c5 and I was having no idea and I just pushed the pawn on d5