why is the benoni not played at the top level?

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i looked at some gm games and it seems totally playable. so what makes it so unpopular and bad at the top level? everyone says its bad and i cant see why

It is not completely sound.
Black loses a lot.

can you provide some examples?

i do, and its a very good weapon to fight for a win

the benoni forces imbalances and creates sharp tactics and white must play actively in order to keep an advantage

most d4 players at the club level are trying to play some calm, closed line in the QGD or just classical nimzo/ mar del plata kid (which if they try this agianst the benoni they will quickly lose their advantage and could lose

which Benoni game are you referring to? there are different reasons to consider for each one.

i mean in general, why is the benoni not played at the top level and why do they exactly consider it to be worse? example games? reasons?

Its a bad position to a Gm eyesight but totally playable at 2400 level and a draw position

explain why?

Here is an example game:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2049834

On levels below top it is playable to play for a win with black at high risk of losing.
GM Gheorgiu used to play it regularly in swiss open tournaments.

nope, youre wrong im right and you are just dumb

Thanks

I think it is a fine opening for most players and it is fairly solid. At the super-GM level, the d6 pawn might just be a bothersome "sad pawn" and a potential target. It isn't that the Benoni Defense is bad if the lines are studied; it is just that black has better (or at least more ambitious) options against 1. d4.

If you want to study the Benoni Defense, I recommend looking up games from GM Wesley So. He has a crushing record with white against the Benoni Defense at his level and GM Wesley So is arguably the world's leading expert on how to play against this opening.

For the same reasons to as why KID isn't played. Probably another factor is soundness and preparation.

kramnik back then beat kasparov multiple times as white in the kings indian defense, which i guess scared kasparov and many others from playing it. but the kings indian is still completely sound according to the computers. you just need to know the variations well

compared to the benoni where theres obviously something there that scares all the gms away from it and keeps it from being played alot more.

the Meikanas attack is walking a tight rope for black combined with always protecting against e5. and the best explanation i have ever heard for the " son of sorrow" is this " if you drop the d6 pawn, you lose. if you commit too many pieces to protecting the d6 pawn, you lose."

If you're going to play the Benoni at least try something more active like the Benko gambit, which is considered by many strong players to have good surprise value.

The KID is completely playable at all levels, even for GMs. Fischer and Kasparov specialized in it for many years at elite competitions. Black gives up the center in exchange for generating counterplay on the flanks and especially targeting white's kingside. As it's a double-edged opening, it can also lead to losses since if black isn't able to coordinate a successful attack, he can simply find himself lost in the endgame, and it is a very complex opening to learn.

The main reason why the Benoni isn't seen more in expert games is that it is considered passive and objectively worse for black. The computer evaluation after the first 5-7 moves is already +1 or more.

I think that if you want to know why grandmasters play or don't play a particular opening, you need to ask grandmasters.

Fashion.

Chess Grandmasters are as fashion-conscious as teenage girls.

The Italian Game... the Guioco Piano... went out of fashion and STAYED out of fashion for more than a hundred years. Now it's back, and is played at the very top level. Scotch Game... the same thing.

I would say that the Benoni simply went out of fashion. It'll be back.