Four Pawns Attack, Dynamic Attack

With 7. d5 White answers the ...c5 challenge by advancing past it instead of exchanging, gaining space and fixing a Benoni-type structure in which the pawns on e4 and f4 still support a later e5. Black has to attack this chain before it can advance. The most common reply is 7...e6, opening the e-file and the long diagonal for the g7-bishop. After 8. Be2, the Normal Attack, the game can transpose to the Modern Benoni. Following 8...exd5, the recapture 9. cxd5 gives sharp play after 9...Re8 or 9...Bg4, while 9. e5, the Florentine Gambit, is usually answered by 9...Ne4.

The second most popular choice is 7...Bg4, which aims to exchange the f3-knight, an important defender of the e5 advance. Next is 7...a6, which prepares queenside expansion with ...b5. That expansion can also be played at once with 7...b5, a pawn sacrifice similar to the Benko Gambit. The engine considers the position balanced, and practical results are close to even, with White slightly ahead.