What is Black’s sharpest response to 1. d4?
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The Englund Gambit is the sharpest but is quite terrible.
The Modern Benoni is also pretty terrible if your opponent knows what's going on.
The Dutch Defense is very sharp and playable at the same time. A lot of my tournament games have ended within 30 moves with mixed results. Great opening if you are tired of Londons/Catalans/etc. I used to play this more often, but I've become more aware of my limitations as time passed and I grew older.
Re the Modern Benoni, don't I just know it. I play it in blitz and against weaker players.
Against the modern lines with h3, yes it can be a pain in the neck. The reason is that because black is cramped, s/he'd love to get a pair of pieces off. Any pair except the g7 bishop but usually it's
7. ...Bg4 8. Be2 ... Bxf3
which 5 h3 can prevent. It's slower for white so black is reasonably ok but just doesn't get the sharper lines which are desired.
I would call the Dutch "rather stodgy" and so I play the Staunton Gambit.