Ideas of smart responses to white's King's Pawn Opening?

Hello, I'm an amateur and I'd like to know what would the experts recommend me as a good response to white's e4 opening.

It would be helpful if you mentioned not only what but why would such a response be recommended.

Also, if possible, please post links to pgn, images, videos, etc that shows your suggestions on an actual game.

Thanks!

My short answer would be 1. ... e5. At the novice level, playing this move will help you learn the open game ideas and tactics.

http://www.thechesswebsite.com/chess-openings/caro-kann.php

http://www.thechesswebsite.com/chess-openings/sicilian-defense.php

Sicilian or Caro-Kann

+1 for 1...e5. It's the best training ground for a beginner. Semi open stuff is less instructive at this stage.

When I started playing chess, my father taught me the Italian Game and Ruy Lopez (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 or 3. Bb5). They're good ways to get you into open-game situations where you get a lot of practice on basic tactics. Later, when you want to start catching your low-level opponents off guard, you can switch to fancy stuff like the Sicilian (1... c5), but I wouldn't go there just yet.

I always find Ruy Lopez hard to play, in the past or now. Because the ideas are not so easy to understand. Italian is a good start  but even that you need some study to avoid the traps that go along with it. I agree with you though.. Don't play Sicilian until you have studied it enough. (Even after that, I had problems and needed 50+ games to get used to it).

What do you guys think about Petroff's Defence in the beginner level? It's pretty straightforward

I had the same question and originally I played e5, going for the Italian, then switched to Hungarian Defence. Now im settled in the Caro Kann. Its easy to learn, easy to adapt, and it leads to interesting play even with people much higher ranked than I am. My favorite part was that it avoided Ruy Lopez which I hated. I really think you should check it out!

Why not just learn with a good defense like the sicilian or caro-kann as opposed to e5? You have to get started sometime, and both of those are solid as a rock or they wouldn't be so popular with the GMs. I hate playing e5 as black, always have. I don't like the positions that arise. White has too many ways to make it hard for black to equalize. Do ya'll just want him to get thrashed for awhile before he gets started on a better opening?

I like d6 (The Pirc Defence). If you study any opening, you're going to get good at it.

e4-e6

leads to many possibilities...

if u r interested in playing nimzo indian against d4 (ex. d4-nf6)

which is a good opening against d4, white could play (1.d4 nf6 2. nc3)

if u play sicilian u cant really convert it into an ideal opening, however, watch the third example after the first 2, the 3rd is d4,nf6,nc3

Main French (classical variation)

Nimzo Indian (d4)

d4-nf6-nc3

So i like e6 french

nf6

h5

The problem with the sicilian (when played by a beginner) is that B is the only one risking a quick knockout. In the early moves W will enjoy a nice lead in development and space, and can just develop aggressively before launching an attack. B moves are not nearly as easy to find as W ones (playing a sort of sozin attack against everything requires very little immagination and leads to a nice initiative); of course with correct play B gets a good position but correct play is quite difficult to archieve. In my wiew the sicilian is a really bad choice for a played rated under 1600.

I've always thought that the French is a good choice for beginners, because it prevents horrible things happening on f7, which novice-level players otherwise tend to fall victim to if they play e5 or c5.

But maybe I'm just biased because I play the French!

The french might in fact be another nice idea, thanks to its solid and thematic nature. The problem is maybe in the lack of variety, 1...e5 certainly gives rise to more different pawn structures and as a conseuence it's likely more instructive. But maybe i'm just biased because i regularly lose against the french! 

It's a very interesting response against white's first move. I'll keep it in mind.

This seems too complicated for me. The king goes into great safety but black's game seems so jammed.

On the Nizmo Indian Be7 seems so losing tempo. I don't think I could handle such an opening due to my low rating. I could exchange that bishop for the knight but still white's pawn structure would be slightly more developed...

thats a strange opening for white isn,t it? who would play p-q4 followed by n-qb3,blocking the queen bishop pawn?

You act as if 1...e5 isn't favoured by GMs, while basically all world champions ever have used it, and so has the current world top.

In fact in recent world championship tournaments (say in the last decade), White has moved entirely to 1.d4 because it's too hard to win against 1.e4 e5; in fact that is how Kasparov lost his title, he kept trying to beat Kramnik's 1.e4 e5.