MOST ANNOYING OPENINGS

Which openings do you find the most annoying to play against?

For me they are:

With black:

1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3. It's annoying, because I don't know what I'm playing against. Is it a London, a Queen's Gambit, a Colle? Maybe even Catalan? Who knows?

French Exchange. Everybody insists on this opening if I try to play the French. It's very boring to play this boring opening over and over again.

Four Knights Scotch. Super solid, super boring. I don't know what to do against this.

King's Indian Attack. Very slow and solid. It's hard to say what the opponent is planning when they play this. 

With white: 

Czech Pirc. Pushing pawns one step at a time shouldn't be a good opening, but somehow this gets the job done. 

Philidor Defense. Passive but rock solid. 

Scandi with 2...Nf6. Quite rare, but it feels like every time someone plays this, they are well prepared.

Fried liver

I don't know if "most annoying" is exactly the phrase I would use, but playing the King's Indian Defense has always been frustrating for me. It's such a popular opening and so many people swear by it. However, despite my best efforts I've never had good results with it. Normally when I struggle with an opening I try to study it in depth, but the KID has so many different variations that I never had a lot of success trying to learn it that way. Then, when I see other people play it, it suddenly looks like the best opening of all time. idk maybe I'm just not good in cramped positions.

KID is a double edged sword for sure. And super thick on theory, there are a million eco-codes and the chessable courses are gargantuan. I can see how all of that could be annoying.

Another honorable mention is The Smith-Morra Gambit! I play this as White. So, I should be familiar with it. However, I have a really hard time defending it as Black. Maybe I should start declining. I have similar troubles with the Wing Gambit, but I almost never see it.

#2 same

e4

Good thread, I'll share the ones that bother me the most :

With White (I'm a 1.e4 player):

The Modern Defense:
Black has so many different structures and possible plans, it's hard to keep all the home prepped lines in mind for each game.

You can't really surprise your opponent with some new recipe.

The Modern is a counterpunching opening, an anti-theory opening.

It forces you to think from move one Black puts the pressure on you from the very start.
I also find systems like the Hippo setup really annoying.

You don’t know whether to stay passive or slowly push forward.

It's a very psychological opening and honestly, it's the one I struggle with the most.

Lately, I’ve been working on something a bit offbeat: 1.e4 g6 2.Bc4!? Bg7 3.Qf3 to sidestep theory quickly let’s see if this trashy line brings me better luck, haha.

At least I’ll surprise my opponent, which is the goal.

The Scandinavian Defense:
Even though I have good results against it, it still annoys me a lot because I don’t like the nature of the resulting positions, and I know Black is usually better prepared than I am.
Within the Scandinavian, I especially dislike when they play the Blackburne gambit: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 c6!? and like the OP, I’m also annoyed by lines with Nf6 and the main Mieses line with 3...Qa5, which is objectively the best option for Black.

With Black:

What bothers me is 1.d4 and 1.Nf3, mainly because I can't play the liberating 1...e5 move that opens up the position.

It’s true that in blitz or bullet I play the Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5) or the Herstrom Gambit (1.Nf3 g5), but in serious or classical games I’d never go for these suicidal openings.

So against 1.d4 and 1.Nf3 I think I’m resigned to playing solid setups like the Slav or g6 based structures.

I used to play in the past the Dutch Defense out of desperation not knowing what to do against 1.d4, 1.Nf3, and even 1.c4 (and 1.c4 e5 has way too much theory, which is why I never liked it much White usually feels comfortable since it’s what they practice the most).

But the Dutch is a very unintuitive and unnatural opening.

At the end of the day, it’s basically a reversed Bird, and I don’t know many attacking players who go for 1.f4 as White, so playing 1...f5 feels a bit reckless though I’ll admit it’s still better than the Englund, haha.

I can't stand the London. It's not that it's unbeatable or anything like that. I just find the resulting positions boring.

Yes, I forgot to mention the London System too

it has always seemed very annoying to me.

It's one of the most annoying openings in general

I also play the Morra, but now I play the unnamed unknown variation with Qxd4.

I'm getting better results than with the classic Morra, which has always bored me a lot with the whole declining theme. But the most important thing is that with this line, I’ve barely studied any theory, unlike the Morra, which is much more complex and requires a lot of memorization.

I'm probably one of the few, who's never been annoyed by the London.

I find the London system to be annoying because I always get very boring positions from it as black. Frankly though I haven't studied it in depth so maybe if I did I could find a more interesting line

I do pretty well with the standard Morra Gambit as White. I've seen this strange 3. Qxd4 line, but I've never been super impressed with it. When I play against it as Black it feels like I just equalize for free. I don't really see the point of it. Is it better in blitz?

As white:

Czech Pirc:

I'm decent against the mainline Pirc Defense, but somehow the Czech Pirc gives me a much harder time.

Bastrikov Sicilian:

I simply cannot remember the theory, which is especially bad because I've been seeing it a lot lately.

As Black:

Classical Variation of the Nimzo Indian:

The Queen's Gambit structure is difficult for me in general, but this line is a standout issue. 4. Qc2 supports an eventual e5, after which I seem to always get cramped or uncomfortable positions.

Smith-Morra Gambit:

There are several gambits I have difficulty against as black. In the hands of the right person, the Smith-Morra is extremely difficult for me. Luckily, I can just transpose it into an Alapin, which I am much more comfortable in.

Wing Gambit:

Even more bothersome than the Smith-Morra for me because there's not a great way to avoid it if you're a Sicilian player. Extremely sharp and difficult positions where you have to walk a fine line to get out of it well off.

King's Gambit Accepted: Muzio Gambit:

Needless to say, this line is objectively bad for white and is losing with best play. However, there is so much compensation for the lost material, and I usually get crushed by an attack on the kingside.

Paulsen setups do well against the Morra. Judit Polgar enjoyed using one of these. Anish Giri likes the ...Nc6 and ...Bb4 variations, and even Stockfish seems to favor this, and Stockfish is rarely wrong.

Clearly you play off of ADHD Emotions and not any true knowledge of the game. Anyone with knowledge of the game would THANK White for playing the Exchange Variation against the French.

In roughly the last 100 times I have faced the exchange French over the board, I have 4 losses, yes FOUR! This is to go with about 65 to 70 wins and the rest draws - all with Black.

I still get the Exchange French sometimes today via 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3?! Nf6 6.d4 d5.

The only one that can be SLIGHTLY annoying is the English Opening.

Pretty much why I play it. lol...

1.d4 2.Nf3 I usually plan to play a Colle but I'm booked up on a lot of reversed Queens Gambit lines also. i.e. I'm actually looking to play.... Reversed QGA if Black plays an early ...d5 and ...c4 or ... or...because I play the Koltanowski var with c3, a reverse Semi-Slav lines with dxc5 holding on to the pawn and playing Bb2.. even started playing 1.d4 2. e3 and 3.Bd3 Hey... if I'm allowed to play the Stonewall Attack Bonus! but what I really expecting is to see some form of anti Stonewall move order allowing me to play a reversed Noteboom variation (or transpose into some solid version of a Chigorin or QG)

Are these theoretical? Heck no...!!! but.. gets people in my back yard where at least I will have a chance of knowing what the keck is going on .. lol