Need Interesting Openings for Black

Hey all, after around a year or two hiatus, I finally played my first competitive chess tournament several weeks ago, where I was slaughtered. At that point, I remembered why I quit in the first place - stale openings.
For years as Black, I would generally play Petrov's (Usually what I use), Four Knights, Scandinavian, or Sicilian. All of these openings are too common, and too boring for me to play anymore.  

I'm playing my last scholastic tournament in March, and I'd love to leave playing odd and less common openings like the Owen's Defense. Anyone have some fun/interesting suggestions? 

Open spanish.

Owen's Defense stinks.  Play the Modern Defense.  It's not theorized to death like the Sicilian Najdorf or the Chigorin Variation of the Ruy Lopez, but it's also not just outright bad like Owen's Defense, the St. George Defense, or other garbage.

The only downside is that you truly have to know what you are doing, or White could blow you off the board.  It's not a fool-proof defense like the Ruy Lopez where a slip-up or two can be recovered.  You slip-up here, and White can roll you over.

Therefore, get Cyrus Lakdawala's book "The Modern Defense, Move by Move", and read it cover to cover over the course of January and February.  Even if you read one full game a day, you should be close enough, and will finish if it's in mid-March or later.  Don't just breeze thru it though, serious study is required!

Hmm, I'll look into that Thriller. Thing is, I know I cannot outbook a lot of the players that are usually in my section (Top few are around 1600-1800, I'm 1300), which is why I've relied on basic strategy my entire chess career (Never studied, nor do I have too much time to do so now). What I'm hoping is that the openings that I use aren't considered "normal" by most players, and will leave them to think rather than used memorized scripts of moves.
I will try this out a bit, though. Thanks for the suggestion! 

I've heard that the Pirc is a relatively memorization-less opening. You just have to know the common concepts.

For d4., I would reccommend the Chigornin (1.d4 d5. 2.c4 Nc6) It is a very sharp and unusual opening. 

No matter what you say, the Sicilian is one of the best choices to create an imbalance while it is a good opening. You don't have to get overly theoretical. The Kan or the Boleslavky is an idea. I doubt many would know the latter anyway.

I would say the French, but casual players exchange pawns half the time. Then black has to castle queenside to create sharp play and that may not always go.

If you're facing d4, my standard reply is the KID/Benoni/Dutch for sharp play. Maybe the semi-Slav (Meraner/Noteboom kind of stuff) if you're into that.

I would reccomend Sicilian or the Slav

if the sicilian is to boring for you maybe you should learn some new ideas in the opening instead. the sicilian is so complicated and full of ideas i wouldnt even really recommend it to players of our level

+1

Alternatively I also suggest the book, 'the modern defence' by speelman, it gives lines to play both against 1.e4 and 1.d4, I find the d4 section particularly interesting.

@Anonymous, the Modern is a very diverse opening, this makes it very interesting and fun to play.

Don't be deterred by the, 'know what youre doing or you get blown off the board comment by thriller', this is true but its the plans which you must be familiar with for the most part, rather than specific forcing lines

While it holds similarity to some very bookish openings (Benoni, Kings indian, Dragon and the pirc to a lesser extent), it has subtle differences which make many standard attacking plans which your opponents may have prepared much less effective (often this can hold a big advantage as your theory relying opponents will oten trip over their own feet attempting to force through their favourite pirc or dragon lines).

Many other good suggestions in this thread as well. Best of luck with whatever you choose.

against the owens the only theory i know is this

and with this alone ive had so good results against the owens ive been accused of cheating many times

Why is a 1200 rated player worried about openings that are or aren't "theorized to death"?

Play good sound opening moves, play actively, try to stop your opponent from doing the same, and work on your tactics.

If you're bored by the chess you play as a 1200 rated player, work on your tactics and positional understanding, not the latest opening theories!

I'm mainly bored playing the same popular openings. I have literally played maybe 3-5 openings per color for over a decade now. I've played them too many times, without much change/variation. In the last few tournaments before my hiatus, I dreaded actually having to play competitively. At the time, I preferred just playing bughouse and scrimmage matches. 

I just want to experiment with new ideas, in order to get more varied mid-game play. That, and I'm planning to play people in my next tournament who are 1600+, who more than likely know how to play against all of the popular openings I know better than I do. I also can't study too much due to school and other extracurriculars. 

opening theory is not what you should be looking at. study tactics. I got from 1200 to 1800 by drilling tactics and endgames and playing blitz, not memorizing opening lines. when you reach expert level play then you can start worrying about that. 

That is why I'm trying to find openings that aren't so book-ish. I'd rather not play openings that people have memorized like crazy, so I can have a more even playing field in the mid-game

What usually happens to me when I lose is that I usually mess up something in the opening, then it comes to bite me in the butt during the mid-game