Playing against 1. e4

Hello everybody, I'm wondering if I could get some advice choosing a defense against 1. e4. I've tried a number of different defenses, but none really seemed to work for me. So what do you use, and why? What would you recommend?

These are the defenses I've tried so far:

Sicilian - Played for awhile, but the massive theory chased me away

French - played a little bit, seems too defensive

Caro Kann- I don't know very much about this one, at first glance it looks very defensive.

Scandinavian with ...3. Qd6 - Interesting, but whenever my opponent plays the opening properly I always seem to be fighting simply to maintain equality

e5 (Epine Dorsal) - Haven't played much, I've never liked the idea of letting my opponent dictate the game. Also has quite a bit of theory, since you need to know the various openings. Plus, I hate gambits, and this leaves you wide open to the Kings Gambit.

Any help I could get would be greatly appreciated. I've been trying to make up my mind for a while, and just seem to get myself more confused then when I started.

I don't know, 1...Nc6?

I don't know what to tell you. You've eliminated everything I play. :)

"French - played a little bit, seems too defensive"

0.o it's true you need to defend well in the french (ahh greek gifts!), but there is tons of counterattacking, its a real fighting opening (assuming your opponent doesn't play the exchange).  I personally shy away from it because of the french bishop.

You really are asking too much out of a black opening though.  You want an opening that's not risky & not defensive, and doesn't have much theroy but gains easy equality?  Good luck with that!

Personally I favor 1... e5 for the learning outcomes.  It's classical, principled, and it teaches you all important lessons about attacking and open games.  I don't mind accepting the kings gambit, but if I did I could always wimp out with d6 =P.

Nearly every opening has a gambit line, especially with the White pieces.

There's no reason to be afraid of gambits.

Sicilian is the way to go. Yes, there is a lot of theory behind it, but the oppurtunities are many and if White plays carelessly, congratulations, the game is yours. You need patience and lots of time to analyse this opening, but trust me, it'll work out if you try hard. Even if it doesn't, at least you'll find a good way to counter it!

@ ChaoticFool

I suggest u play the Sicilian Kan. Unlike the other Sicilian systems, this has relativly little opening theory. The main idea is to develop and play for the initiative.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6

the Sicilian Kan

 The main idea is to develop and yet after 4 moves black has nothing developed !

looks like you got pretty good positions with the Scandinavian in your online games, so I would stick with that

Try the Pirc.

It gives you a solid position where you are not fighting for equality but the advantage.  I had the same problem and the Pirc has worked great. 

Pirc Defense: Classical Variation, Two Knights System (B08)

I like e5, you will have to play against alot gambits but after you see them a few times you'll fiure out how to play them. Here's what I like against the kings gambit.

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many responses so quickly! Thanks for the reply's everyone.

@ MeteoricMike - I guess I am asking for a bit too much out of the opening. I'll do some reading on the French, it has been a while since I played it.

@ turn and PaladinIsBack192 - Ah, the Sicilian... Definitely an interesting opening. It does seem to have essentially everything I'm looking for. Perhaps I'll try it out again. Never seen the Kan line before, looks like a cross between the Scheveningen and the Najdorf

@Hicetnunc - I have had some success with the Scandinavian so far, but mostly because of people playing 2.e5? I'll need to play it more before I decide whether I like it or not.

@ mprhchess - I don't have any experience with the Pirc, looks like you may have some cramping problems though. Is that the case? 

Looks like my choices are down to Sicilian, French, Scandinavian, and Pirc. So my next question is about the Sicilian and French. What line do you prefer (those who play them) and what are the differences between the main ones? 

Thanks again for all the responses!

French and Sicilian are both large families (especially the Sicilian) - so it's not easy to give an overview in a few lines...

Overall, French defence is more about strategy, while Sicilian is more about fighting, but there are some very solid Sicilian lines too and some great counterattacks in the French

The pirc starts out cramped but after fiancettoing the king's bishop and possibly both, you can get a good positional advantage.  If you wish to avoid gambits and want to play for a win, a strongly suggest you add it to your repitoire. 

Most important, IMHO, is what system matches your style of play?

This is a good starting place: Exeter Chess Club's list of aggressive and solid openings and defenses.

I like the French. Goes for creating imbalances right out of the gate. You choose if you want it to be defensive (classical, steinitz) or attacking (winawer, mccutcheon). The two systems I don't fear are the exchange French and the Advance. Whichever system you select, play it for at least 6 months to see if it fits you. The sicilian and french are *deep*, and you can spend a lifetime studying them.

I play 1.e4 as white this is how I feel about the defenses you are considering.

The Sicilian- The up to this opening is it creates a really imbalanced position which should give both sides winning chances. The Down side is there is alot of theory, also I play the morra smith gambit as white so you will have to face some gambits if you play the sicilian, along with some other equally dangerous anti-Sicilian lines. I don't mind facing the sicilian because I know 90% of the time I am going to know the opening better than my opponent.  

The Pirc- This opening solid and It still gives me problems from time to time. I always feel like I come out of the opening with an advantage but it's difficult to convert simply having more space into a win. I would say the upside to this opening is it's tough to crack and your opponents won't be as well prepared for it, but it doesn't really challenge white as much or give black the same winning chances as the sicilian.

The Scandinavian- This opening is similar to the pirc in that I feel like I come out the opening with an advantage but I can't always break though. It's definately a playable defense at the sub-master level, and I think there is a lot of litature on it. 

The French- If I had to play something besides e5 I would play the french. It's completely sound, and if white want's to play for the advantage, 3.Nc3 is his best option, but then black has the very complicated winawer varation. I just play the exchange varition as white which give black an easy game. It's the only defense that I play somewhat passively against. 

If I had to choose I would play 1.e4 e6, but you should play the move that makes the most sense to you, I play e5 because I to fight for control of the center and develop my pieces quickly.

alekines vis a good opening

not too defenceive and solid

most players don't know what to do after pushing all the pawns

play 1.....Nf6

eventually, black does have a comfortable game

Well, you seem to like no opening in particular. I think you're making the mistake of trying to find something you'll feel like you're playing with a very comfortable position as black.

Thing is, since white moves first, black really has to make a choice how he handles: agrees to a passive position, which is probably defensible with careful play, or create serious counterchances - ALWAYS at a cost of some form of weakness or some other trouble. also - since all of the latter kind of openings are quite sharp, there tends to be a massive body of theory behind them.

So you really have to choose - go into sharp theoretical lines as black or into less sharp (and hopefully (not always) less theoretical) but slightly inferior positions. You seem to have a good sense of what you're getting with each opening, you just can't come to grips with the fact that in chess, black is at a slight disadvantage (even if just a theoretical one) and must decide between several evils.

Good news is, until about ~2000 rating, whenever you analyze your games, you see that they pretty much always contained serious tactical errors after the opening fight was already over. So it's also not a big issue.

That said, if you want a relatively non theoretical opening with some counterchances, I can recommend the Pirc defense.

Be warned, however, that you may have to handle a certain white advantage/initiative (depending on the line). If you like the hypermodern style, it can be ok. Still, black has some issues there too...

Well - alot of people have offered good advice as far as the actual openings go, but you didn't provide much detail as to what kind of chess you like to play.  Do you like to attack?  Do you like to be on the offensive and create tactical obstacles for your opponents?

Or do you like to focus more on strategy?  Do you like to focus on gathering up your forces for that major pawn break or domination of a post/color complex? 

I'd say that if you like to attack/counterattack, there are obviously plenty of Sicilian systems out there that provide you with that opportunity.  Likewise, there are certain variations of the French where you can be on the offensive, but I think it is easier to dictate what opening you will play in a Sicilian (for example, after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 - already on move five you can dictate whether white will be playing against a Najdorf,Dragon, Kan, or Schevengin, all depending on your next move - a6, g6, a6 or e6).  Likewise, there are several counterattacking systems in the e5 openings that could fit that style (Marshall defense in Ruy Lopez for example).

But if you don't like sharp tactical encounters and would rather have quieter openings, you should probably look into several variations of the French or the Caro Kann.  I'm not as familiar with playing these from the black side, but I know they are a bit more driven at strategy than are some of the counterattacking systems such as the Najdorf or Sicilian.

Anyways - my point is that people could make all sorts of suggestions for the Pirc or the Alekhine, but what you should probably ask yourself is what kind of chess you like to play, and then find openings that match your preference of playstyle.  While I think others do bring up a good point of playing openings that lead to all sorts of positions to get yourself up to speed and improve, I think that if you really want to win games, focusing on what you're good at and steering games in that direction is a good start.  And figuring out what you like to do will definitely affect your opening repertoire.  Just my opinion.

Good luck!