Opening repetoire against 1.d4

Ok, recently I started to play chess a bit more actively again. I guess I will also be playing on this site.

And now an old question comes back to me; what to play against 1.d4 as black.

I have been playing the Fajarowics gambit. But that's not a solid opening and that can't be my only option.

As white I play e4 so my knowledge of d4 openings is quite small in general.

As white I play the Sicilian or the Ruy Lopez. And as black I play the Sicilian against e4 as well.

I like somewhat sharp and dynamic interesting positions. I don't really like positional openings. I have tried the King's Indian. But I didn't really like that. So I basically went back to playing Fajarowics every game.

Maybe the Slav or semi-Slav opening is an option.


So has anyone some suggestions? Are 1.d4 games just generally more positional then 1,e4 games and I will just have to accept this, no matter what? Maybe I should play a quiet positional opening just for the sake of practice? Is there a site that characterizes different openings and variations? Does anyone think I should just stick with Fajarowics exclusively? I have also looked at the Grunfeld, Benko gambit. Not sure about any of them.

What about playing 1.d4 myself? Should I consider playing that move for a while somewhere down the road?

Thanks.

Originally posted by Prometheus4096
Ok, recently I started to play chess a bit more actively again. I guess I will also be playing on this site.

And now an old question comes back to me; what to play against 1.d4 as black.

I have been playing the Fajarowics gambit. But that's not a solid opening and that can't be my only option.

As white I play e4 so my knowledge of d4 openings ...[text shortened]... myself? Should I consider playing that move for a while somewhere down the road?

Thanks.

why not the nimzo indian? thats solid...
i also like the queens indian a lot but that doesnt seem that popular... good nonetheless 🙂

Originally posted by irontigran
why not the nimzo indian? thats solid...
i also like the queens indian a lot but that doesnt seem that popular... good nonetheless 🙂

The problem with the Nimzo for the club and tournament player is that there are so many ways to avoid it. For example, with 1. c4, 1. Nf3, 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 or 3. g3 or 3. a3. It's flexible and I like it, but developing a complete repertoire is difficult. I often envy the universality of 1. d5 (or KID) systems which work against 1. c4 (starting with 1. ...e6 or 1. ..c6), 1. d4 and 1. Nf3. White simply can't avoid it against anything other than d4. In fact, I even end-up transposing into some of these systems myself when playing the Nimzo move order. For example. 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bf5/Bg4. Thus, it's a great opening but a whole lot of work.

Originally posted by Prometheus4096
Ok, recently I started to play chess a bit more actively again. I guess I will also be playing on this site.

And now an old question comes back to me; what to play against 1.d4 as black.

I have been playing the Fajarowics gambit. But that's not a solid opening and that can't be my only option.

As white I play e4 so my knowledge of d4 openings ...[text shortened]... myself? Should I consider playing that move for a while somewhere down the road?

Thanks.

1. d4 games are usually more positional and even when they're sharp, it tends to be more about aggressive pawn play. See the Semi-Slav for example. However, it really depends on the player. The QGA is a perfect example. A more aggressive player can respond with e4 while a quieter one can continue with the modest e3. Speaking of the QGA, that might be a good option for you. It leads to more open games and piece play which is more similar to e4 games.

Should you try d4? Yeah, sure why not? It may help your positional understanding of the Black side and the game in general. However, d4 is not objectively better and it's really down to the type of positions you prefer. And, this can actually change with your chess development. For example, I started with the KIA but now do not like the positions too much.

How about the albin. It provides very tactically abundant play and tends to surprise the opponent.

Unfortunately it has a pretty bad win/loss ration. However, I'm not sure exactly what the refutation is. Perhaps 5 Kbe2.

If anyone knows a white line that regains the initiative please let me know.

Originally posted by exigentsky
The problem with the Nimzo for the club and tournament player is that there are so many ways to avoid it. For example, with 1. c4, 1. Nf3, 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 or 3. g3 or 3. a3. It's flexible and I like it, but developing a complete repertoire is difficult. I often envy the universality of 1. d5 (or KID) systems which work against 1. c4 (starting w ...[text shortened]... f3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bf5/Bg4. Thus, it's a great opening but a whole lot of work.

i see.. lev alburts book seems to put a whole connected thing together, you think he left holes?

Originally posted by irontigran
why not the nimzo indian? thats solid...
i also like the queens indian a lot but that doesnt seem that popular... good nonetheless 🙂

That's what i play as well, and the Bogo Indian. They give me lines i feel comfortablewith.

I like to play the Nimzo, if white allows it. As has been said already, he can as easily prevent it as allow it, but I still get my hopes up when he plays 2. c4 that 3. Nc3 is coming. If it isn't, then the Bogo-Indian and Benoni are my backup openings.

Whatever he gains in preventing the Nimzo with 3. Nf3, he trades off by giving me what I think is an improved Benoni (when I go that route) because now he can no longer play 7. f4, which is one of the more testing lines for the Benoni player.

As has been said already, I too think that life would be a little simpler for me against 1. d4 if I just played the KID or 1... d5, but neither approach suits my style as well.

Another drawback to this family of openings is that you're kind of left scratching your head as to how to proceed when white adopts a Stonewall Attack or a Colle.

Maybe one day I'll simplify things for myself by switching to the Dutch, then it doesn't matter what they play after 1. d4 (and if they want to try the Staunton Gambit that is right up my alley, so please, bring it on). Plus I know a lot of 1. d4 players really hate playing against the Dutch 🙂

Originally posted by irontigran
i see.. lev alburts book seems to put a whole connected thing together, you think he left holes?

He does a good enough job, but some of the lines give very different play. My point was that with 1. ...d5 the structures can be very similar against anything that isn't 1. e4. The c6-d5-e6 triangle set-up for example, is almost universal.

Originally posted by Prometheus4096
Ok, recently I started to play chess a bit more actively again. I guess I will also be playing on this site.

And now an old question comes back to me; what to play against 1.d4 as black.

I have been playing the Fajarowics gambit. But that's not a solid opening and that can't be my only option.

As white I play e4 so my knowledge of d4 openings ...[text shortened]... myself? Should I consider playing that move for a while somewhere down the road?

Thanks.

The Gruenfeld is another option, depending on what you like to play. Its rarely leads to purely positional battles, but you have to like open positions.

I definitely recommend trying 1. d4 as a method of gaining additional experience with d4 positions. It may well help you decide on a defense you like.

Most of the "dynamic" style GMs play the Slav regularly. There are lots of dynamic lines in these, but white can avoid them too, so its not ideal.

I have Lev's Chess openings for black explained and tried to play aganst this system 1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 e6 3.Be3 c5 4.c3 d5 5.f4 based on this repertoire i would not play well aganst this bird like system

I'm not familiar with the gambit you posted, but here are my recommendations based on the fact that you like open, tactical play.

QGA - be very careful with this as black can get into a host of trouble really fast. Unfortunately more than the other opening, I believe this requires book study.
Third recommendation.

Benko Gambit - This is what I play and is played even at the GM level (though the 10.Rb1 line is currently considered very good for white). This opening has clear strategic ideas (rook pressure on a & b files), but the game is often quite closed (you only get the a1-h8 diagonal and half open 1 & b files) and black often has a better endgame if he can regain his pawn.
2nd recommendation.


Gruenfeld - Not a gambit, but black plays in hypermodern style attempting to make his g7 bishop very powerful by opening the diagonal with moves like c5. Black must be aggressive, but the main (exchange) variation is open and sounds like exactly what you're looking for.

Well, the actual name is the Fajarowicz variation in the Budapest Gambit.

I shouldn't have called it the 'Fajarowicz gambit' because in theory there might be another opening position with that name. But it seems that the Germans do call this opening the Fajarowicz gambit. Ooh well.

It's 1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ne4


Everyone, thanks for the comments so far. I see that I am not the only 1.e4 player trying to find moves against 1.d4 he feels just as comfortable with as the moves he uses himself against 1.e4

Originally posted by Prometheus4096
Ok, recently I started to play chess a bit more actively again. I guess I will also be playing on this site.

And now an old question comes back to me; what to play against 1.d4 as black.

I have been playing the Fajarowics gambit. But that's not a solid opening and that can't be my only option.

As white I play e4 so my knowledge of d4 openings ...[text shortened]... myself? Should I consider playing that move for a while somewhere down the road?

Thanks.

Against 1.d4, to relatively more tactical options are the benoni, which at first glance looks extremely positional, but often leads to sharp tactics, and the second is the King's Indian Defense. While neither of these is as sharp as the openings that come out of e4, they can still give an interesting balance between tactics and positional play.

Ok, I looked at some openings and how the move orders would work out.

I am looking at which opening fits best with my Budapest gambit. Because that can be avoided with 1.d4 Nf6 and then 2.Nc3 or Nf3 instead of 2.c4. I play the semi-Benoni or Schmid Benoni against 2.Nc3. But that's pretty rare. So what would I play currently against 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3? I really am drawn more to 2...d5. over 2...g6.

The exchange variation of the Grunfeld doesn't look appealing to me. So I guess I should try 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6

What's the deal with the move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d5? Seems it's rarely played at the GM level while it transposes into many different common 1d4 openings.

I guess specific move order is more about what lines you want to avoid rather than which ones you want to enter.
Ok, I have to go through some more stuff. I guess I'll start playing 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 for a while and see how that works out and how I like that.