Black Openings against d4 • page 1/2 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

Wolf227

#1

I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion about a black opening they like against d4?

#2

ChessFriend2010

#3

Nf6 or d5 and get into some solid openings

organicbreakfast

#4

d5

if white plays 2. c4 queens gambit
I suggest the slav c6

if white plays 2. bf4 the london
I suggest nf6

d5 if white plays 2. c4 queens gambit I suggest the slav c6 if white plays 2. bf4 the london I suggest nf6

TheMasterLeo

#5

Englund!!

https://lichess.org/study/fnLbsyT1

Englund!! https://lichess.org/study/fnLbsyT1

Nihongo-san

#6

Queen's Indian Defense; maybe with the move order 1...Nf6 followed by 2...b6.

turbojerboa

edited

#7

Obviously both 1...Nf6 and 1...d5 are fine, and it's more about your taste. I recommend 1...Nf6 for the following reasons:

You will get better versions of the London System, which you'll see all the time, with the 2...c5 3...Qb6 stuff.
The Trompowsky/Jobava are way less scary to me than the Blackmar-Diemer. Against Trompowsky just play the Classical Defense - and know your lines well, especially the systems with early d5, which should give black a small advantage. You will get a lot of quick losses against Blackmar-Diemer until you learn a lot of theory. Against Jobava I like playing the French with 2...e6; I don't know it super well, but a d4 player knows it even less. And if they don't accept the invitation into the French then they're already notably worse by move 3, because of some Bb4 pin lines.
QGD is considered more of a drawing line, not going to benefit your learning as much. QGA is a bit suspicious, and Slav/Semi-Slav is -extremely dangerous-. Those lines get totally crazy.

So then your choice is to learn King's Indian Defense, Gruenfeld or Nimzo. I'd suggest not starting with the King's Indian, since there's too much positional variety; the Nimzo is probably the 'best' line against d4, maybe the 'best' black opening period, but it has a ton of variations. The Gruenfeld has less to learn (still a lot, though) and is less forcing. Both will give you lots of attacking chances. If you want to learn a lot of long, tactical, forcing lines and win with prep then go for Nimzo, if you want more nebulous "sharp positions" then go for Gruenfeld.

If you play Nimzo then you'll need something against Nf3; I suggest the Blumenfeld Gambit, which is like a sound version of the Benko Gambit. It's way less theory than the other options, your opponents will know very little about it, and you can score lots of quick and easy wins. I like the systems with Be7 instead of Bd6. Just try not to transpose into Benko Fianchetto lines; that's the theoretical bust for the original Benko Gambit.

Don't spend a bunch of time learning trash. You're making a big time investment, learn serious stuff. I wasted so much time playing Benoni forever, don't do like I did!

Also there's always the Dutch...

Obviously both 1...Nf6 and 1...d5 are fine, and it's more about your taste. I recommend 1...Nf6 for the following reasons: 1) You will get better versions of the London System, which you'll see all the time, with the 2...c5 3...Qb6 stuff. 2) The Trompowsky/Jobava are way less scary to me than the Blackmar-Diemer. Against Trompowsky just play the Classical Defense - and know your lines well, especially the systems with early d5, which should give black a small advantage. You will get a lot of quick losses against Blackmar-Diemer until you learn a lot of theory. Against Jobava I like playing the French with 2...e6; I don't know it super well, but a d4 player knows it even less. And if they don't accept the invitation into the French then they're already notably worse by move 3, because of some Bb4 pin lines. 3) QGD is considered more of a drawing line, not going to benefit your learning as much. QGA is a bit suspicious, and Slav/Semi-Slav is -extremely dangerous-. Those lines get totally crazy. So then your choice is to learn King's Indian Defense, Gruenfeld or Nimzo. I'd suggest not starting with the King's Indian, since there's too much positional variety; the Nimzo is probably the 'best' line against d4, maybe the 'best' black opening period, but it has a ton of variations. The Gruenfeld has less to learn (still a lot, though) and is less forcing. Both will give you lots of attacking chances. If you want to learn a lot of long, tactical, forcing lines and win with prep then go for Nimzo, if you want more nebulous "sharp positions" then go for Gruenfeld. If you play Nimzo then you'll need something against Nf3; I suggest the Blumenfeld Gambit, which is like a sound version of the Benko Gambit. It's way less theory than the other options, your opponents will know very little about it, and you can score lots of quick and easy wins. I like the systems with Be7 instead of Bd6. Just try not to transpose into Benko Fianchetto lines; that's the theoretical bust for the original Benko Gambit. Don't spend a bunch of time learning trash. You're making a big time investment, learn serious stuff. I wasted so much time playing Benoni forever, don't do like I did! Also there's always the Dutch...

turbojerboa

#8

I'll say, if you want to go for d5, then maybe the Ragozin is a nice, self-contained system that should give you a bit more to play for than the main lines. It's not the "best" in terms of your endgames if your opponent plays like a super-GM, but its theoretical problems aren't something you'll ever really feel unless you work your way up to titled play.

e3.

@Wolf227 To answer your question, it would be helpful first of all to know what kind of positions you like (dynamic, more static, something in between...) as there are many possibilities.