Beginner Black Defenses

Hey everybody, I am kind of a beginner compared to the people on this site, but I am fairly familiar with the Ruy Lopez Opening and am looking for a black defense so I at least have some opening strategy for both sides haha. I understand that the Sicilian variations are very popular but also for very high level players. I am looking for a solid black defense that should put me in a fairly good position against the typical white openings or even people not playing a specific opening at all. (A lot of the people I play don't know any openigns)

Thanks!,

            Mateo

With Black, you must have a strategy to meet 1.e4 and 1.d4. So, depending on your approach, you will need (at least) two opening plans. Some people like to make these mesh, for example: Caro-Kann vs 1.e4 and Slav vs 1.d4. Some folk want one system to meet all White openings, such as 1. ... g6 or 1. ... d6 or 1. ... Nc6. Others demand that their choice of openings suit their style of play, either aggressively tactical or positionally calm. At this stage in your chess career, you might simply go to the Openings Explorer and start trying some of the ones you see there. No need to settle in on something immediately and you learn a lot of ideas by exploring more than a single opening system.

Best wishes.

I was looking at the opening explorer but it doesn't really tell me much about the skill level of the openings and mainly only the name and win percentage. I think for now it would be good to have a solid safe general opening, but if it is better I am willing to learn the Caro-Kann and Slav seperately. I don't know which openings are aggresively tactical or positionally calm. Like I am a straight beginner in Black Defenses.

very well written, Estragn.  Another thing to note is you need to know the idea behind the opening moves.  If you just memorize it then it will not do you any good.

Thank you, that was extremely helpful actually. I need the people on this forum to tell me things like that because not many people I know are capable of giving solid advice like that. The only reason I was concerned about openings is that I don't want to be put in a bad positional disadvantage early on in the game. I think I will decrease my focus on the openings and keep practicing the tactic trainer. Having solid developement is a lot more important than my opening.

Beginners should probably use 1. e4 e5 and 1. d4 d5 defenses.

I 100% agree with Etragon and AtahanT.  I put my self in the "improving" player category at this point, I think I'm a bit more than a beginner, but I still have much to learn.  I play mostly online chess, so an opening repertoire is less important (you can always consult a database), but even there my games are won and loss on tactics.  I have clawed my way up from sub 1200 to 1425 now, and my victories are almost always a result of avoiding tactical mistakes, and spotting the mistakes my opponent makes. 

That doesn't mean you have to totally ignore opening theory, but don't think you have to sit down at the board with a full memorized opening book.  Answer e4 with e4 and d4 with d5.  Play by good opening principles, and always calculate the tactics so you don't drop material or end up in a trap.  Build up your book a little at a time, AFTER the game.  By that I mean, go back and say "well, It was a Ruy lopez, and I knew what I was doing up to this point, lets look in the database and see what the popular moves are here."  Build it a move at a time

If you want to study something other than tactics, a little endgame skill will take you a long way.  Many lower level players badly neglect endgames, and the ability to reduce a position into a superior endgame is a huge advantage.  Alot of new players play for a mid game mate come hell or high water.  Having the ability to transition to an endgame strategy with confindence makes you a much more dangerous of  player. 

Best of luck.

 I missed this one when I read the thread the first time.  It is 100% right as well.  One bit of adivce i once got that i firmly believe is that memorizing openings is a terrible idea.  Understanding openings is great, but don't just memorize.  Its better for you to know five lines and genuinly understand why the moves are being played than to know fifty lines from route memorization.  As an amature your opponent is either going to pull out a line you haven't studied, and then you will be totally lost, or will deviate from theory, and without understanding of what is going on you will be just as lost and unable to take advantage of their weaker move.  If you have some understanding of the goals and strategy of the postion you have a much better chance of find a sound way forward once the other guy takes you "out of book".

If you want a solid pawn structure with a good hold on the center, 1...e6 is a good reply to both 1. e4 and 1. d4.  This will lead to the French defense or (if d4 e6 c4 d5) the Queen's gambit declined.  These are the most solid (i.e. hard to attack) openings, with plenty of chances for aggressive play (after development).

Wikipedia is a great free resource for succinct opening knowledge.  

I thought that openings mattered at one point, and I played d4 and c4 exclusively thinking that I was a positional player, but I realized that I was a stupid player. I started playing e4, and noticed that I won and lost just as many games as with the other openings. The reason being, that I wasn't winning or losing out of the opening but because of tactical mistakes.

Great work guys, especially you Estragon.

hey everyone i am a level 2500 grandmaster if you have any questions just hit me up i know all there is to know about the game of chess

Most of your time should be spent on the middle game. playing ...e6 against either 1e4 or 1d4 works well if you don't have a  lot of time to study. 1 e4 1...e6 is the French defense and 1 d4 1...d6 2 c4 2...d5 is the Nimzoindian defense which often transposes into the French defense. Both avoid attacks on f7 (commonly used by beginners) and are very solid. Neither opening is very sharp tactically but any opening can be. If you have a lot of time to spend on openings you should pick ones that suit your style of play. I like the Sicilian best but it does require a lot of study and then my opponents play something not in the book anyway by turn 4 (sometimes). If you like the Ruy Lopez it's a very solid opening. The exchange variation is the easiest to learn I think. Against 1e4 1...c5 I recommend the closed sicilian for a beginner. I recommend going over Capablanca's games, he used simple but effective openings. He was a great player who didn't want to burn the midnight oil learning opening theory. 

Has xMFNx been here since 2010?

It's funny that estragon's account has been closed dur to fair play violations and now no one can see his godly comment everyone is talking about.

Wow full circle, coming back to chess after a break. Ended up googling and coming back to my own thread. Seems i haven't made much progress in chess in the last 14 years haha.