What openings do you employ (hopefully with great success) as black? 

I've decided to pick a few openings to practice and become strong with.
For white I have the Colle, KIA, and possibly the Bird and King's Gambit.

For black, I really have no idea.  I like aspects of the French, especially 3..Nc6.  Other than that, I really don't know.  I'd prefer to learn something without lots of theory, isn't a crazy gambit, and has been employed with some success.  Any advice?

I usually play the Scandinavian 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 variation with success. I'm not completely sure if this variation has been played with success at higher levels, but I know that other variations of the Scandinavian have.

I like the caro-kann too.  I've experimented w/ the pirc and 1e4 g6 too.  Right now the caro- and the slav are what I'm playing the most.

I've been experimenting with the Caro-Kann for the same reasons of simplicity as Kaisawind (who I just finished an excellent game with playing the Caro-Kann as Black).

 What I'm trying to do is build a repertoire of solid candidate openings in both the solid positional openings like the Caro-Kann and more aggressive, tactical ones, so I can play to fit my mood.

Nobody's playing The Fred?     Philidor's Defense is solid.

I like the hedgehog atm, you give away the centre, but you have a strong defense from which you can attack with knights and bishops

I play the Fred Sometime online but it is not really so good I lost some interest after getting some horrible positions.

But I found some strange opening, which I like to try out.

 

Did you move your knight out and then back or something?

 

I play Sicilian and KID.

 

If you like the French, then play it. Maybe you could try the Alekhine against e4. There is room for exploration here, and it is not a crazy gambit.

well, i just play as i can, whatever looks good. it seems to work

I like the french and the benko gambit

against 1. e4 the Sveshnikov and 1... e5 as a back up.

against 1. d4 the Nimzo Indian or the queens Indian ( depending on white's 3rd move)

IF any one wouldnt mind, would u send me a personal note and explain the Caro-Kann?  I would certainly appreciate it.

 

Thanks Kenon

My pet defense is 1-...e5 against 1-e4,but I do like Sicilian and Caro-kann Defenses and I sometimes play them to my leisure.

oh! and against 1-d4 I play 1-...d5 declining Q's gambit afterwards!

If you want to bypass lots of theory against d4, you could play c5.  This will normally lead to benoni positions (it is the Old Benoni as opposed to Modern Benoni).  I have used this myself against opponents who I know like the Torre.  It just takes them out of their comfort zone slightly more than anything.  I like the idea in previous posts re. Scandinavian.  I might use this myself, I used to a while back with reasonable results, then got fixated on b6 as a first move which hasn't done me much good.  Lastly, the Nimzovitch Defence (Nc6) looks OK and apparently is underrated. Theres theory available on it, but most club players dont know much cos they dont see it enough to warrant spending much time on it.

One thing I've found is that if there's an opening I have a hard time facing, I'll start playing it from the other side to learn how it goes. For instance, I used to have a hard time as white whenever my opponents hit me with the French. Now it's my primary opening as black against 1. e4, and I like playing it from the white side now, too. I'm considering trying out the Pirc for the same reason - I need to get better at playing against it as white, so I'll try it as black to see if that helps me learn.

 

Against 1. d4, I've started playing the Baltic Defense, which is 1. ... d5 and 2. ... Bf5, against almost any second move by white. This really screws up Colle players, and it's fun to play against the Queen's Gambit, too. 

 

While we're on the topic, does anyone have any suggestions for lines to play against 1. c4? 

Najdorf, Dragon, Winawer

Benko Gambit

Sharp stuff

I normally play the Fred with the Kings Rook Gambit variation. It now takes my oppenent at least 20 moves to checkmate me.

1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5 is a nice one to try out

But I also like the (Old) Benoni and Dutch defense against d4.

What do you play against f4?

I like the English Opening as Black, it is a solid guard, and can open white up to counter-attacks