There are many responses to 1. e4. The most common are 1...e5 and 1...c5. However, there are many defenses which are hardly ever played, such as the French, the Caro Kann, the Alekhine, the Nimzowitsch, and the Scandinavian. My personal favorite defense against 1. e4 is the French (1... e6) because of its aggressiveness and attacking possibilities, assuming white doesn't play the Exchange Variation, but I am fine with symmetrical positions as well as asymmetrical. What do you play against 1. e4 besides 1... e5 and why?

I like the Sicilian because it's agressive and breaks the symmetry immediately.

1. ... d5. The Center Counter is a forcing variation, and allows me to dictate the game.

Sicilian Najdorf is awesome, but I also like the French.

I always play the Sicilian against 1.e4. Its the one opening i know best and am so use to the positions that arise from playing so many games in it i usually can do quite well with it. The French isnt 'hardly ever played' is it?! hmmm.... Anyway, i remember i learned the Rubenstein French with a chess teacher years ago and after a little study i played it tonight and had a really interesting game. I admit i dont know 'that' much about the French, hence i stick to the Sicilian.

 

Oh, i also think that if white does not play best moves against Sicilian, as Black you can come out on top rather easy. The only downside of the Sicilian is, White players of any level can set up a Yugoslav attack and try hope for the best. 

alekhine best by far =D

sicilian najdorf and dragon

It seems that these days, no one knows the French.  Today, I went to a tournament and played the French twice. Guess what they all played for move two? Nf3. No one knows that the move is d4. When I was white I told them to play the French (not like I expected them to listen), they didn't even know what it was! The only time I played the French and have had it met with d4 is against a 2000 rated player! It's terrible! It's the French apocalypse!

d5 is my personal favourite you will never catch me responding with another move to E4

I like playing the French, but I only know the initiating moves. Not what I should focus on after that.

1...c5 is the best response!

b6 . Its rubbish but plenty go wrong early on against it.

I always think of the French as drawish.  My borther was a huge fan of the French... I used to read his games to fall asleep (really).  I had no idea it had sharp variations :)

 Against 1. e45 I prefer the Pirc (1. e4 d6 2. e5 NF6)

e6

 Its nice and agressive, and gives me plenty of attacking possibilities. I am not a defending person, not only in chess, but all sports and games.

haha, the french is indeed a rare opening and you can go a year without seeing it, but this year i had it 4 times in a row as white!  I think Nf3 is perfectly ok against the french btw.  Apparently there's even a wing gambit in the french .  

 

(obviously if you play more than 30 games a year you will probably see the french... it isnt as rare as the caro-kahn.  But compared to the sicilian, i think you can almost transpose to it from the alapin sicilian as often as you meet it on the first move.)

I really enjoy playing the Scandinavian Defense: 1... d5. It is very easy to learn, but good at the same time! I have a group on it if you are interested!

I like 1...g6, as if often transposes into a king's Indian defence, and even if it doesn't, theres not much white can do to prevent a kings indian style set up on black's kingside. However, any tactics involving ...f5 are rendered difficult by the pawn on e4. I've heard of 1...a6 in response to 1.e4, apparently karpov once lost as white to that. 

1. e4 a6 is the Saint George Defence. I've been playing chess every other weekend almost for two years, and I've only seen the Caro-Kann once. I think people should start playing the "lost" openings at amateur level, rather than the "cliche" e5 (not that there's anything wrong with it).

BasicLvrCH8r wrote:

There are many responses to 1. e4. The most common are 1...e5 and 1...c5. However, there are many defenses which are hardly ever played, such as the French, the Caro Kann, the Alekhine, the Nimzowitsch, and the Scandinavian. My personal favorite defense against 1. e4 is the French (1... e6) because of its aggressiveness and attacking possibilities, assuming white doesn't play the Exchange Variation, but I am fine with symmetrical positions as well as asymmetrical. What do you play against 1. e4 besides 1... e5 and why?

---

While the sicilian and 1....e5 are the most popular responses to 1e4 I dont think its correct to say the french and caro kann are hardley ever played. French is third most popular with caro kann being fourth most popular choices against 1e4. If you are playing in tournaments where 1e4 players dont even know the french defense I think you are playing in very weak events to be sure.

The events are scholastic, so I can agree that many of the players are weak. I just love to crush them with my bare hands.