Simple, but I guess it's okay. I'd go into openings that are defensive. I can do that if you want.
Introduction to Defense
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Just keep in mind that a overpowering attack overwhelms defense.
*Shrugs* I play positional chess.
Ruy Lopez, and KIA are my friends.
It's time to talk about defending! All chess players should learn how to defend and how to defend well. If you don't, I can gaurantee you that you will not reach your full potential. Don't be rolling your eyes at me, I'm serious, the same goes for not learning how to attack, or not learning how to play positional chess. I know it may not be your area of expertise, but that's the whole point. If you want to get better you need to focus on your weaknesses as well as your strengths.
Without doing anything else, let me get some misconceptions out of your head about defending.
1. Defense is always passive.
That's simply not true, you can not play defense passively, if you do you will get steamrolled every time.
2. Defense is super boring.
Again, that is simply not true, it's only boring if you make it that way, no aspect of chess is boring, and it never will be.
3. If I play defensively, then I won't be able to win as much.
This one is slighty true, you will draw more, which isn't a win, but you won't lose as much, when you play chess you have to realize that often times a draw is good, although it's nice to win, playing you very best should be your goal.
Moving on, I'd like to talk a bit about some other skills that will help you with defending.
1. You're going to need some reasonable endgame skills, often a defenders goal is to keep his king safe and allow his opponent to overextend himself. Once he's done that, he tries to snatch a pawn by pressuring it until it can't be defended anymore.
(Because you will need endgame skills, I will be writing a series on how to win endgames when a pawn up, after I finish this one.)
2. You'll need foresight (and a lot of it!). If you can see what is opponent is trying to attack way before it happens then you'll be able to stop it, the former world champion Tigran Petrosian was a master at preventing things way before it happened. Remember that phrase every mother has said at least once? "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
3. You will need tactical knowledge. Not so you can whip out a tactical pattern on someone (although it does happen sometimes), but so you can avoid them.
4. And last but not least, you'll need patience.
There is no rushing in defending, you have to take your time and be very precise.
Let's talk a little bit about what your thought process should be when defending.
1. I need to make sure my king is safe.
2. I need to get my pieces out to good strong squares
3. I'm going to let my opponent attack me, but I'm going to defend correctly and cause him to overextend himself.
4. After I've done all of that, I'm going to try to secure a superior endgame position, and win the game.
Well I guess that concludes the introduction, I'll continue this series next week, I'm going to start out with elementary ideas and principles and work it all the way up to intermediate level. Please stay tuned, and enjoy the first installment of this series!