Black Openings for improvement?

Hi to all fellow improvers, Sebu from Finland here!

My question is, what do you play as black? Namely against e4? About 85% of my games as black are vs e4, so it goes without saying, that I need a strong and reliable weapon. My problem is, that I play a bit of everything, but haven't stuck to a particular opening for a length of time.  Lately I've been leaning most towards the Sicilian, but even there it's a mixed bag of variations, that is difficult to choose from. If I do decide to play the Sicilian, I should have a really good idea vs the sidelines as well. Do the Dragons work against sidelines? I do see a dragon-type setup vs the Grand Prix in most examples.

I was an e5 guy for a good bit while starting out, but I try to stay away from that now, because I tend to go for traps too much. I'm sitting at 1400 rapid, if that is of any consequence.

Of course I've dabbled with e6 and c6 as well. My impression is that the French is really strong, but quite boring to play without any attacking chances, and I think of myself as an attacking player. The Caro-Kann feels a bit gimmicky to me, although a lot of people have had great results with it. I think that one subjects oneself to a rather heavy attack in each game, and the defensive game has to be on point to survive and thrive.

The Scandis, the Pircs and the whatnots I haven't really even considered, although I've of course tried all of them too. I started my blitz journey with Pirc for both colors, it was fun until the opponents started attacking like madmen, at which point I switched to mainstream openings.

What is your experience playing vs 1.e4? Did a particular opening work wonders? Are you struggling, or do you welcome 1.e4 with open arms? Any ideas / suggestions for me?

if you're really interested in attacking then scillian should be no brainer imo, altho the theory is quite vast in scillian , i am also kinda struggling with theory rn but believe me scillian is fun

Any variation in particular that you like? There are so many Sicilians that have a good reputation, Najdorf, Dragon, Taimanov, Shvesnikov, Scheveningen, Kan etc.

@sebu13 learn ideas rather than lines if you want to play sicilian because they are usually the same moves in different orders and because ideas in the sicilian are important in middlegames that will likely contain a lot of attacking chess

i play the dragon setups usually, accelerated dragon in case of open scillian. Thinking to expand the repertoire with najdorf and kan

Any tips on how to find these ideas?

I do have some ideas about some variations, but in some I struggle to find much.

That's going to be a big repertoire then. Do you play otb?

i play the caro-kan vs e4 and a kings indian against literally anything else. I have a 70% win rate with white and am hardstuck 50% with black, so any openings with black would help me out too XD

@Steaksaucepie i recommend the sicilian, my win rate hasn't gone up much but i've been gaining elo steadily and winning more than i lose

You may want to give the Alekhine Defense a try. Worked well for some time for me, in my OTB club play, and online play. Won more times than lost. Now I'm back to the drawing board.

I tried it as recently as yesterday in blitz. The problem was nobody played the Alekhine defense. They just developed normally and ignored my knight on f6. So there was no Alekhine for me. I figured I need to play something more forcing. Did the Alekhine stop working for you, or do you want a change for other reasons?

the win rate looks so good

is it normal for with everyone, my win rate is around 50% with white and 40-45% with black. what is the win rate for you guys ?

in blitz my win percent is 49% for white 47% for black and for rapid my win percentage is 58% with white and 51% with black

e5

For all thinking about Najdorf:

it is a VERY complex opening. There are 15! responses to the Najdorf, and only the best play it. If you are sub 2000, don't even think about learning it.

I would recommend not learning sicilian. Too much theory, always some weird lines, overall sharp. You either dedicate all your effort to it or dedicate nothing.

If you want smth solid try Petrov or Caro