Avoiding the Semi-Slav and Slav

I'm playing for the championship of a USCF Swiss tournament in a few days at my college campus. I get white against someone who, per the director, is a "machine at the Semi-Slav and Slav openings." And apprently he has studied like every game with these openings.

I'm a d4 player by heart and allow most of my games to evolve to a Slav position, so what openings could I consider to counter this? I anticipate after 1. d4 d5 I'll have a hard time avoiding pushing with c4.

nice

London system, where Slav set up is not the best way for black (at least if black plays in automatic mode).

Watch Simon Williams video series on it, on chess.com

IM poucin...what do mean !irrelevant !  ??

Irrelevant was too "severe", and i removed it.

I meant something like inappropriate, but once again, it is a bit severe thats why i changed my words some seconds after my post but too late, u saw it ^^

I see...thank you

london is an anti slav, plus you get all your pieces developed in london.  basically Bf5 is inferior on in london b/c of c4 and Qb3 ideas sometimes with cd and Nc3 hitting b7 and d5.  without much knowledge though the positions can be a bit sterile and with knowledge black can try to go Bf4 hunting or pawn b2 hunting its good to know a bit what to do and not do (as is the case in anything you play). ;-)

London is definitely one choice Another is the Catalan, where it's a bit of an open question whether the Slav is really a good response. Move order is everything when you are striving for a Catalan against the Slav tho. 

Kamsky played an interesting system against the Slav set up, but take a look at the 2.Bf4 lines that can transpose to London lines or independent lines with an early c4, as Kramnik and others have played recently:

nice

Don't play the London, everyone has a line against that crap, you'd be better off battling him with your preferred line against the Slav/SS.  Here are some sidelines I think are pretty interesting where you could outprep your opponent:  

This 4.Qc2 line isn't super rare, but its very flexible and allows you to dictate the play.  It'd be fairly easy to prep before your tournament as well.  4.Qb3 is similar and can often transpose.

Another fun and interesting line that avoids that Slav proper.  Again, not super rare, but something you could easily prep beforehand.  

This would probably surprise him, and is similar to the previous lines: all prevent the Slav proper.  

You could also let him play his Semi-Slav, and go for this rare line.  David Navarra has played this a few times; check it out.  

As an avid Slav player, the Slav exchange with Bg5 isn't at all unexpected. Black almost certainly has something planned for that.

Another solution is don't play 1.d4, but rather 1.c4 or 1.Nf3.

The three first moves pretty much go hand-in-hand.  1.e4 is a different beast all together.

After 1.Nf3 d5 you can play a Reti (2.c4) or QP Opening (2.d4).  In the case of the latter, you have to watch out for 2...Nf6 where 3.Bg5 is ineffective because of 3...Ne4, 3.Bf4 is countered by 3...c5, and 3.e3 is countered by 3...Bg4 or 3...Bf5, which leaves White with no real option but to transpose to the Slow Slav with 4.c4.

After 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4, if he plays 2...c6, there are two anti-Slav options.  The first is 3.b3, which is solid, and the other is 3.g3, which is a gambit.  If Black takes it, and then tries to hold it with ...b5, the long diagonal is weak for Black, which is White's compensation for the pawn.

Thanks to everyone who's posted so far! I just got out of classes and this is a pleasant surprise to see so many ideas.

Given that I know my opponent has really devoted a LOT of time to the Slav positions (not just games with the opening), I'm liking the Catalan or maybe the London System (but I agree with Fixing_A_Hole that it's easily defended against). The Catalan goes well with my playing style I think. He's literally gone up and down the databases to find games with these positions and there's a very small chance I'd prepare for battle with him and win.

I hadn't thought about options like the English (c4) or the Reti, but I've never played with them before and I fear it may lead to myself having a weak center and defense. I have about 24 hours to prepare as of posting this (it's at 7PM on Wednesday, September 27).

I also don't know a whole lot about the Trompowsky but I'm guessing he knows a solid amount about that too. I'd like to throw something at him that he won't be able to analyze. In round two of this tournament, I played the Colle and my opponent lost the center fast. That lent itself to a Slav-like position though.

@Optimissed I think Catalan is what I'm going to shoot for. SmyslovFan suggested it and I hadn't thought of it, but it seems solid.

Maybe you should tell Boris Avrukh, the author of award winning books on the Catalan and the Slav, that g3 isn't a Catalan even when Black plays c6. 

If Black takes on c4, it becomes the Open Catalan. Avrukh spent most of Grandmaster Repertoire: 1.d4 volume 1 covering the Open Catalan, mostly with dxc4 and c6. If Black doesn't take on c4, it's still a Catalan, at least according to Avrukh. 

Here's the key line (with most of his notes not included) of the pertinent line:

To clarify, yes, the player is in the 1500s or 1600s for USCF. Seems like SmyslovFan has given some of the most helpful points so far (personally at least, given how I play). I was thinking something along these lines:

After classes tomorrow, I have two hours to prepare (three if you count dinner) so I think I'm going to look into the types of positions you just posted. I think a kingside fianchetto is the way to go.

Personally I don't know why you're fearing the opening repertoire of a 1600...it would be easy to outprep in the mainlines.  But to each their own, good luck!

I've found that 1500-1600 rated players often book up on super-theoretical lines such as the Botvinnik or the Moscow/AntiMoscow variations. They know a few lines extremely deeply, but don't really understand the point of the game when their opponent leaves theory in an non-tactical line. 

Contrary to popular belief, it's quite easy to memorize a few lines of chess, just as every English teacher who has ever taught poetry knows that most people can memorize a sonnet or two. 

The trick is to know what sorts of lines are useful to be memorized, and what sort of positions need to be played out without regard to what the "theory" has to say about a position. That's why playing in the spirit of the Catalan (or the London, or whichever system you choose) is often more effective than trying to match rote knowledge for rote knowledge. 

I mainly worry about it since it goes hand in hand with the openings I play a lot. And I'd like to win the tournament :)

I get too hard on myself - I probably will be fine.

learn a tricky yet sound e4 opening and play that against him. (or play the reti)