Black openings which engender consistent positions.

Hi all,

As white, I employ a d4 queen's gambit-type system which although isn't especially ground breaking or aggressive, gets me into a similar position almost every game up to move 12 or 13. I've found this to be extremely useful as it means I can get a good depth of understanding in a position and I know how to engineer the kind of middle or endgame that suits my style of play.

However my game is consisderably weaker as black, simply because of the myriad positions that I enter into after to after the first few moves. I invariably fall into pet trap lines or positions I don't understand; probably because I use openings such as Owen's or Alekhines. Whilst they are good openings I've found the defensive or volatile paradigms within these openings don't suit my style of play at all.

So with that in mind I thought I would get some ideas from you fine people on what, in your experience, would be a good solid opening which generally tends to produce the same kind of positions (I realise that since black is intrinsically a move behind such an opening may not even exist. )

Thanks muchly

1.e4 e5 2.Cf3 d6 (Philidor)

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 (Queen's Gambit declined, that you should know a little from the other side)

Personally I advocate the Stonewall Dutch against d4, very solid and Black's first 6-8 moves can be the same. If you want to have a go with something new that is. Against e4, yeah the Philidor is nice and solid; just beware that White has a very comfortable time against it just playing naturally.

The Tarrasch pretty reliably leads to IQP positions against anyone who plays the QG.  If you play against a lot of Colles and Londons and what have you, it leads pretty reliably to a second and theoretically sound type of position which coincidentally happens to be the mainline against most of those white setups.  It's not always the most testing continuation, since it reliably blocks in your bishop, but it's always playable and always pretty good for you as black.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d5 
Equlization by ( -0.02 )  ^^ black going to be better to some extent if white choose the exchange variation ^^ or can complete with equlization 

The lines following the exchange here are absolutely miserable for black, both over the board, and statistically.  No matter what your engine says, this is a horrible line to play unless you happen to actually be a computer.

Philidor looks good, and yes it does look like white can make fairly strong natural moves but I've found that with a lot of the black openings I've tried; I think some consistency would be a great help. 

Funny you should mention the Dutch Stonewall, it's actually the system I hate most when it's played against me simply because after 1... f5 I usually have to play e4 simply to get a chance against it, and that takes me immediately out of my beloved comfortable and fluffy system.

Thanks all for your suggestions, they are greatly appreciated, I'll give them a look up. 

RAC

^_^ 
To be smart you should play with smarter one ^^ 
 I used to play against computer it beat me more than any one do ^^ So I used to learn from it .. I can smell its next moves its way of thinking . . . 
so I play this variation against queen gambit with people and achieved more than fantastic results ^^ So I see it is one of the best variation .. 
you developed your pieces at the same time of development of white's 
you made him loss the advantage of playing first by your knight move ^^ 
Man it is really fantastic try it and know about its beauty !  

I think there is a Philidor line called the Hanham or something like that which might suit your tastes.

Along the lines of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6, you can try the slav triangle system, responding to white's moves with 3...c6.  Or with that move order, you can just as easily enter the Tarrasch.  There is also the option of the Shara-Henning Gambit line.

Whilst I'm sure this is theoretically sound are you sure it fits the criteria of developing into the same pattern of moves?

I sounded out a grunfeld opening (Nf6) not too long ago and found I came up against all sorts, for instance the Trompowsky which I found especially hard to manage. 

The Indian Defences are popular against the QGD study is required !   

Pirc Defense.  I use it against everything.  Nigel Davies has a great set of videos on how to stay even regardless of the attack.  (Yes, I'm talking to you, Austrian players.)

95% of the time, you'll end up in similar positions regardless of whether white prefers e4 or d4.

I think playing a lot of the same moves at the beginning and getting a lot of similar positions out of the opening are very different things.

@Madjac - You are only going to be facing a handful of different positions regardless of whether white plays e4 or d4.  I thought that was the point of the post - to find an opening which is easy to learn and play well.

Because here's what happens almost every time in the Pirc:

1. e4 d6

2. d4 Nf6

3. Nc3 g6

or

1. d4 d6

2. e4 Nf6

3. Nc3 g6

= same position

From there, white only has a few opening choices that really make any sense.  At higher levels, you'll rarely find anybody who doesn't play a known and deeply studied opening move against the Pirc.  So you can play quite consistent positions regardless of white's play style.

I don't think she's looking for openings that give similar structures three moves in.  I think she's looking for openings that give similar structures heading into the middle game across a variety of white's choices.

White can do pretty much anything he wants against the Pirc, from an Austrian positional squeeze, to a 150 pawn storm, to a slow buildup in the center classical style, and more.  When black plays quietly in the beginning, he gets to set up his pieces like he chooses, but the tradeoff is that he gives white a free hand in the plans he chooses to pursue.  90% of Pirc games I've seen wind up looking like somebody vomited pieces randomly all over the board by move 15.

It's a good defense, but maybe the worst possible answer to the question asked.

Generally I would consider myself quite a slow positional player, I like to get my pieces developed and have a "stable" position before I launch any kind of attack. Ideally this would lead to an endgame with as few pieces left on the board as possible as I do best in simplified end games.

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Thanks; I'll add them to my list.

Some good advice in here.

You'd be hard pressed to find a repertoire that would allow you to focus on a handful of specific structures better than 1...e6 vs. everything, with a French and a Stonewall and transpositions between them.