favorite and least favorite openings

White-

Fave: Grob

Least: 1.e4

Black-

Fave: Hedgehog

Least: 1...e5

i love the hedgehog too

White: Scotch, Vienna. Black: Benoni, Pirc. I hate e5 too. Can you get a hedgehog after 1. e4? I'd like to start playing it.

Yes, start with 1...d6. There are many formations that can arise. Hedgehog is more a philosophy than a specific formation.

Favorites and Least Favorites:

I'd have to say my favorite is the Rubinstein Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 (instead of 7.Rc1).  Gladly play it as Black or White!

By far, my least favorite opening, which I dispise from BOTH sides, as it makes no sense to me as Black, and I always lost against it as White, is the Sicilian Najdorf.  YUCK!  I'd rather listen to Britney Spears sing than play a chess game that featured the Sicilian Najdorf as its opening.

1.e4 d6 will not get you a Hedgehog.  You'll end up in a Pirc where you must play actively, not passive.

If you like Hedgehog formations, you should think about taking up the Kan Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6)

:) talking my favorite opening.

Yes, 1.e4 d6 is the Pirc, but you can get many Hedgehog formations from it, usually if followed by 2.d4 g6. Pretty sure this is where the whole Hedgehog name started. But yes, it can arise from certain Sicilians and English openings.

does anybody here also like the cambridge springs defense in the queens gambit declined? i like that a lot too

Favorites

Double Muzio Gambit- If you're going to throw away a game with dubious sacrifices, do it hard.

Albin Countergambit- You want to play a slow, positional Queens Gambit Declined? Nah, let's do it my way. Hope you know your way around a trap or two.

Benko Defense- I love the idea of an opening in which a pawn sac is worth it for pure positional advantage. Weird pawn structures are fun!

Least Favorites 

London System- It's just so dull. Equality reached in a few moves, nothing positionally interesting... it's basically just a matter of waiting until somebody does something stupid or drawing.

Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation- The same thing, only you don't even have to play a few more moves to reach equality. Why bother playing this interesting opening if you aren't going to see it through? Just play the Four Knights Game while you're at it.

Four Knights Game- Or don't. Please just don't.

Ponziani Opening which is far better than most people think. There are even a couple of "refutations" which I have discovered do not work if White is a skilled Ponziani player.

Center Counter/Scandinavian with 1.e4  d5  2. exd5  Qxd5  in the past I wrote a book on this opening and also used it in the Finals of the United States Correspondence Chess Championship where I scored 4 wins out of 4 games [with Black!] using this opening.

Benko Gambit--which I admit I could learn more.  This is a different gambit from all other gambits and I think "sound"

Worse opening or one of the worse is Blackmar Diemer Gambit which is totally unsound but often weak players beat weaker players by using this gambit. [they are often not so interested in improving their chess skills as they are in "having fun" beating up players who are ignorant on how to play against this gambit.] 

I have a very easy solution for you in the Four Knights problem you are having.  Don't play it!  I don't!

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3, play 3...g6!  It's known as the Three Knights Game.  After 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7, the game can branch off in different directions.  A lot has to do with when and if White decides to play e5.  Dangerous Weapons 1.e4 e5 has coverage of this.  So does one of the issues of ChessBase Magazine, I want to say it was #145.

An added bonus, this can also be played against the Scotch Game.  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 g6, White has nothing better than 5.Nc3, and now 5...Bg7 and you are right back in the Three Knights Game!

I've had 3 encounters with it thus far over the board.  In 2 of those 3 games, I absolutely DESTROYED White in 20 moves or less both times.

In the 3rd game, I had a long, 60 or so move draw.  The position constantly "looked bad" for Black, but there were constant available resources that kept the Balance.

I'll easily take 2.5/3 with Black in any opening!

Favourite: the Fried Liver Attack and its even more epic defence, the Traxler Counterattack

Least favourite: the French Defence. How do you attack it?!

Favorite: Ruy Lopez (Both Sides)

Least Favorite: French (Both Sides)

Funnymadman. In answer to your question regarding the French Defense "how do you attack it?"  My suggestion is to not attack it but to finesse it by playing  1. e4  e6  2. Qe2

Least: Exchange variation against French or Caro-Kann. Shows that White has no interest in winning.

Most: any principled opening.

Yes I'm working on learning Cambridge Springs. Got tired of the Albin, which I used to use against QG, after determining that I was no Morozevich. Got tired of having to continuously claw my way out of very unfun positions against weaker players. I do respect the Albin, but I'm shelving it except occasionally as a surprise weapon, nothing more.

Black: I am a big fan of the Scandinavian and all of its nooks and crevices. A sublime opening that can be played positionally or very aggressively.

White: Blackmar-Diemer, haters gonna hate. I have no illusions of its soundness. It has helped me to become a sharper tactical player and in some respects is what got me interested in chess (and openings) after being bored of the game for years.

I don't hate any openings, actually. Not a fan of King's Indian Attack though. I respect its effectiveness. That's all.

I have a natural tendancy to avoid main lines (though I still look at them and try to learn them, because they teach valuable lessons) as I find less explored pathways can often be very beautiful. It's a shame most of those paths end in cul-de-sacs, but occasionally there's a backroad that has a destination.