Help me find a defense vs e4

I play the English Opening and Grunfeld Defense, I like open positions that involve piece activity.

english => accelerated dragon

"'Black proclaims by his symmetrical reply 1...e5 his firm decision to cross swords as quickly as possible with his adversary and (in spite of 'the move') to meet him on an equal footing in the centre of the board, whereas a passive reply such as King's or Queen's Fianchetto (1...g6 or 1...b6) would allow White to occupy the centre immediately and for good by 2 d4.'
'After the typical moves 1 e4 e5 we frequently see a lively struggle, seeking in particular to gain the mastery in the centre.'
'Each move in the initial stage must be telling, in other words, it must contain some threat of an immediate nature (attack on a pawn, an effective pin of a piece, unpinning, counter-attack, etc.), and a game of chess of this type resembles an encounter between two fencers where thrust and parry follow and offset each other.'
Savielly Tartakower (A Breviary of Chesss)
1...e5 is arguably the simplest and most logical reply to 1 e4, taking space in the centre and opening diagonals for the queen and bishop. It has been played by every world champion in the history of the game, and many of them played nothing else. ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627031152/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ebcafe10.pdf

"... As Black, I think that [players with very limited experience] would do well … playing 1...e5 versus 1 e4 ..." - IM John Watson (2010)

Maybe, but piece activity is not what I think of when I think of the Maroczy Bind.

black can play active against Maroczi bind.

Some examples :

https://lichess.org/study/VNfo7oF1

 

Yes, if White plays passively for you (Nc2 without being provoked, Bd2 instead of Be3, etc).

White plays it correctly and it usually grinds to a double rook ending.

 

If you want activity and aggression, the Najdorf, Sveshnikov, French, or Zaitsev variation of the Ruy Lopez are better ideas.

probably better ideas for a very good player, but here I don't know.

All these opening need intensive work for probably low results.

Except the french, which is rather easy to understand compared to many openings.

I would be curious ThrillerFan to see how u could handle Maroczi bind against Guseinov.

Maroczi bind can be troublesome, but black has some counterplay if he/she knows what he/she is doing.

Here are some games showing some entertaining stuffs for black in Maroczi bind :

Sure black had better rating in all these games but just to show that black can find something active.

At top level, most prefer Nc3 instead of c4, there is some reasons for that, life is not so easy for white.

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

Of course e5 is obvious but
you can’t go wrong with any of these:

c5 - Sicilian Defense. This gives you such a solid counter setup to use and is really fun when you get good at it. Hard to break if pulled off right. Many good setups and loads of good study.

c6 - Caro-Kann Defense. A nice little trick to have in your repertoire, can lead to some heavy attacking on the queenside. Slightly more passive version of c5.

e6 - French Defense. Gives you a great alternative pawn structure and a very alternative game to e5. This defense will have you holding out a bit before you start your attack later. It aims to protect your weakest spot f7 with a pawn chain down the white squares.

d5 - Scandinavian Defense. Actually an interesting little move which gets the attack going right from your first move. It can be a tricky to use but I’ve seen it done well and I think it’s better than it’s often given credit for. Usually followed by exd5, qxd5, nc3, qd8.

1.e4 e5

You'll get mostly 2.Nf3 but also some 2.f4.  

Try the Petroff against 2.Nf3.  People say it's drawish, but it's not at our level.

King's Gambit is fun to play against, and the Petroff is fun to play.