As you can see, at the moment my rating is 900 points higher than your. You probably think that i'm quite strong and that at my level opening preparation is quite important. This is wrong. Not only i lose (or win) my games because of crude blunders exactly as you do, but i know the "impressive" amount of 5-7 theoretical moves in both my main defenses to e4 and d4. Theory is not important at all at amateur level.
Your opening is almost never going to decide the game (even among national masters!). The only things you should know are the general opening principles (develop your pieces, control the center,castle and so on). Until you follow them you will be almost never worse than = with W and =+ with B against equal opposition.
The important thing is understanding what you're doing after every move. The KID is rather complex and allows W to choose among tons of different setups. The slav is probably a better idea to just survive the opening and play a game of chess. Also at amateur level it's often a good idea to play aggressive chess with black. Have you ever looked at the albin countergambit? you can play it with good results with reallly little theory.
In short, my advice is: focus on tactics and middlegame rather than openings, and play whatever you're comfortable with. The slav is probably a decent idea, but i would consider something more aggressive like the Albin or the tarrasch.
Hello folks!
I used to play the King's Indian against d4, but I found it doesn't really suit my style. I am an agressive e4 player with white, but I preffer to develop harmoniously before starting the complications when I'm playing with black.
I have chosen the Caro-Kann as my primary weapon against e4, but I'm unsure about what to use against. d4. I have read that the Slav shares the same pawn structure and it could be smart to use them both. But isn't it a bit tricky and full of complicated positions?
Thanks in advance and sorry for my english, it's not my native lenguage!