King's Indian Defense and Gruenfeld or Queen's Indian defense and Nimzo-Indian?

I have a problem, which of these pairs of openings to study? What is your choice?

The number of theories is not a problem, it is very much about the quality.

If you know the KID which is d4, nf6, c4, g6 the grunfeld is just nc3,d5 extra.... the problem is finding opponents who play their half of the sequence... I'm a beginner too and so I'm also frustrated by all the early queens... but watch chess academy and gothamchess on youtube... I love learning about chess openings.... it is what makes chess beautiful

Watching Gothamchess? No, definitely not. This is a mistake made by beginners. GothamChess makes a debut film in 10 minutes, which is far too short to discuss. It takes at least an hour to discuss the debut. In general, I'm a fan of debuts with fianchetto, which is why I'm more convinced about KID. You're level 400, I'm level 900. At my level, early queen play is rare and I'm learning decent openings at any level, min. Accelerated Dragon, English Opening or KID. There are many options to learn beginners, and my favorite is to write standalone courses just for myself.

I always try to write a lot, accurately and legibly. It's a few hours of writing, but the road to a high ranking is never easy. Learning the right openings well enough is, in my opinion, very important. I'm typing an accelerated dragon right now. It will take me a few more days. Hopefully I'll get enough answers by now to make a decision.

I studied all four of those some time ago. At least for me it was too much theory to handle, which will be relevant the higher you go up in the rankings and little by little you start to face players that are booked up to move 10, 12 , sometimes even 18-20 in specific lines. But I had experience with them even though I no longer play them.

Now, keep in mind that for KID and Gruenfeld you only need one of them. For the Nimzo you need a complement , which is typically QID or Bogo Indian (less theory heavy).

Nimzo and Grunfeld are great. They have stood the test of time even under the scrutiny of modern engines. KID not so much , but that only matters at the highest levels. It is perfectly fine for everyone else . It is a fighting defense with many possibilities although generally with some lack of space.

To me it would be a matter of preference .
- Do you like your king under a fianchettoed bishop? then KID or Grunfeld

- Do you feel comfortable in cramped positions and don’t mind the lack of space , then KID. A generally more open space? Grunfeld

- Do you feel comfortable not fighting for the center with central pawns? Then Nimzo plus QID or Bogo.

I like my pawns in the center, hence my personal preference would be the Grunfeld. But Grunfeld and Kid are so theory heavy !!! A decently prepared opponent can quickly make you very miserable with some obscure line. Reason why I ditched them, as I don’t have enough time to study openings.

The Nimzo to me is the perfect defense but many people avoid it. As a 1.d4, 2.c4 player my self I avoid it like the plague after years of battling it with mixed results and many different approaches. I generally feel comfortable against Kid and Grunfeld. But hey that’s just me.

To sum up , it is a matter of preference but it is good that you have chosen four viable defenses that will last you a lifetime and not waste your time with the nonsense of Budapest or Englund gambits .

There is no reason to need both the Kings Indian AND Grunfeld. Two totally different balls of wax! The NID and QID go in tandem because of White's third move. The difference between the KID and Grunfeld is Black's d-pawn.

I played the Kings Indian for about 10 years before switching to the Dutch a few years ago. I did not play the Grunfeld at all during that stretch (OTB).

Just a word of note if you choose the Grunfeld. After 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3, you have to be willing to deal with the Anti-Grunfeld and play 2...d5 now. If 2...g6, White can play 3.e4!, Eliminating the Grunfeld all together, but allowing the KID after 3...Bg7 4.d4.

Depends on what black wants,I try to do nimzo Indian if I can.Although I am studying the Dutch rn and would switch to it after making sure to keep my king safe :bk

I wouldn't recommend u study the nimzo indian, queens indian, or gruenfeld, way too much theory, and it's quite hard to find solid videos on them. Kings indian, dutch and d5 are all solid options though. Now if you really want to study the nimzo, queens indian, or gruenfeld, probably at least wait until your 1400, but really, there's nothing wrong with just playing d5, sometimes simpler is better.

As a few people have pointed out, the KID and Grunfeld are two completely separate openings which are mutually exclusive, while the NID and QID/BID are compatible openings. Personally I’ve never touched the QID/BID, I simply transpose to the QGD if 3. Nf3, but I’ve played the NID, KID, and Grunfeld and out of the three I’m still not sure which I prefer.

With the Nimzo-Indian and Queen's Indian, you'd also have to have a bit of a response if white chooses to play the Catalan. You'll probably get a broader exposure to more positions if you go the Nimzo-Indian/Queen's Indian route or the QGD as Ethan_Broollier mentions above.

I would go with Nimzo-Indian , Bogo-Indian , Anglo-Indian , Slav-Indian , Old Indian and QGD