Opening system for black against passive white openings?

Hello,

I am learning some openings currently, but I have a problem against rare and passive openings of the opponent. Against common and active opponent's moves it is worth to learn concrete replies, because it can often result in a clear advantage and occurs often. However when the opponent plays rare and passive moves there are too much moves to consider and they usually lead to no clear advantage for either side. But the opponent usually knows his unique system, and I have a disadvantage just because of that. So I think the solution is to play a system against all these passive openings that I will know well myself.

Lets talk about black opening systems here:

When the opponent plays rather rare, passive and flexible openings like 1. Nf3, 1. e3, 1. f4, 1. g3, 1. b3, 1. d3, 1. c3, what is a good system against all of that?

I think about Sf6, g6, Lg7, O-O. It seems to be playable all the time, but I m not sure how to continue. Maybe d6. Maybe d6+c6. Maybe c6+d5. Maybe c5+cxd4 if possible. Maybe d5. Or just d6+Sc6. I'm not sure about the middle game.

But is the KID-system even good against passive-flexible white opening players?

What are your suggestions?

First off, 1.Nf3 is not rare at all.

Second, no one system will solve all of your problems.  You need to study these openings.  I can give you ideas against each, but there is no one catch-all system to everything:

1.c4 and 1.Nf3 - Take a look at what you play against 1.d4.  If you are a King's Indian player, use that same setup with d6, not d5.  Be prepared to face the Fianchetto King's Indian A LOT via transposition with a later d4 by White.

1.f4 - You can use the King's Indian setup with ...c5 instead of ...e5 (more of a Benoni setup), but be ready for a Direct Transposition into the Closed Sicilian in some cases.

1.b3 - here the King's Indian is not good as White beats you to the diagonal.  Far FAR better is 1.b3 e5! 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 d5 4.Bb5 Bd6 and now most common by White is 5.f4 Qh4+ 6.g3 Qe7 7.Nf3 f6 8.fxe5 free 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Nxe5 Nf6! 11.Nxc6 Qe4 12.O-O and Black can now force White to either surrender the Exchange or else end up in a perpetual.  If he gives you the exchange, you wind up in NNPP vs RB.

1.b4 - Best against this, which I myself play as White along with 1.e4, is 1...e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6 4.c4 O-O 5.Nf3 Re8 6.e3 d5

1.Nc3 - Best is by far 1...d5.  If 2.e4, Black has many options - Study one of them.  Nf6 is an Alekhine, 2...d4 is pretty strong, but you have to know it, 2...e6 or 2...c6 are both fine if you are a French or Caro player, dxe4 is fine too.

Against moves like d3, e3, c3, etc, got 3 words for you - GRAB THE CENTER!  He plays something stupid like 1.d3, advance your central pawns 2 squares.

The important thing is to know what to do against c4, Nf3, b3, g3, f4, Nc3, and b4.  The other garbage like e3, d3, c3, a3, etc, just grab the center!

Against passive openings you just play normal opening moves. No need to study any of it. If you're white and black plays very passively, just get the e4 and d4 pawn center, develop your pieces and castle. If you're black and white plays really passively, just put a pawn in the center (either e5 or d5, black usually should castle first if he wants to play both pawn moves), develop your pieces and castle. You might feel like you're at a disadvantage, but objectively you can't be, cause you didn't make any mistake and your opponent did by not playing actively enough. If you just develop and get your pieces active, your opening will have build you a nice advantage that'll get you a slightly better middlegame where everything is still to play for. White has to play completely bonkers bad to give you a winning advantage in the opening, so it's safe to say that you won't win the game in the opening.

@ThrillerFan

Thanks.

The line against 1. b3 is a bit long. I'm not sure whether white can just differ at many points. But it is interesting.

I would not consider 1. b4 as passive, because the pawn moved two squares and can be attacked and white also wants to do some early bishop action like in your line. I think a problem in your line for amateur players like me is that 4. c4 is really uncommon for amateurs.

Against 1. b4 I try to go for this line: 1. b4 c6 2. Bb2 a5 3. a3 axb4 4. axb4 Rxa1 5. Bxa1 Qb6 6. c3 d5 7. e3 Bf5 8. Nf3 Qa7 9. Bb2 Qa2

Against d3, e3 and c3 it is possible of course to grab the center. And this is what I did in the past. But my results in these positions were not as good as the computer evaluations. It seems like the opponent just know the position much better and sometimes they have even created their own trap systems. Often I get outplayed in the middle game in these positions, because the opponent understands some weaknesses in my position. Sometimes I win witch a attack on the king, but overall I have much more success with e4 e5 openings with both colors. The problem exists for me as white too, for example when the opponent plays czech pirc.

Against 1.b4 c6 2.Bb2 a5?!, the gambit 3.b5 is stronger than 3.a3?.  Anybody playing White that knows what they are doing wouldn't allow you to play your desired line.

@Preusseagro

I usually like gambits, but whites Kings gambit is actually the open game I fear the most as black. I play the Adelaide countergambit against it, but I don't really want to force this stuff. 1...Nh6 also interesting against 1. f4. It scores very well, but I don't really understand why, and I don't know if it is worth to learn a separate system against f4. Of course it is possible, but I feel like it is better to spend my time on deeper preparation in open games atm. That is why I search just for a simple to learn system with rather practical advantages against rare or passive openings.

@ThrillerFan

The deviations I encounter the most are: 3. bxa5, 6. Bc3 and 9. Nd4. It is all not bad for black. Its not the jackpot but it is possible to learn good responses. But what I don't like is when white plays just 2. e3. It is again a passive atempt and I am out of my book what leads back to the topic. Currently I have no better plan as Nf6, g3, Lg7, O-O again.

Well, I tried giving you some sensible ideas on how to play against moves like e3, but I can see from your further responses that you rather learn a few moves that look nice out of your head without even being told the underlying ideas than playing good openings. Learning a variation is not the same as opening study. At least try and find some games and try and understand the ideas of the players. At your level just learning lines will lead you to games where your opponent plays a different move and you not knowing what to do. Knowing ideas trumps knowing moves. But of course everyone is free to do as he pleases...

If your opponent plays passive, you play direct. That's the rule.

Seize the centre, develop pieces and keep marching forward. 

I see the problem. I'm better now in the opening than in the middle game. So if the opponent gets me out of my book, he has just an advantage even if the position is objectively better for me. So learning to play the middle game better would improve my overall strength more atm than focusing on the opening.

But some openings are fun to learn, and you can't really stop at half way, because half-knowledge is worse than no knowledge. So I think I still have to do some work on some lines in open games and d4-games, but then I have to work more on my middle game. But my rejection of learning concrete lines against rare white openings already reflects this insight. It is not reasonable for me atm.

"I think about Sf6, g6, Lg7, O-O. It seems to be playable all the time, but I m not sure how to continue. " ++ That is right, it is playable against everything.

"I m not sure how to continue." ++ usually ...d6 and ...e5, or ...d6 and ...c5, or ...d6 and ...c6

#2
"1.b3 - here the King's Indian is not good as White beats you to the diagonal. "
Yes, you can play it anyway. You can force ...d6 and ...e5 because of the tactics you get against Bb2.
E.g. 1 b3 Nf6 2 Bb2 g6 3 e3 Bg7 4 f4 O-O 5 Nf3 d6 6 Be2 Nbd7 7 O-O e5 8 fxe5 Ng4

If White wants to, he can also wreck your pawns and block the diagonal with c3!

1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.c3

You can reach something similar via 1...e5, but you have to account for move order and possibilities for White.

For example:  1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.c4 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.d4, but taking on d4 isn't very good, and 6...e4 7.Nd2, White will play moves like Nc3, a4, Qb3, and depending on what Black does, if the Queenside gets locked, White could even castle Queenside here.  If Black opens it, White will go Kingside.

Not as easy as you think!

This is the key insight, well done for figuring out the problem. "Openings are fun to learn" is in fact why you are now better at openings than the middle game. Decades ago when I had the same insight about my own game, I decided two things:

1. Study middle game texts, e.g. Nimzowitsch's My System (there are better books today).
   
   
2. Completely change my openings, giving up on sharp 1.e4 for white and Najdorf/KID for black. I replaced those with English/Reti for white and French/Nimzo-Bogo for black. These new openings not only rewarded middle game understanding more, but forced me to discard my previous memorization and start studying openings from scratch with a new emphasis on the middle game. It helps to choose openings that are not "fun", so you don't go down the rabbit hole again.

There is time later to pick up sharper openings again, once your middle game is stronger.

against 1.b3 you can just copy everything you're opponent does until 12.Na4 Na5 or 12.cxd5 Nxd5 or 12.Qc2 Qc7 and really annoy white (P.S. Check the line in explorer to get LOL all n&d long)

against 1.f4 you could play anything 

against 1.Nf3 you could play 1.h6 the Basman Defence and really annoy white by not allowing them their setup

against 1.b4 you could play 1.c5 the Birmingham Gambit 

against 1.e3 you could play 1.d5 or 1.e5 or 1.e6 

against 1.Nc3 you could play 1.b5 the Laroche Gambit 

against 1.Nf3 you could also play 1.e6 and against 1.Nc3 you could also play 1.Nc6