Tactical answer to 1.d4

Hi Everyone,

As white, I like the Evans Gambit, and as black, I like the Sicilian Dragon and the 2.Nf6 Scandanavian, so I like wildness, sacrafice, and tactics.

 Does anybody know of a tactical response for black after 1.d4? Is the King's Indian a good choice?

 Thanks,

Eric

For wildness/gambit openings against it, you could always try the Albin CounterGambit against the Queens Gambit:

There is also the Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5). However, I haven't played this often enough to promote using it a lot yet. 

King's Indian is a good choice.

Try the modern benoni. 

I like the Benoni , an opening I just recently employed against d4. ( the variation I play the most is the old benoni , immediate c4 : )

I play a couple of different lines in the Englund Gambit (1. d4 e5). There's the main line (1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qd7), which is supposedly refuted by 4. Qd5, but that just leads to 4. ... f6 5. exf6 Nxf6, and black chases the queen away and tries to counterattack. There's also the Soller line (1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 f6, sometimes with 2. ... Nc6 3. Nf3 inserted before f6), with play similar to the white side of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. There are also other variations of the Englund, but those are the two that I play. 

At higher levels, you're down a pawn without enough compensation in both of these lines, but at intermediate level, getting your opponent out of their book opening preparation is enough compensation for the pawn. Much to the surprise of myself and everyone I play against, I've never lost an OTB tournament game with 1. ... e5. I've used it in 3 slow games and 1 blitz game, scoring 3 wins and a draw).

Lately, I've taken up the Baltic Defense - 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 instead. I was looking for something sounder than the Englund, though I'll probably continue to play the Englund sometimes depending on my mood. It definitely leads to more tactical play than the normal QGD lines. I like it so far, but I haven't had a chance to play it too many times.

 --Fromper

If you want to gambit try the Benko.

The grunfeld was another good suggestion. 

DISCLAIMER: I need to field-test this some more, as I've just started analyzing it recently, but the Chigorin Defense to the Queen's Gambit (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6) might be an option for you. It seems to lead to more aggressive counterplay than typical Queen's Gambit Declined/Slav openings. Someone suggested the Albin Countergambit, that's another such response to the Queen's Gambit.

Some variations of the Chigorin Defense: 

3. cxd5 Qxd5 and as Black you get an opening not entirely unlike a Scandinavian Defense where you tend to dictate where play happens early on.

As white, I'd seek to avoid that, and there are a couple of other options, namely 3. Nc3 and 3. Nf3 

3.Nc3 dxc4 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e4 Bg4 6.Be3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 

3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 e5 7.d5 Nb8 8. Nf3 Bd6.

3. Nf3 typically leads into this:

3. Nf3 Bg4 4.cxd5 Bxf3

Might be something worth considering. Any Queen's Gambit or Chigorin Defense players want to chime in on this one?