my opening choices against 1. e4 is sicilian or marshall gambit.
however, as my OTB rating goes up a lot of players are playing 1. d4 almost exclusively. What am i supposed to play against this? I like dynamic positions which 1 d4 doesnt seem to have much of.. unless i want to learn a lot of theory.
So im basically stuck between:
Modern Benoni
Kings Indian
Nimzo Indian
Queens Indian
Ive been playing the slav for quite some time but too many of my games are draws or im just waiting for my opponent to slip up and i get a win.
Im about 1600 OTB rating, the two clubs i go to have an average of 1600-1700 rating, but i usually get paired against 1800+ and end up in a queen pawn game.
You might as well join the Nimzo-Indian and Queen's Indian together into one. You can't play only one.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6, White has a choice of moves. By the way, you better know the Catalan too if you take this route (3.g3).
Against 3.Nf3, you can still play 3...Bb4+ (The "Bogo-Indian" defense), but it's VASTLY Different than the Nimzo-Indian. Of course, 3...b6 is a Queen's Indian
Against 3.Nc3, you can play 3...Bb4 (Nimzo-Indian), 3...d5 (Queen's Gambit Declined) or 3...c5 (Benoni), but anybody that plays 3...b6 against this has no clue what they are doing, and all they know about the Queen's Indian is some robotic mimic of moves and the name, that's it. They don't understand the idea at all. The whole idea from the get-go is to prevent e4. After 3.Nf3, Black has time to take 2 moves, b6 and Bb7, to prevent e4. After 3.Nc3, the threat of e4 is immediate, and you don't have time for ...b6. On the flip side, after 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6, you have what is called the English Defense, which allows White the big center, but then Black shouldn't play ...Nf6 too early so that he can counter with ...f5, especially if White develops his LSB, leaving g2 to hang. So 3...b6 can't even be used as an argument for the English Defense as the Knight has already been played.
Therefore, you can narrow it down to:
Modern Benoni
King's Indian
Nimzo-/Queen's Indian
I've been playing chess for almost 2 years and the Nimzo is still too hard for me to understand. I wouldn't recommend it for sub-2000 players.
Since you're rated 1600, you should have a look at the Semi-Slav. It does take some studying but it's well worth it because it's easy to punish White in that opening if they don't know what they're doing.
That you like dynamic positions doesn't mean so much - whatever the opening, you can always end up in a quiet position where pressing for sharp play won't do you any good.
whaaa
the few times ive played it ive got good positions and won