Which 1. e4 and 1. d4 defenses should be paired together

As the title suggests... we usually don't talk about which combination of 1. e4 and 1. d4 defenses should be played together. In particular, paired in a way that will best handle the English / Reti. This turns out to be pretty significant when choosing the repertoire and worth thinking about. It's not something I've thought about much but here goes... maybe some other people also will have something to say on this topic.

If you're a QGA player - you can rarely reach a QGA from the Reti or English. So you need some unique lines in the Reti / English, you don't really want to play another d4 defense. And a good candidate here is the Kings English, a reversed sicilian. Another good candidate in the Reti is the Sicilian Invitation (1... c5). But to do this you ought to play the Sicilian, especially for 1... c5 in the Reti which can just transpose right into the open sicilian after 2. e4. Therefor I think we could conclude the QGA and Sicilian pair well together in a repertoire. Generally any sort of 1. d4 defense that won't work in the English or Reti such as the Albin or the budapest, also will pair well with the Sicilian.

If you're a french player... against 1. d4 you can respond with 1... e6, and if 2. e4 you're in the french. But if 2. c4 you can respond with b6 and play an english defense, this is a very dynamic opening and it scores well especially at club level. In turn the English opening pairs well with the QID, which can be played against the Zuckertort. Then against the English you've got your 1. b3 opening, which throws a wrench in whites plans to play g3. And against the Reti you have a variety of things you can transpose into, including the QID. Another option after 1... e6 is to play a delayed dutch.

Okay, so I'd say QID / french / English defense / Dutch are another set of openings that pair well together. And perhaps if you want something more solid you can also add the nimzo indian here as well.

Now... for the caro kann... I think the slav / semi-slav is pretty obvious and doesnt need alot of explanation. Though I think you could get away with pairing the semi-slav with something else against e4, you may just need a few caro-kann exchange / panov lines, but this should still be fine.

So what about e4/e5 then? There's not alot which transposes into e4/e5. So you need 1. d4 defense that can handle the English / Reti on their own. Which means an e4/e5 player should not play the QGA, or any of the attacking sidelines against 1. d4 such as the albin or budapest - because you won't be able to use those against the English / Reti and you'll be left with nothing.

Agree? How do you guys handle the English / Reti in your repertoires?

I have always said the following should be paired together:

1...e5 - Nimzo-Indian as both are strategically rich and lead to diverse pawn structures

Caro-Kann - Orthodox QGD - both very solid and a safe king take priority over attacking White.

French - Dutch/KID - The Dutch via 1...e6 or the Kings Indian with it's blocked nature both pair up well with the French.

d6-Sicilians - Grunfeld - Highly theoretical and Black playing for a win from move 1

Nc6-Sicilians - Slav - Both solid with a tinge of aggression

e6-Sicilians - QGA - Both seek free piece play with little to no static pawns.

It might sound contrarian of me, but I actually like the idea of playing openings/defenses that don't really pair well with each other - for the main purpose of having different structures to play and learn from.

When I was younger, I really liked the idea of playing similiar structures as much as possible, with both colors ... for the ease of familiarity.

But these days I'm more interested in keeping things varied and different, if possible. It reduces boredom from overfamiliarity - and it also can help one learn more by being forced to play structures that won't necessarily transpose.

I made a similar thread 9 years ago:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/what-are-all-the-good-opening-combos

@1

"How do you guys handle the English / Reti in your repertoires?"
++ The most principled are 1 c4 e5 and 1 Nf3 d5, answering the flank opening with a central move.

@ThrillerFan These pairings look good, but I don’t think it is the right way to classify Sicilians, since half of them can arise from two 2nd moves. Instead, I would classify them by where the e-pawn goes. I would say:

…, e5 Sicilians - Semi-Slav - sharp, black plays lots of pawn moves and gains space, but lags in development

…, e6 Sicilians- Grunfeld - theoretical, openings of grand concepts, white has to take up the challenge

…, g6 Sicilians - Modern Benoni - can be super-sharp or positional, depending on white’s choice, black’s game plays itself in simpler lines

Petrov - QGA - early symmetry, often playing against IQP (Nimzo is definitely great with 2…, Nc6)

I am not sure where the classical Slav fits in. maybe French Rubinstein?

hmm... it's an interesting idea of pairing sicilians like that...

Najdorf -> Grunfeld - both very theoretical

Classical -> QID - both play very easy unless the opponent knows a specific critical line which you can study in depth

Dragon setups -> Pterodactyl defense or Benoni - both fiancetto positions, and in both you have to strive to overcome difficult move orders in the early game, but there are creative resources you can use to achieve that. But you have to be willing to play dubious complex positions

Kan -> Catalan - in both cases they won't objectively lead to an advantage but they're offbeat enough and large enough where you can rely on your vast knowledge to lead you to the advantage

Taimanov -> Dutch - both are not very well known, there are some chaotic early lines in the taimanov where black has to play sharply... both can also be good attacking positions if black can reach the pawn structures he wants

Four Knights -> Tarrasch - both fighting openings where you often push pawns in the center early, the game opens up and you have alot of piece activity from both sides, but you must defend very carefully against counterattacks

Sveshnikov -> Colle - both are just ugly / bad positions for all practical purposes ; )