white openings!

If you understand the Caro-Kann and QGD, the question is what gives you the most problems?

If you play 1.e4, then you should have no problems against 1...c6. Do 1...e5, 1...e6, or 1...c5 give you major problems? If only one of them does, spend the time between now and then to study where your problem is.

If you play 1.d4, then you should have no problems with the QGD. Do you have issues with the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA, King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, Grunfeld, or Dutch? Again, if one causes problems, study that between now and then.

If one of them has MANY responses that cause a problem for you, and the other has A PROBLEM OR TWO, focus on the one with fewer issues.

Now if you are going to tell me that you cannot play against the Caro-Kann or QGD, then you don't understand what you play, and you might as well lose every game!

You have to ask yourself questions as to where your issues are, and go with what gives you the fewest issues when playing White.

Take myself for example:

Black I play the French and the Dutch. If I knew I would get a French or Dutch as White if I were to play 1.e4 or 1.d4, I would play 1.e4 or 1.d4 all day.

I don't play 1.e4 because of 1...e5, 1...Nf6, and 1...g6

I don't play 1.d4 because of the Grunfeld, Nimzo-Indian, and Modern

I play 1.b4 and 1.c4 (The Modern Black typically has nothing better than to eventually transpose to a Symmetrical or 1...e5 English, and against 1.b4, 1...g6 is just bad) while as Black, facing 1.b4 or 1.c4 is a non-issue.

So for us to just spit out answers for you won't help. You need to do your own research and figure out where the fewest problems occur and go that route.

@1

"i will go to an otb tournament and i dont have anything for white"
++ You can always open 1 a3 like Anderssen did and pretend you play black.

"As black, i play Caro kann and Queen’s gambit declined."
++ Most in line with that would be either Queen's Gambit, or London Opening, or Colle Opening as white.

Whatever openings you're playing right now, probably they are good enough.

Changing your openings just before a tournament is a sure recipe for disaster.

I am going to tell you the same thing I tell others. You get what you pay for. That goes for both the time you pay and the money you pay.

Free YouTube videos won't get you anywhere and won't solve your problems. Neither will just memorizing games from a database.

ChessBase Videos (about $30 each) work okay as a supplement, but they should not be your primary source either. Videos lead to what is called passive learning. I do have the two videos on the English Opening by Simon Williams, but I don't pigeon-hole myself to his lines, and don't have that as my only or even primary source. Now what you also don't want is just some database dump opening book like many of John Nunn's were. You need one that explains ideas, like The Full English by Carsten Hansen or Watson's third of 4 books on Mastering the Opening, both of which cover the English in full and not a repertoire. Hansen's 2 books on 1...e5 and the Symmetrical, edited and reprinted in 2021, are good reference books, but not good to actually "study" the English.

As far as the Scotch, there are a number of books published in the last 20 years. Not sure exactly which ones are best as even when I played 1.e4, I played the Slow Italian and the Exchange Ruy Lopez, not the Scotch, but I am sure a Scotch player can lead you there or if you look yourself at the major publishing companies (Quality Chess, Everyman, New In Chess, etc).

The act of moving the pieces and forcing you to reset the board and replay the moves physically yourself re-enforces what you are learning. Just zipping through with mouse clicks or staring at a video is once again passive learning and will stunt growth. Again, videos work as good supplementary material, but not as a stand-alone source. You must fork over both the money and the time to succeed. You can get The Full English, a board and pieces, and Simon Williams' two videos for less than 2 rounds of golf. You could probably do the same with the Scotch Opening.

As far as Websites, Chesspublishing.com. However, like books, they are not free. You pay for either 1, 3, 6, or all 12 sections. It is basically $20 for 1 section for a year, $40 for 3, $70 for 6, and $100 for all 12. You pick which 1, 3, or 6 if you go less than 12. I have gone in and out of that site, typically doing 3, specifically section 2, and then 2 of 7, 8, 9, or 12 - today I would do 2, 7, and 12. Some sections are better managed than others and you have access to the archives of articles for the sections you subscribed to for the 25 years they have been in existence. The quality of each section varies as laid out below:

1 - e4 e5 - Decent. Typically on time (i.e. April 2024 article will be published sometime in April 2024). Content is decent. I would give it an 8 to 9 (out of 10)

2 - French - Always on time and always in the first half of the month. Excellent content. The section has been stable too with very rare change in author. After about 1 year, basically 2 authors have covered the last 24 years, McDonald from like, 2000 to 2008 and Watson since. It gets a 10.

3 - Dragons - This section has been Chris Ward's since day 1. He may go deep in his analysis, but it is ALWAYS late (December Article mat still not be out in mid-February) and literally just 6 games are covered every month. Compare to sections 1 or 2 or most others that cover 9 to 12 games a month. 3 out of 10, and that's being nice.

4 - Open Sicilian - Covers all open Sicilian except Dragon, Accel Dragon, and Hyper-accel Dragon. I think it is one section that is too wides and spreads coverage of likes like the Najdorf and Taimanov too thin. The Dragons section should be d6 Sicilian and this should be Nc6 and e6. The content is good and on time. 7 of 10.

5 - Anti-Sicilians - A lot of author changes and typically late. Not nearly as bad as sections 3 or 10, but sometimes it just does not feel like the motivation is there by the authors. It is hard to explain, but I just don't get the vibe that I get with other sections (including those of openings I don't play like sections 1 and 4). 5 of 10.

6 - 1.e4 Other - See section 5. The exact same applies here. 5 of 10.

7 - 1.d4 d5 - This was covered for a long time by one author who just disappeared a few years ago. I think Nigel Davies has now taken over, covered by a merry-go-round for the last 10 years. Ruslan Scherbakov covered this section for the longest time until early 2014 - I think he came down with some kind of eye issues where he could not see a computer screen. When he did it, it was an overdose of Semi-Slav and other lines and openings got the short end of the stick. His coverage of the Semi-Slav was great, but too much of that and not enough of everything else. Since then, a massive merry-go-round with distributed coverage with only the orthodox really lacking. Emphasis with 2...e6 seems to be the Tartakower and Lasker more than the orthodox. 7 of 10

8 - d-pawn Specials - This section has mostly been covered by 2 authors. Eric Prie and Palliser. Since Palliser took over, this section might actually contain the most vital information of all of them. The content from the last 10 years has been great. Eric Prie? Different story. This section is supposed to cover Tromp, Torre, London, Colle, Kingside Fianchetto, Veresov, Jobava, etc. When Eric did the writing, all you ever got was London and Jobava. If Bf4 wasn't played, Eric didn't cover it except in maybe some EXTREME rarity. I would give this section a 10 today and a 2 when Eric wrote.

9 - Kings Indian - When David Vigorito wrote this section for a long time in the 2000s/2010s, the coverage was great. The guy that writes it now, the content is dry. No other way to explain it. Dry. 7 of 10.

10 - Nimzo-Indian and Benoni - an odd combination and while not listed, does cover Queen's and Bogo-Indians, but not the Catalan - gotta go to 1.d4 d5 for that. John Emms has written this one since inception. He knows his Nimzo-Indian, but like Chris Ward, game count is minimal (exactly 7 per article), and always HORRIBLY late. 4 out of 10.

11 - Daring Defenses (all other 1.d4) - Glenn Flear did this section for the longest time. I have not checked recently, but I think he retired. Not sure about now, but when Flear did this section, it was always on time. The only bad thing is like section 4, they throw too much in 1 section and coverage becomes thin through no fault of the author - 8 of 10.

12 - Flank Openings - David Cummings, who has also written a couple of books on the English, has covered this for years now, preceded by Nigel Davies. The coverage is good, but this can be a hard section to follow and understand if you don't already know English and Reti theory. Great coverage, but it is like your really good college professor that normally teaches 500 level classes who isn't fit to teach a "101" class. 9 out of 10.

Bro that racist

Is this the only tournament you will ever play in? You've gotta think long term. Even if it does not solve your problem for this tournament, what about the next, and next, and next? I have a tournament next weekend, and early June too. But I am already preparing for the US Open in late July / Early August