1. d4 & 1.c4 players, please help me (building an opening repertoire)

Hello everyone. I am an 1.e4 player, trying to create a serious opening repertoire. meaning:

When I'm White - that's easy, I play 1.e4, and needs to know what to answer to any response - Sicilian, French, etc...

The problem starts when I'm Black:

What to answer to... 1.Nf3, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.g6, 1.b6.

So I want to ask 1.d4 players, what do You play against 1.d4 (you are Black of course).

Your experienced answer is obviously more accurate than my guesses (since I don't play 1.d4, I only counter it).

I would very much like to ask 1.c4 players the same question:

What do You (1.c4 players) play against 1.c4 ?

Same goes to 1.Nf3, 1.g6, 1.b6 players.

* Please be relevant and kind. I don't want this thread to become another pool of insults, if someone said something dumb, you may just ignore him, rather than 'punish him'.

(I prefer  answers of people with at least 1 year experience in these openings. Ratings don't matter much, please comment even if it's very low, for I believe your rating represents mostly your tactical knowledge, and not the rest of your chess knowledge)

Have a wonderful day!

Lucky for you, I already created a few studies for d4. I try to play the Semi Slav as I love Lars Schandorff's books and also needed something against d4. The link is to my study for the Semi-Slav which only covers the Botvinnik Variation which I consider good enough but you might want to play other variations. The problem is that people avoid a classic Queen's Gambit for some stupid London. I'm working on 1.d4 sidelines study but it may take some time

Against 1.Nf3 and 1.c4, I play 1...b6 and try to give White the center for me to counter it. But I don't really face it so I don't worry about it. But with the 1.c4, I would recommend watching this video about an interesting gambit

Against the Bird, watch this about the From's Gambit.

Against g3 or b3, take the center and defend with the bishops. It avoids any knight pins to win a pawn. This may be against 1...b6 from White's perspective but I think at Chapter 42 and 43 of this study you will get the idea against it. I hope you find this helpful

Black

ok so versus e4 is play modern scandinavian if opponent accept pawn, if push i just expand on queen side kinda like a french and if ignore it just take

versus d4 i play symetrically - usually if queens gambit i play a terasch defense (unless i am playing bullet where i play grunsberg or something) and against london i do what gotham says 

versus nf3 or nc3 i just like to take space

versus c4/f4 i expand on the opposing side

versus b3/g3 i just expand like in the previous examples

I can't stop laughing at grunsberg. I think you meant Grunfeld but it gave me a nice laugh

oh...i might need to learn my openning names ;-;

I'm an Nf3 player. Against d4 and Nf3 I play QID, against c4 I play Reverse Sicilian.

QID is good if you play the Sicilian against e4. It has similar ideas in terms of being a slow developing but very solid counterattack from the queenside flank.

A lot of players at my level play a Chigorin, which is what Nf3 players hope to see - I definitely wouldn't recommend it for black.

I play semi slav agaisnt 1d4 and i play c6 against 1c4, ironically i play the english but i hate playing agaisnt it.

I call this "The Einstein system". Works every time

To be honest it’s too general a question. Someone can tell you what they play against any one of those systems but it’s not going to help you if that allows you to get move ordered into another opening that they are happy to play and you’re not. Just make sure your rep is coherent and covers all move order issues + gets to positions you like, and don’t worry what anyone else plays.

When I am black and my opponent plays d4 I have a few options... nc3 and e4

Of course d4 is good too

I find against d4 the most flexible setup is the King's Indian. I play it against for the most part every setup imaginable, ranging from the Queen's Gambit to the stupid London system. I also play a similar setup against the English. Against f4, I opt for a reverse dutch with d5. The setup will vary according to their opening choice, but it provides much flexibility, and the plans are for the most part concrete. Against the London I opt for the c5 Nc6 line with the idea to play e5, while against regular Queens Gambit I opt for the traditional e5 King's Indian. What's important afterwards is knowing how to combat all of the variations, but the plans are for the most part the same. Best of luck, let me know if you have questions!

Thank you very much for your profound answers, Rabbit and EKAFC. Just wanted to mention: Grunfeld means 'green field', and berg means 'mountain'. (the u in grunfeld is with 2 dots, so it's really pronouced as i, or y. like in 'Muller' - Miller)

Thank you James, good point!

Thank you Daniel, and yes, I have a question. You play King's Indian a lot, I like it as well - Kasparov's choice, but.. how do you deal with the Samisch Variation? - Instead of attacking a White king - You are the one being attacked... Yoguslav style...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Indian_Defence,_S%C3%A4misch_Variation

I do appreciate the Nimzo-Indian and QID, but (to my humble opinion) after d4 Nf6, c4 e6, White can Force you to play the Catalan... 3.g6. who wants to play the Catalan as Black? and, doesn't QID get your b8 knight stuck? only asking, you guys are the experienced ones.

c6 against the English Opening, interesting.. why? what do you gain by that? I was thinking more about a reversed Grand Prix Attack, what do you think? (so you're a move behind... that's also a benefit - White has to pioneer, you just play according to Him - easier).

Closed Catalan is fine for black as long as you can meet e4 with e5 in my opinion.

I play the English as White quite often. I don't play 1. d4, so my White repertoire is based on a classical approach to the English. As Black I use actually more than one setup, since I anyways know the ideas involved. I only play the reversed Sicilian or the symmetrical English, the critical lines from others (e.g. 1. c4 Nf6) should transpose to these.

The four knights variations in either give fairly equal positions quite easily, so I use those lines sometimes. They are the basic lines of the English and the ideas involved should be known anyways. Probably my favourite line is the Keres variation of the reversed Sicilian (reversed Alapin), which leads either to a strong center for Black or isolated queen's pawns (often for both). Another critical line is the Rubinstein variation of the symmetrical English (reversed Maroczy bind), but that one is theory-heavy and can be move ordered.