Opening recommendation vs 1.e4

I've been thinking about this for a good while now. I'm looking for a calm/quiet opening after 1.e4. Although I know no opening guarantees this goal, but I'm looking for a line where trying to chaotize the position is bad, as I surmise that I have enough calculation skills to refute those weak moves. Here are some thoughts/experiences I've had:

1) The Caro Kann: It's been one my main openings for a long time, but this line has been bothering me where white makes it impossible to develop the light squared bishop without a major concession.

2) The French Defense: I'm experimenting with the French defense right now, as I think it's difficult for white to force any static weaknesses for black. But I've been struggling with the advance where it feels like white gets the easier piece play and black has to deal with his bad bishop. If anyone knows a strategically easy line to play for black here, please let me know.

I'd need more details for why you don't want the position to be "sharp". For example... do you not want it be sharp on the opponent either, because you aren't a very tactical player or you don't feel tactics are reliable? Do you not want to have to memorize too much theory?

There are different kinds of tactical lines - some tactical lines are forcing and very theoretical... in other positions the entire board is involved and play is positional with myriads of tactics underlying things. Players don't play these positions perfectly.

e4/e5 on the whole requires alot of sharp memorization. And c6... I never recommend c6, tbh. It's not just the exchange that gives it problems. And if you want to avoid your king in chaos... I wouldn't recommend c6.

French and sicilian are the two best bets IMO.

You can play the sicilian in alot of different ways... they aren't all highly theoretical. There are 13 different viable main line sicilians, each with different characteristics. It's positional, but it can break down into tactics...

If you want my opinion on the different sicilians... instead of me repeating that all here I'd just recommend you read this blog post I wrote on it - A Tour of the Sicilian - Choosing a Variation as Black - Chess.com

The french, on the other hand, is a very boring opening. But it's also very hard for white to do anything interesting.

You're not gonna find an opening that checks all the boxes and yet doesn't require any real studying or effort. But from the sounds of it I'd say the french probably comes closest to what you are asking for. Usually the french is just going to be a very typical, boring game.

Against the advanced... well you might just have to learn some theory, I'm sorry but that's chess, I don't know what else you want unless you can give more details.

What I mean by "sharp" is messy or chaotic. I am not a tactical player, and I don't want to memorize too much theory[because I never get it]. "There are different kinds of tactical lines - some tactical lines are forcing and very theoretical... in other positions the entire board is involved and play is positional with myriads of tactics underlying things. Players don't play these positions perfectly." Exactly! I want a position where I want to be able to play without mistakes. Also, I checked your blog post, but most lines are not to my style. [Maybe not the Kan/Taimanov hybrid; I'll check it out.] But it does seem like the french is the way to go.

Yeah if your goal is to play very reliably and "perfectly" (as close to that as is possible) without memorizing alot the french is really the only line which kind-of sounds like that. It seems like every game in the french ends up following familiar patterns and ideas. This makes it very annoying to play against as white since there's just not much interesting to do against it.

Great!

The four you named, 1...c6, 1..e6, 1...c5, and 1...e5 are considered the cream of the crop tier one replies to 1 e4. Any other move is going to be tier two or tier three. Terrible tier three is out of the question at your level, so that leaves tier two defenses.

A tier two that many consider the most practical for the club scene is the Scandinavian defense. As you probably know, there are four main Scandinavian choices after 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 : 2...Nf6 or 2...Qxd5 3 Nc3, 3...Qa5, 3...Qd8, 3...Qd6. It's a matter of taste, but I prefer 3...Qa5 and I really like the practical repertoire book I use for it.

Two GMs who live in Charlotte NC use the Alekhine defense often in their blitz and bullet games. It's a sort of rope a dope defense.

The Modern 1...g6 is used to counter-strike sharply. It can be played in a sort of systematic fashion in the early opening but is difficult to play its middlegames accurately so black can get crushed. However, world class GM Nakamura plays it often in his blitz and bullet games against titled players and does well with it. But he is one of the best players in the world. I don't think it is the quiet calm opening you want.

The offbeat 1...Nc6 is a possibility but not exactly the smooth quiet calm waters you seek.

Petroff's is a solid defence that doesn't have any of the bad Bishop or cramped position issues that can go with the French or Caro. It is also one that has been and is still played at the very top levels, so there are past and new examples of top level play to study. That might be one to consider as well.

I like petrovs but it does require some sharp memorization is the only issue for the OP request

Another thing about the Petroff is white can play the King's Gambit.

There are tactics in the French. You can not avoid them in any opening. One particular variation that comes to mind is the Milner Berry Gambit in the Advance French.

I'm just a crappy 1600 level player but here are some general ideas that I learned playing the French exclusively against 1.e4 for about 10 years.

A) the LQB gets trapped behind a wall of your own pawns for a majority of the game. Essentially its like playing down a piece for most of the game.

B) when Black does finally liquidates White's pawn center ( which he must do or he is probably lost) that LQB can become a monster. Particularly if white no longer has his at that point in the game.

C) the majority of Black's play revolves around the c5 square and who is going to control the c file.

D) Black does not always have to castle. Sometimes he is just as safe on the e7 square which connects the rooks.

E) most of the time Black gets to keep his two center pawns which generally leads to better endgames for black and the king is already closer to the center.

I hope this helps. I learned a lot of that the hard way. But I keep learning and trying to get better.

I don't think chess is this guy's thing.

Your best bet is 1...e5, and declining the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5)

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, respond 2...Nf6 and learn the Petroff. Totally sound. The only other move besides 1...c6 for positional players is 1...e5. The French and Sicilian are extremely theoretical, extremely tricky, and full of tactics.

Also, by playing the Petroff, you avoid all the theory of the Italian, Scotch, Ruy Lopez, etc. All you need to know besides the Petroff are the King's Gambit, Vienna, Center Game, and either the Three or Four Knights, and the Exchange French, as they can transpose into both of them (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 or 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5).

Big whoop! It's not that hard to defend. Want an easy life? Decline it with 2...Bc5.

I think all the openings you mentioned have really good ways to deal with whatever white is gonna throw. All of these openings have been studied and top GMs have these openings in their repertoire as black. so all of the things you pointed out may be small inconveniences but black is theoretically not losing in these positions.

I can't say much other than it's a matter of personal preference. I guess if you don't prefer tactical games, play either the french or caro kann. Both openings lead to very stable position for black with the intention of enduring white's offense until black finds an exploitable gap in white's position.

Thanks

Thanks guys! I didn't expect to see any more messages on this thread, but here we are.

I've managed to find a few sound lines in the french where it's not optimal for white to be aggresive, and attack early.

I'm also considering e4-e5, because I think it might be solid enough to play the Petrov, and just have some prep against the sidelines. Most of you guys seem to think that Petrov is rock-solid, but white can always try to force a sharp game.

Can you believe this position came from a Petrov?

But I'll just have to figure it out ig.

Yes, that's true. There is a fair bit of theory and some sharp lines one has to learn, but, I think the same can be said for the French, or the Sicilian, and really, just about every defence, particularly as one gets stronger. So while it would be nice to have an option devoid of the need to know some theory and that never leads to tricky situations, that might be an impossible requirement to fill.

True, one has to prepare for the King's Gambit. On the other hand, 2. f4 is far less common than 2. Nf3, and there are far more openings that one needs to prepare after 2. Nf3 Nc6 than 2. Nf3 Nf6 The most common continuation is still 3. Nxe5 but 3. d4 is not unheard of. Also, one needs to prepare for 3. Nc3, and either go into the Four Knights with 3. ... Nc6 or the Three Knights with 3. ... Bb4. But those are less common at the higher levels. Generally, when learning any opening (with White or Black), one starts with the most common lines, to get an understanding of the positions that most commonly arise. If those appeal, then you start to look at which of the alternatives you are facing most, and start to fill in the gaps of your knowledge. If you don't find the positions that arise most commonly are to your liking there's not much point spending the time learning the side-lines. The one thing to keep in mind is that when you add something to your opening repertoire, you're most likely going to lose a bunch of games as you have to go through the process of becoming familiar with the positions so you can work out what the ideas are.

I have a black repertoire 1...e5 book. It was written to be practical and I think it is a good book. Against the King's Gambit the author uses 2...exf4 3 Nf3 Ne7. He says it was played by GM Bacrot many times. Black's idea is to go ...Ng6 and keep the pawn. In some lines though the knight can go to d5 and then e3 when black will return the pawn for a positional edge or solid position. He says 3...Ne7 deprives white of his typical nasty attacking ideas.

I've played 1...e5 some but it seems to me there are a lot more lines to take on than in the Scandinavian, not that the Scandinavian doesn't have much theory itself. The Scandinavian isn't as good a move as 1...e5 but the Scandi can be hard to beat on the club level and even some GMs play it from time to time.