aggressive repertoire for black

i am rated around 700 and i have had great success with the vienna as white and in general the GothamChess e4 repertoire on chessly. there are many lines in which black has to be very careful not to get a lost position. even if black survives the landmine of traps that is the opening, the attacking potential is tremendous.

however with black i really struggle. against d4 i currently think i can use the budapest gambit, but if anything else is better pls recommend that and against c4 i can play 1...e5, but for e4 i need a nice weapon that doesn't need that much theory but works almost as well as the vienna. i get that as black it's a bit harder to avoid playing defensively without resorting to unsound gambits (well at least that's what i found based on research) but there has to be a way to play a bit more aggressively.

just a few things:

-i don't really want to study any sicilians unless there is a way to do so without having to intensively study my theory.

-i like the king's indian defense but i feel that it's a bit too theoretical just like the sicilian.

-examples of aggression with games or smth attached (with comments explaining some ideas behind the opening) are appreciated

-it's ok if the opening isn't filled with deadly traps that make the opponent lose in 10 moves. i just want decently aggressive middle game play (although traps are fine as long as the opening is still decently sound).

thanks in advance for any replies.

Vienna is a cool opening, lots of fun for sure. Against d4 if you want something fun where your opponent won't know theory try the dutch... It can be hard to play because you're opening up the king by pushing the f pawn, but it's similar to the vienna in that respect, and you're already playing those kinds of positions with the vienna. But it's an attacking opening and you're guaranteed to have a fun game... Just focus on king safety would be my advice.

For a defense against e4 maybe take a look at the petrov, very solid and at your level you won't need to know as much theory as in the italian or ruy lopez or something like that, since your opponents won't know the petrov lines.

If you want some introduction to these openings just search for hanging pawns <opening name> on youtube

You can try Stafford Gambit

i have heard of the dutch and i think that it's pretty nice. leningrad dutch especially feels like an accelerated kings indian becuase you have already accomplished f5 and there is a lot of potential for a same-side castling attack.

about the petrov though, according to my research, it has decent attacking potential but isn't really played by anyone who wants an aggressive game and thus has gained a drawish reputation.

for now really, what i might choose is to play the scandinavian but follow it up with 2...Nf6. i have heard that for the most part this is decently sound (+0.6 to +0.7 only if white knows either 3. d4 or 3. Nf3) except for certain gambits like the portuguese gambit (+0.7 to +0.8 or sometimes +1.0 depending on the depth). i have also heard that the sicilian has a really 'tactical' nature but the problem is that it's way too much theory. another thing i have heard is that the nimzowitsch defense has some attacking potential, especially after 2. d4.

can anyone give me their opinions on 1...Nc6 as an attacking weapon after 1. e4? it's rather offbeat and extremely rare to catch people off-guard. also any games as examples would be appreciated (with comments explaining moves).

petrov is drawish at high level due to the pawn structure, at your level people generally don't draw... and on the rare occasion they do draw it isn't going to be due to the openings pawn structure. People also just don't draw often in online chess, either. And otherwise people just won't know the lines at your elo.

the nimzowitsch defense (1... Nc6) is generally fine, the only issue I have with it is there's not a great option after 2. Nf3 other than 2... e5 and you're just back to the same old e4/e5 position. Which isn't really a problem, and if I wanted to play e4/e5 positions I'd probably reach them via the nimzowitsch defense, it just would be nice if there was a viable way of keeping the opponent out of mainline theory here. But only a third or so players actually play 2. Nf3 there, and the rest of the time you get an offbeat opening... you're also messing with the players who don't play 2. Nf3 in e4/e5 positions, i.e. people who play the vienna, kings gambit, bishops opening, etc..

for vienna players there is the move 2. Nc3 but if that happens there are moves other than just transposing that are perfectly sound like 2...e6.

anyway, thanks for your help. i will definitely do some more research on the leningrad dutch, nimzo and petrov and will later update this post and tell you what i went with.

It is harder to be aggressive as Black as White starts the game with the initiative. This is especially true against d4. You can play 1...Nf6, then against 2. c4 you can play the Budapest (which is not really "aggressive" but does get an open game) and against the London there is the c5+Qb6 line you can look into. If White plays 2. Nf3 or 2. e3 or something though, you are a bit out of luck. I'd just try a KID setup, which is not very theoretical against those White setups.

Against e4, if you want something fairly setup-based where the opponent can go wrong quite quickly, you can play the Black Lion. There's a learn to play video from GingerGM on YouTube that shows you the basics.

will consider the modern as well. i have heard some decent things about the modern and it works after any first move where you can play the position the same way you play a king's indian except you never committed the knight to f6. also there are opposite side castling attacks in the modern but i do have one doubt about the opening: how do you play if white doesn't castle queenside and start trying to shove pawns at your king? like what are the general game plans if white just plays normal chess?

i do know that playing aggressively with black is hard. however i want some way to at least invite white into playing a sharp, tactical game.

If you really want an aggressive repertoire vs. 1. e4 that throws the opponent off... your best bet is probably to find sidelines in e4/e5. That's the most tactical variation in general. I'd still recommend the petrov because I think no one is going to know it at your level, but there are also plenty of good sidelines against the Ruy Lopez, like the Jaenisch or the fiancetto defense... against the Italian it may be more difficult to really find new territory, one option you could look into is the Paris defense... but if it were me I'd probably just play / learn the guioco piano, reason being that it's a non-linear position, you don't really play it algorithmically for too long anyway... as for the scotch - it's difficult to diverge from theory throughout the scotch in general, but it doesn't really matter because the lines are usually just good for black, I like the Schmidt variation.

i'll probably stick with the modern. i just need some help. i still don't understand the general game plan if white doesn't castle long in the modern and start attacking you. pls explain.

White can't really hurl all his kingside pawns in your direction if he isn't castling long, because his king will have nowhere safe to go... You'd need to show me an actual position.

i meant to say 'what if black doesn't castle long and doesn't go for an opposite side castling attack? then what's the game plan?' sry if my wording was confusing

i also think this is what will happen in most games because the moves g6, Bg7 and so on do not really force anything from white right away

here is an example:

It depends on what you play, but the main move is probably 4... Nf6 transposing into the classical pirc. There's a hanging pawns video on that... Classical Variation of the Pirc Defense | Chess Openings (youtube.com)

4... a6 is also played which is called tiger's modern, it's aimed more at expanding on the queenside / pressuring the knight over there and fiancetting the queenside bishop. And there are a variety of other lines. Here's a video more aimed at the modern -

Standard Line and Tiger’s Modern | Modern Defense Opening Theory (youtube.com)

Generally when you want to learn about an opening you should scour the web for a video on it... hanging pawns is always a good resource

This is the thing about the Modern, it gets sold to you as "you can play it against anything and it's aggressive" but it's actually very tricky to play and the plans vary pretty drastically depending on how White chooses to face it. If White just develops normally, White gets a good game and is slightly better. You then have to know how to go about trying to demolish White's center later on.

I think you should consider that maybe what you like about the Vienna isn't so much that it's super aggressive, but that it has easy to understand plans. This is why I typically recommend the Caro-Kann to beginners, because it also has easy to understand plans in most of the variations. If you don't want to play that, give the Black Lion a look. It's a lot more straightforward and will work like a charm below 1000.

Every beginner is like "I am the world's most aggressive player, please tell me all the most aggressive openings on the planet" because when you start out, launching an attack on the king is the only way of winning the game which feels satisfying. As you improve, you find that winning because you understand a position better than your opponent and they crumble in the face of your superior understanding is also satisfying. I used to think I was a Very Aggressive Attacking Player as well because that's how I won games, and as I improved I realized that I am actually quite a positional player, good at building up methodical attacks but not good at flashy tactics and combinations.

i used to play the caro-kann as well. it's a great opening and i definitely do plan on using such an opening later. the reason i temporarily switched is because for some time i kept losing games and playing as black became very unfun. hence i switched to the modern scandi, which i do find fun in, but when i become a more experienced player, some unsound gambits like the portuguese gambit may be refuted easily. so for now i think i can stick with it but i might think of changing when i know what type of player i actually am when i gain more skill.

as a beginner i feel that it doesn't matter what opening you play, whether it's sound or not. as long as i feel like im having fun, i enjoy it. even when i get a losing streak in the modern scandi, i still don't feel like im 'not having fun' because i am. and like you said, i probably know absolutely nothing about whether im a super tactical player or if i would like more positional gameplay. who knows? in the future i might find fun in those grandmaster openings like the nimzo-indian, ruy lopez, etc.

so basically im sticking with the modern scandi till i actually get to a level where i know my playstyle and can easily pick openings that suit it. thank you everyone for helping. in the future, i will probably consider some of the openings you guys recommended if i still feel like an aggressive player.

For the record, the Portuguese Gambit is scoring well for Black at all levels in the Lichess database, even 2500+, so you don't need to worry about outgrowing that. I looked into how to refute it once and I was like OK, forget it, no way I am learning all this. I remember one line involves getting three pieces for a queen, there are some weird positions in there.

I almost suggested the Modern Scandi, actually, I think it's a good choice. The only problem with it, if you can call it a problem, is the line I play, 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Be2. The engine is not particularly impressed with this for White (it's like +0.25) but it takes all the fun out of it for Black. It's one of those positions where White is just a bit better and Black is planless; White scores well in practice. I'd guess you basically never see this, though. It's rare even at my level, even though I think it's by far the easiest solution to the opening.

At your level I wouldn't recommend focusing too deeply on one opening anyway. I typically advise people not to create a "lifetime repertoire" which goes deep until they're like 1800 elo or so. But leading up to that... what will really benefit you as a player is playing a variety of openings and understanding a variety of plans. This will make you much more flexible as a player. It'll also help you figure out what type of player you are... then when you go to create a serious repertoire you'll have the experience needed to do so confidently.

Be sure to play the french and QGD at some point. Modern is also a good one to know.

The Scandy is trash!

However, All the smack talk about the Scandy I have done has caused karma to make me lose in 1 game against it.

First loss in a year!

I still don’t recommend it!

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As a person who plays the Modern Defense, I say go for it OP!

The World needs more Modern Defense player!