Half of your games will be played with the Black pieces. Since 1.e4 is roughly 2.5 times as common as 1.d4, and the two together make up 90–95 percent of what you will face, a Black repertoire that answers both covers nearly every game. This chapter gives two recommendations against 1.e4, one against 1.d4, and two setup-based defenses that can be used against almost anything. As with White openings, pick one plan per first move and stick to it — that repetition is what turns a memorized reply into real understanding.
Playing Black is inherently more demanding to prepare for than playing White, because White always moves first and Black has to be ready to respond to whatever comes. The upside covered in this chapter is that a handful of well-chosen replies, or a single flexible setup, closes that gap almost entirely — you do not need a separate answer to every White idea you might ever meet, only to the common ones.
Against 1.e4, the first recommendation is 1...d5 — the Scandinavian Defense. It immediately forces White to make a decision, flipping the usual dynamic where White dictates and Black reacts. White will typically capture, and Black recaptures with the queen:
This early queen sortie breaks the usual opening principle of keeping the queen home, but played correctly it does not lose time in any serious way, since each queen move also develops the position or provokes a weakness. Black continues developing pieces and castling from here, aiming for a solid, active position like the following:
White has no way to punish the Scandinavian immediately if it is played accurately, and at the intermediate level an opponent would typically need 15–20 moves of prepared theory to claim any real edge — unlikely at this stage. It also tends to come up less often at the board than the other main answers to 1.e4 — 1...e5, the Sicilian, the Caro-Kann, or the French — so your opponent is less likely to have it deeply prepared in the first place.
The main danger in the Scandinavian is losing track of the queen on an unsafe square. Remember the sequence: recapture with the queen, retreat to a5 when attacked, and play ...c6 to keep an escape route open.
The second recommendation against 1.e4 is Rozman's own favorite opening, one he still trusts even at International Master level: the Caro-Kann Defense, 1...c6, preparing ...d5 with the pawn already protected — a "building-block" structure, unlike the Scandinavian's immediate central strike. White then has three main tries: pushing the e-pawn (Advance), capturing on d5 (Exchange), or defending the e-pawn. The board below shows all three from the same starting moves.
The Caro-Kann has been used successfully from beginner to World Champion level. It rewards patient, solid play rather than sharp tactics — a different temperament from the Scandinavian's early complications. Rozman rates it as the single opening he trusts most, having used it to beat close to a hundred grandmasters over his career, including a win over Hikaru Nakamura — at the time the world's number two — in this very defense.
The Caro-Kann also carries real personal weight for the author. Rozman recalls quitting chess entirely between the ages of twelve and fifteen, worn down by a difficult stretch at school and at home. When he returned to the game at fifteen, the first book he picked up on a friend's recommendation was Lars Schandorff's Grandmaster Repertoire 7: The Caro-Kann — and using it, he beat his first National Master (rated 2200), then gained rating steadily over his next fifteen tournaments until he reached 2200 himself and earned the National Master title. He calls the Caro-Kann the opening that saved his chess career, and it is a large part of why he recommends it so strongly here.
Against 1.d4 — which, like the Sicilian, cannot be met with the Scandinavian or Caro-Kann, since both only work against 1.e4 — the recommendation is the Queen's Gambit Declined setup. 1.d4 is a slower opening than 1.e4 by nature, and can lead into the London System as well as the Queen's Gambit; either way, Black mirrors White with 1...d5, and if White plays 2.c4 (the Queen's Gambit), Black declines the free pawn and instead plays 2...e6, keeping a solid foothold in the center. From there Black develops knights and bishops on the kingside and castles, ending up in a position something like this:
Since the pawn on e6 blocks the light-squared bishop's natural diagonals (f5 and g4), Black reroutes it instead with ...b6 and ...Bb7, ending up in a position such as this one:
This same shape — pawns on c-and-d-files supported by b- and e-pawns, king castled, bishops on e7 and b7 — is a reasonable target not just against the Queen's Gambit but against almost any White try that is not 1.e4, including the English (1.c4) and the Réti (1.Nf3). That overlap is the whole point: one plan against 1.d4 quietly covers several other White first moves as well, which is exactly the kind of study-time saving worth building into a Black repertoire.
For players who would rather not maintain separate preparation for every White opening, two setups can be played almost universally. Both trade some initiative for consistency: because you cannot fight for central space and active piece play at the same time, you spend more of the game reacting rather than attacking — like a counterpuncher waiting for an opening rather than pressing forward.
The King's Indian / Pirc setup, already introduced as a Black weapon against any White first move, fits here against 1.e4 too:
The Dutch Defense, 1...f5, is the second universal setup — but only against non-e4 openings, since against 1.e4 White simply captures the loose pawn. Its idea is to fight for the center by controlling e4 with a pawn rather than occupying it directly. The Leningrad Variation combines the f5 pawn with a King's Indian-style kingside fianchetto; a second Dutch setup instead keeps both kings in the center a little longer and develops the dark-squared bishop actively — often pinning White's knight on c3 — with the e-pawn advanced instead of the d- or g-pawn. Both share the same first five moves, so the board below shows them together.
Setup-based openings save study time and produce consistent, familiar positions early on — but they suit a patient, reactive style. If you enjoy fighting for the initiative from move one, a dedicated response to each of White's main tries will usually suit you better.
Against 1.e4, the Scandinavian and the Caro-Kann are the two recommended defenses — the Scandinavian riskier because of the early queen sortie, the Caro-Kann slower but very solid (and the author's personal favorite, for reasons that go well beyond the board). Against 1.d4 (and by extension the English and the Réti), the Queen's Gambit Declined setup offers principled central play. Rozman's rule of thumb: the c- and d-pawns are "best friends" that like to advance together, with the light-squared bishop rerouted via b6/b7 once it is blocked in. For a lower-maintenance repertoire, the King's Indian/Pirc and the Dutch Defense are universal setups that trade some initiative for consistency and less preparation. Whichever combination you choose, commit to it, build your experience through repetition, and use games you lose as material for review rather than reasons to switch openings again.
1.e4 is about 2.5 times as common as 1.d4, and together the two make up roughly 90–95 percent of all games, so a solid answer to each covers nearly everything you will actually face.
It forces White to make an immediate decision, putting White on the back foot rather than Black. The risk is bringing the queen out early: it must be moved to safety (typically to a5) and given an escape route (...c6) or it can come under repeated attack.
The Caro-Kann prepares ...d5 with the pawn already protected by the c-pawn — a "building-block" approach — rather than striking in the center immediately and recapturing with the queen as the Scandinavian does.
White can push the e-pawn (Advance), capture on d5 (Exchange), or defend the e-pawn. Against the Advance (3.e5), Black strikes back with 3...c5, sacrificing the c-pawn to undermine White's center.
The pawn on e6 blocks the bishop's normal diagonals (f5 and g4), so Black reroutes it to b7 via a fianchetto instead, where it supports the d5 pawn and points along a useful diagonal.
It is a fixed formation of pawns and pieces (like the King's Indian/Pirc or the Dutch) that can be reached against almost any opposing setup, saving preparation time. The tradeoff is reduced initiative — you tend to react to your opponent's plans rather than fight actively for space.
White can simply capture the f5 pawn for free, since nothing defends it after 1.e4 f5. The Dutch only works against openings other than 1.e4.
The Leningrad fianchettoes the dark-squared bishop to g7, King's Indian style, alongside the advanced f-pawn. The other setup keeps the bishop on e7 instead and completes the center with ...d5, trading some dynamism for extra king safety.
It carries personal history: he quit chess as a teenager, and the Caro-Kann was the opening he rebuilt his game around when he returned at fifteen, going on to earn the National Master title with it. He's also used it to beat close to a hundred grandmasters, including a win over Hikaru Nakamura, then the world's number two.
Online databases already favor Black in that exact position after only three moves, and with further preparation Black tends to score 60 percent or more of games that reach it — an unusually strong result so early in the opening.
In 1.d4 setups like the Queen's Gambit Declined, Black's c- and d-pawns work as a team, generally advancing together to build and support a central pawn presence rather than moving independently.