Simple but sound opening vs e4?

I'd recommend French.
wdym its not interesting??

@MeReXy said in #9:
> Well, I follow love for Alekhine's defence as well, but I have to agree, that white can play moves like 2. Nc3 or 2. d3, which usually lead to very different gameplan, which I find pretty boring, because it takes time to make something going on in these positions or risk getting worse positions within first 10 moves (pov of casual player).
> But it doesn't make me drop and is still my main choice against 1. e4

After 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 the 2..e5 transports to the vienna game and never give black what he wants
Also black could play 2..e6 3.d4 d5 (french) or 2..d6 3.d4 (pirc) or 2.. c5 3.e5 (sicilian) which is dubious

Personally i never touch these lines. i play 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3.e5 Ne4 cause 3..Nfd7 again leads to french and the 3..d4 imo doesnt offer much for black,kinda drawish

so with the line 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3.e5 Ne4 u avoid all the transpo tricks and if white chooses instead of 3.e5 the inferios exd5 then Bf5+Qd5+0-0-0 pattern for black is a win in scandinavian cause white is already behind in development

As of 2.d3 yes i agree 2..e5 is quite boring if u play conservative like i also do with this line but ok iwhat to do d7,Be7 etc but black could also has an eye on Bc5 italian patterns and if white moves with Bg5 then h6+g5 for black,risky but very interesting

@kassanen said in #12:
> After 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 the 2..e5 transports to the vienna game and never give black what he wants
> Also black could play 2..e6 3.d4 d5 (french) or 2..d6 3.d4 (pirc) or 2.. c5 3.e5 (sicilian) which is dubious
>
> Personally i never touch these lines. i play 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3.e5 Ne4 cause 3..Nfd7 again leads to french and the 3..d4 imo doesnt offer much for black,kinda drawish
>
> so with the line 1.e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3.e5 Ne4 u avoid all the transpo tricks and if white chooses instead of 3.e5 the inferios exd5 then Bf5+Qd5+0-0-0 pattern for black is a win in scandinavian cause white is already behind in development
>
> As of 2.d3 yes i agree 2..e5 is quite boring if u play conservative like i also do with this line but ok iwhat to do d7,Be7 etc but black could also has an eye on Bc5 italian patterns and if white moves with Bg5 then h6+g5 for black,risky but very interesting

If someone wants to play scandinavian, than you are right. I used to play it, but at some point decided, that I'd rather go for something simpler with less exchanges early on and seek for opponents mistakes early or just try to win mid/late-game.

I follow similar game plan with Maroczy and let white decide how sharp lines they want to play.

To conclude if one doesn't want to play against alekhine's defense it is not possible to force it, unless one wants to play sharper lines with scandinavian, as you said. Therefore, I would say there is no safe way for black to force anything here and white has wide range of options => OP's opinion is valid.

Philidor is probably the simplest sound opening against e4.

@SwApNeEl1 said in #11:
> I'd recommend French.
> wdym its not interesting??

I would have recommended French as well, but "simple" is mentioned as a requirement. I don't think the French defense qualifies as simple.

The best response to e4 is sicilian kan variation. It is a sound response and too practical, because it is easy to learn, I mean the mainline. Yes there are to many sidelines, but they are not too good, so you dont need a lot of study to answer them correctly. Other defenses like dragon, e5, etc might be sound too, but they are not practical, too much study is needed, too many sharp lines, even the best players dont remember them all I think.

nah e4 c4 vs Kan is a piece of Maroczy bind cake for white.

I second center counter is for good for casual play. Although, I regret the time I spent on it, in liu of learning the main lines. It is too easy for white to achieve an advantage compared to other openings.

One question, yet almost infinite answers.
Mine is take it simple, 1. e4, e5
Strike into the center, set some counterplay and most important:
Dont play d5!