Week 43: the best chess openings for Black? My 1...e5 went 1–9
Week 43 split cleanly in two. From October 28 to November 3, 2024, I played 33 rapid games and went from 1009 to 994: 15 wins, 17 losses and 1 draw. With White I scored 12 wins and 5 losses. With Black I scored 3 wins, 12 losses and 1 draw, and after 1.e4 e5 I won one game out of ten. So before anyone asks me about the best chess openings for Black, here is what my own choice did that week.
The week in numbers
| Stat | This week |
|---|---|
| Rating | 1009 → 994 (-15) |
| Games | 33 (#1043–#1075) |
| Wins / losses / draws | 15 / 17 / 1 |
| Blunders (my moves) | 67 (2.0 per game) |
| Average accuracy | 78.3 % |
| Most played openings | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation (6), Three Knights Opening (2), Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation (2) |
In the middle of the week I won seven games in a row, from game 1048 to game 1054, and climbed to 1058. Five of those seven were with White, and neither Black win came after 1.e4 e5. Then the Black games started losing, and I finished the week below 1000 again, at 994 after my last game.
Of my 17 losses, 14 were recorded as "game abandoned". In six of the losses (and in the one draw) the engine had given me an 80 % or better chance of winning at some point. My draw, game 1074, lasted 146 half-moves and contained 8 of my 67 blunders.
Looking for the best chess openings for Black: what my 1...e5 actually did
I am not going to tell you which opening is best; I don't have the data for that, and I'd rather show what I do have. Against 1.e4 I played 1...e5 every time, and Chess.com gave the games many names:
| Opening (Chess.com label) | My result with Black |
|---|---|
| Three Knights Opening | 2 losses |
| Giuoco Piano Game | 2 losses |
| Center Game Accepted | 1 win, 1 loss |
| Ruy Lopez Cozio Defense | 1 loss |
| King's Pawn Opening, King's Knight Variation | 1 loss |
| Bishop's Opening, Boi Variation | 1 loss |
| Scotch Game | 1 loss |
That's 1–9. The one win, game 1066 against Harsh7596 (1021), was excellent (97.4 %), so the opening is not impossible to play. But two of the three key moments of the week are Black games after 1...e5, and both are about the same weak spot.
For what it's worth, the data shows what I did next: two weeks later, in game 1122, I played the Pirc Defense with Black for the first time in this diary.
Three key moments
Game 1043: counter-attacking with a knight that could be taken
With Black against Sundarsiyag6452 (1023), the game was level (-0.13). White's knight on h4 was attacking my bishop on g6, and I answered with a knight jump.
Ng4 does open a line for my queen toward the knight on h4. But position.py adds the important part: "the knight can now be captured", and my bishop on g6 was still attacked too. The engine's reply Nxg6 takes the bishop and hits my rook, "white is completely winning" (+6.96). Bh5 moved the bishop away with an attack on the queen and kept it about equal. I lost the game.
Game 1044: grabbing the knight with my bishop hanging
This is a White game, and I won it, but it shows the same blind spot. Against 1234futt (1006), in a London System, I was at +6.33.
I took the knight on b8 and forgot that my own bishop on b5 was attacked by the black bishop on d7. The engine's reply Bxb5 is "clearly better for black" (-2.13). Nxd7 first removes that attacker and, according to position.py, attacks the knight on b8 and the rook on f8 at the same time: "white is completely winning". I won the game by checkmate anyway.
Game 1046: the f7 pawn after 1...e5
With Black against MaikiTiger (1046), a Ruy Lopez that turned into an open position, the score was +0.22. I developed my bishop to its favourite square.
Bc5 looks natural. The engine's answer is Bxf7+: the bishop takes the pawn next to my king with check, I take it, and 11.Qh5+ gives check while attacking my bishop on c5, "clearly better for white" (+2.29). With the bishop on d6 instead, the engine keeps the game about equal. My opponent played 10.Qf3 instead, but I lost the game later.
The lesson of the week
The colour split is the headline, but the key moments say something more precise: I keep leaving pieces where a check or a capture wins them, especially around f7 and with bishops that are already attacked. Choosing "the best chess opening for Black" won't fix that on its own. What I can do is two things: check which of my pieces are attacked before I make a counter-move (games 1043 and 1044), and in 1...e5 positions treat f7 as a target from the first moves (game 1046). Changing my opening, which I did two weeks later, was a separate experiment.
All games this week
| Game # | Date | Colour | Opponent (rating) | Result | Opening | Accuracy | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1043 | Oct 28 | Black | Sundarsiyag6452 (1023) | Loss | Kings Fianchetto Opening | 64.7 % | game |
| 1044 | Oct 28 | White | 1234futt (1006) | Win | Indian Game London System | 77.1 % | game |
| 1045 | Oct 28 | White | jaja176 (1011) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Accelerated London System | 94.5 % | game |
| 1046 | Oct 28 | Black | MaikiTiger (1046) | Loss | Ruy Lopez Opening Cozio Defense | 52.6 % | game |
| 1047 | Oct 28 | Black | adeebainul (1010) | Loss | Three Knights Opening | 87.4 % | game |
| 1048 | Oct 29 | White | iw2fq (997) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 94.6 % | game |
| 1049 | Oct 29 | White | HitokiriAxl (1025) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 90.4 % | game |
| 1050 | Oct 29 | Black | dl7773 (1018) | Win | Reti Opening | 97.3 % | game |
| 1051 | Oct 29 | Black | Heia80 (1030) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Chigorin Variation | 75.3 % | game |
| 1052 | Oct 30 | White | noobmasterasadula (1010) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation | 92.2 % | game |
| 1053 | Oct 30 | White | surin79 (1039) | Win | London System | 83.9 % | game |
| 1054 | Oct 30 | White | Aramlann (1025) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation | 96.1 % | game |
| 1055 | Oct 30 | Black | Zidaru_Nicolae (1077) | Loss | Center Game Accepted Normal Variation | 49.1 % | game |
| 1056 | Oct 30 | Black | lwkyrxyu (1037) | Loss | Kings Pawn Opening Kings Knight Variation | 70.4 % | game |
| 1057 | Oct 30 | Black | aamir_sohailak (1062) | Loss | Bishops Opening Boi Variation | 60.8 % | game |
| 1058 | Oct 30 | White | Otvalida (1020) | Win | Indian Game East Indian London System | 78.5 % | game |
| 1059 | Oct 30 | Black | Yugansh07 (1068) | Loss | Three Knights Opening | 77.7 % | game |
| 1060 | Oct 30 | White | BussdownOrganics (1008) | Win | English Defense | 89.3 % | game |
| 1061 | Oct 31 | Black | Vinik10 (1066) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game | 78.5 % | game |
| 1062 | Oct 31 | White | AlirezaMakki (1045) | Win | English Defense | 78.3 % | game |
| 1063 | Oct 31 | White | Griffin235 (1043) | Loss | Indian Game East Indian London System | 88.1 % | game |
| 1064 | Oct 31 | Black | Blast254 (1037) | Loss | Queens Gambit Accepted Central Variation | 69.1 % | game |
| 1065 | Oct 31 | White | idnahoy (1039) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 52.5 % | game |
| 1066 | Nov 1 | Black | Harsh7596 (1021) | Win | Center Game Accepted Normal Variation | 97.4 % | game |
| 1067 | Nov 1 | White | oguzzzhannnnn (1020) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 88.0 % | game |
| 1068 | Nov 1 | Black | Ingeniosmeer (1021) | Loss | Scotch Game | 79.1 % | game |
| 1069 | Nov 1 | White | ArtemBatya (1025) | Win | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 98.3 % | game |
| 1070 | Nov 1 | Black | Dan_0247 (1035) | Loss | Slav Defense Exchange Variation | 72.8 % | game |
| 1071 | Nov 2 | White | leon4rdo001 (1026) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Horwitz Defense | 69.9 % | game |
| 1072 | Nov 2 | White | jonhcenadhar123456789king (1011) | Loss | Englund Gambit | 49.1 % | game |
| 1073 | Nov 2 | Black | Jeroxm (1049) | Loss | Giuoco Piano Game | 73.8 % | game |
| 1074 | Nov 3 | Black | firpo81 (1022) | Draw | Van t Kruijs Opening | 72.1 % | game |
| 1075 | Nov 3 | White | hooisdiss (1030) | Loss | Queens Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation | 84.0 % | game |
Previous: week 42 · Next: week 44 · The whole journey · Review your own games like this
Frequently asked questions
What are the best chess openings for Black at 1000?
I can't answer that for everyone. What my week 43 data shows is that my own choice, meeting 1.e4 with 1...e5, scored 1 win and 9 losses, while my White setup won 12 of 17. Two weeks later I started playing the Pirc Defense as Black.
Why do 1...e5 players at my level lose to Bxf7+?
In my games, because the f7 pawn is defended only by the king early on. In game 1046 my 9...Bc5 allowed Bxf7+ followed by Qh5+, a queen check that also attacks the bishop on c5.
Should you change openings after a bad week?
One week is a small sample. But my 3–12–1 week with Black was not a one-off: in week 40 I had also won only 2 of 10 games with Black.