1. e4 with backup plan I recently started playing 1. e4.  Since black has a big choice of replies, I would like to learn one opening at a time. If black plays something I haven't learned yet, I would like to resort to a King's Indian setup (pawns on d3, e4, g3, bishop on g2 and knight on f3) which I am familiar with and enjoy playing.

Obviously this backup plan does not work with all of black's replies (e.g. not with the Scandinavian 1. e4 d5). With most others it should be ok-ish, but perhaps there are also slight differences.

My question is: Against which openings is the KIA setup not all that great? Or alternatively, which openings should I learn first so that I don't have to resort to the KIA backup plan?
When you play 1.e4, you should have a plan against:


d5 - Scandanavian
Nf6 - Alekhine's
d6 - Pirc
c6 - Caro-Kann
g6 - Modern
c5 - Sicilian
e5 - King's Pawn
e6 - French
Nc6 and other garbage.


I would say you can go for a King's Indian Attack setup against all of them except the Scandanavian and the King's Pawn openings. You just need to know where to place your pieces based on your opponents opening choices and what pawn structures you want to achieve against them.

So, Scandanavian and 1...e5 it is not so great against. Everything else you can make do with minor tweaks. I like 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 and if 2...Nf6 3.Bb5+ lines in the Scandanavian. White gets easy development and Black's pices sort of get in each others way a bit.