From left to right, as White faces them:
- 1...b6: English Defence
- White's most testing reply of course is 2.d4 but this is not compulsory
- Odessky's English Defence (2007) has a chapter on the English Opening
- 1...Nc6: (it takes two to Tango)
- This is mostly a transpositional move: after 2.d4 we have the Black Knights' Tango, while after 2.Nc3 e5 we have the Reversed Sicilian
- Keene/Jacobs (1996) Complete Repertoire for Black uses 1...Nc6
- 1...c6: Slav style
- The move ...c6 creates a concrete threat to capture on c4 and keep it with ...b5. and can give White some move-order headaches
- It is hard for White to avoid positions with a Slav character after 2...d5; 2.Nf3 d5 3.b3 is a Reti opening, when Black can used 3...Nf6 and then either 4...Bf5 (Lasker) or 4...Bg4 (Capablanca), with equality
- I don't know of a book looking at this for Black, but I believe Shankland's Chessable course on the Slav talks about the Catalan: This may help too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=YjunF7O2Bmk
- It is hard for White to avoid positions with a Slav character after 2...d5; 2.Nf3 d5 3.b3 is a Reti opening, when Black can used 3...Nf6 and then either 4...Bf5 (Lasker) or 4...Bg4 (Capablanca), with equality
- 1...c5: Benoni style
- With ...Nf6 & ...d5: Rubinstein
- I can't recall a book recommending this approach, but it's perfectly sound and I imagine you can pick out most of what you need from Hansen's 2000 book on the Symmetrical English (although of course unless you play the English yourself, most of your investment will be wasted)
- STOP PRESS: "Delchev's Grunfeld Reloaded has a chapter on the Rubinstein Symmetrical English" (2019) https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1609278173
- With ...e6: Hedgehog
- Suba's Dynamic Chess Strategy is a hymn of praise to the Hedgehog, but for an opening book there is a choice:
Palkovi Hedgehog System Against The English Opening. Caissa Chess Books, 1997.
Lysyj, Igor; Ovetchkin, Roman (2017). The Hedgehog vs. the English/Reti. Chess Stars.
Suba, Mihai (2000). The Hedgehog. Batsford.- With ...g6: Symmetrical Variation
- Palliser's Beating Unusual Chess Openings (2007) which uses the Symmetrical Variation (might suit a Benoni player but he does lean on the Botvinnik system with ...e5 too) as does Burgess' Idiot-Proof Opening repertoire
- I don't know of a book that recommends Fischer's preferred setup with g6/c5/Nc6/Bg7/e6 with which he beat Smyslov and Petrosian in 1970, but again you can pick it out of the books that aren't from Black's point of view or use https://shop.chessbase.com/en/products/bologan_english_1c4_c5_for_black
- I can't recall a book recommending this approach, but it's perfectly sound and I imagine you can pick out most of what you need from Hansen's 2000 book on the Symmetrical English (although of course unless you play the English yourself, most of your investment will be wasted)
- 1...d6: (the universal pancreas)
- With ...g6: King's Indian Style
- Most KID books seem to collapse in exhaustion after going through everything after 1.d4 and omit the English, but Dembo's Fighting the Anti-King's-Indians (2008) covers 1.c4 and I think is very good: nice balance of words and moves
- 1...e6: French style
- Combined with ...Nf6, see below; with ...b6, see above; it's independent only with ...d5
- Kaufman (2012) has offered 1...e6 and 2...d5, inviting a transposition to the Queen's Gambit, which might be White's best bet (Pritchett describes it as 'unavoidable')
- Similarly, Kotronias: Fight 1.d4 with the Tarrasch (2019) should get you there, although he does not address 1.c4
- Eingorn (2012) Rock-solid opening repertoire for Black discusses the pros and cons of 1.c4 e6
- Kaufman (2012) has offered 1...e6 and 2...d5, inviting a transposition to the Queen's Gambit, which might be White's best bet (Pritchett describes it as 'unavoidable')
- 1...e5: Reversed Sicilian and after 2.Nc3:
- With 2...Nf6 and 3...c6: (I suspect 2.g3 is awkward)
- Delchev/Semkov (2016) Attacking the English/Reti
- With 2...Nf6 and 3...d5: Reversed Open Sicilian
- The gold standard for a book to combat the English Opening is probably something like Kotronias' Beating the Flank Openings (1996) which recommends the Reversed Sicilian (would suit a 1.e4 player)
- No other book comes to mind but you can consult https://www.modern-chess.com/reversed-sicilian-avrukhs-antidote-to-1-c4-... & https://www.modern-chess.com/reversed-sicilian-avrukhs-antidote-to-1-c4-...
- With 2...Nc6: Reversed Closed Sicilian
- I'm happy to recommend Dempsey, T.; English Opening: A Line for Black; The Chess Player 1985 but best of luck finding a copy!
- No other book comes to mind but I imagine you can find a playable set of lines in Hansen (2019) The Full English, but it's a shame that most of your investment will be wasted, so maybe use https://shop.chessbase.com/en/products/bologan_english_c4_e5_for_black
- With 2...Bb4
- Mikhalevski 2016 Beating Minor Openings
- With 2...d6: Smyslov system
- This is to be found in several books: the second edition of Keene/Levy's Attacking Repertoire, Yrjola/Tella's Explosive Chess Opening Repertoire, and I expect several others
- Delchev/Semkov (2016) Attacking the English/Reti
- 1...Nf6: Indian style
- With ....e6: Nimzo/Queen's Indian style
- This has the drawback of allowing 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4, the Flohr-Mikenas Attack.
- With ...g6: King's Indian Style
- See above
- This has the drawback of allowing 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4, the Flohr-Mikenas Attack.
- 1...f5: Dutch style
- With ...e6 and ...d6: Classical
- Williams: Play the Classical Dutch (2003)
- With ....e6 and ...d5: Stonewall
- Johnsen, Bern, Agdestein: Win with the Stonewall Dutch (2009)
- With ...g6: Leningrad
- [Same problem as the KID books: the ones I know cover only 1.d4 ... but you're likely to end up in the Reversed Closed Sicilian anyway after ...e5]
- Honorable exception: Demuth's Modernized Dutch (2019) https://britishchessnews.com/2020/01/05/the-modernised-dutch-defense/
- Williams: Play the Classical Dutch (2003)
- 1....g6: Modern style
- Fischer used this move order, which gives Black much flexibility; ....c5 was a common partner, in which case, see above
- 1...g5: Grob style
- I think this can be recommended only to free spirits...
- Basman (1989) The Killer Grob
- Basman (1989) The Killer Grob