Lol, if you say the Nimzo and Queen's Indian are too difficult I wouldn't pick the Grunfeld.

I think 1... d6 is quite simple. Mostly because few players know it, there's little theory and you can start playing it with confidence once you got the main ideas. Also, if you choose to play that, Josh and I may be able to help you

The grunfeld is harder than Nimzo/Queen's? THe problem i had with them is that I wasn't 100% sure of the correct lines cause theres so many different variations and it was hard for me to find a plan. The grunfeld seems easier to me. Ill try it out in some blitz games and see. Ill also look into d6

The problem with the grunfeld is that white has tons of different approaches and they are all diferrent in their own kind of ways. There is a bunch of sharp lines as well. So black should be prepared. However that's the price if you want an active and more dynamic aproach as black.
I play it myself, well I am not a strong player, but still the problem I faced is once I played someone stronger they knew the line they play against the grunfeld well enough and at the very least better than I did and since there are so many different lines it's pretty tough to be aware of all the possibilities and more experience is needed

Like you say, white has a dozen ways to meet the Grunfeld. If you play it as black, you basically have to know all those variations, while white only has to know one anti-Grunfeld line thoroughly.

That's also why I like 1... d6. With that move you already forced your opponent on YOUR territory, instead of hoping he plays a variation of the Grunfeld you know well. After 1... d6 white can still struggle with your opening and he still has quite a few alternatives to meet your opening, but I think there are few alternatives for white there. If you choose to play 1... d6, you'll have to look at 2. c4 (which can be strongly met with 2... e5!), 2. Nf3 (which I meet with 2... Bg4, 3... Nd7, ...g6, ...Bg7 etc.), 2. e4 (when you can go for a Pirc, a Philidor or something similar), and that's about it.

True, 1. ...d6 is a rather flexible choice but it should be consistant with the remaining repertoire. Also there are an awful a lot of lines in the pirc as well.
Of course the advantage is that your 1.d4 opponent won't go for 2.e4 then as you said he really is in your teritory I also like the fact that it is not such a explored opening. Still it goes down to one thing - a matter of taste

Yes, the main problem (to me it's a problem) is that white can play 2. e4 and force either a Pirc or a Philidor. I'm not too comfortable in either opening, but I guess that's the price to pay for playing 1... d6: to occasionally have to play either a Pirc or a Philidor.

I don't like the Philidor as black at all. I think in all the times I've played against it (as white) I've only lost 2 games. I've read here and there it can be a good opening for Black, but I personally don't see where Black gets anything out of it. The biggest problem might just be the people playing it don't understand it though. *shrug*

Either way, best of luck to ya.

according to my book on the phillidor if both sides played book theory.white still has a minor advantage.the reason i play it is that its a very flexible and somewhat surprising opening.

havent updated this in a while. Well my CTS is up to 1595 so im almost to 1600. On ICC ive been playing mostly 15 min rated games so my rating there is around 1750. Im not sure how that compares to ICC's standard rating. I'm on the last few pages of "Amateur's Mind". Im going through the problems that are in the back of the book. Im also working on an endgame book also by Silman. I think its called "Essential Chess Endings". After im done with the endings book im planning on reading "How to Reassess Your Chess".

im trying petrovitch's endgame training thing on redhotpawn so we'll see how that turns out

Also, if you really enjoyed Inside the Amateur's Mind, I think it has a workbook that is a great collection of problems.

Josh, I dont know if "inside the amateur's mind" is different from "the amateur's mind", but I dont know if ive ever heard of a workbook for it. I know theres one for HTRYC, but i dont think theres one for amateur's mind.

WOOT I BROKE 1600 CTS!

I also broke 1800 on my 15 min ICC rating. Right now im 1810 there and about 1610 on CTS

ugh.. my CTS dropped back down to around 1580

My apologies, I was thinking of the HTRYC workbook, which is excellent.