Quite frankly a player has no excuse to be unprepared these days. The theory is all laid out there for you nicely wrapped and tied and if you lack the time to assimilate it you just choose a less critical course. Admittedly such an approach only works with white though  

There is just no easy answer with Black, its gunna be a bumpy ride no matter what you choose, but whatever you decide on make sure you know it well and feel comfortable with it.

Cheers,

Toppy

I can't see you surviving too long against a fully prepared player against the Four Pawns Attack.

If you like Solid play at the risk of being lynched - how about the following:

Petroff, Breyer or Berlin defences to the Ruy Lopez and the ever steady Caro. Of course with 1...e5 you might think 2 f4 is too sharp !!

Given that your prepared to work, any of the above should be fine but if you really pushed me as to what your plan of action should be I would just say find another line against the Four Pawns Attack.

GM endorsement of any line or lack of is not necessarily an impediment to a line being fully playable. Openings come and go with the fashion. If Kramnik started to play the Alekhine, then I'd reckon we'd be on to a trend !

Good luck 

Andrew

Well as far as specific lines go, I think you chose a difficult system to defend for Black in the game that you gave.  It's hard to give opening recommendations based on one game!

I still think that if you're interested in it, give it a try.  You can always go back to your other openings later.

I think you should play whatever you want at any given moment.  Creatively, your mind is interested in the Alekhine, so you should play it.  Even if it doesn't end up being your main defence, you will learn some new things and enjoy yourself doing it.  The Taimanov is probably the better long-term choice, but if you're excited about the Alekhine, I'd play that for a while.  You can always switch after 6 months or so.  Some people discourage switching openings, but I think it's good for your chess to some extent.  You need to play new positions to expand your abilities, and you really need to play chess that is interesting to you.  You will have better results if you play openings that you are creatively interested in, I've found.

I'm a long time Taimanov player, but a couple of years ago I got into Alekhine's Defence.  I bought Davies' and Cox's books, studied them for a bit, and played a lot of Alekhine games over the course of a year.  I really enjoyed myself, and my results didn't get any worse, either!  I've since given it up, but I'm glad I explored it, because it enriched my ideas of what is possible when playing with Black.