From my own experience I can assure you that deep opening knowledge is vastly overrated. Being rated above 2300 I can´t remember a game in the past 12 month where such knowledge played an important role.

I have been out of book in some of my games even earlier than Bondefanger but still managed to score quite well against opponents up to my own strength. Practically all of my games were decided in the middlegame or endgame.

I don´t think you need two defences against 1.e4 on your level. The Sicilian Taimanov is both sound and interesting enough to be played in every game as is 1.e4 e5  and a combo of NID/QID/Bogo against 1.d4 for Black.

I would even advise not to look at any ´theory´ at all. Look for a good role model in the databases, play through his/her games, try to understand where the pieces belong and then try it out in casual/blitz games. Only afterwards you look for possible improvements for your own thoughts. That way you have a chance to develop a real understanding of an opening without unnecessary memorization.

Study just enough to get workable positions but mostly go and play. 

The Colle Z is more than enough - especially to beat on weaker players efficiently! - but is also rather limiting in terms of the positions you'll get. So I'd reccomend trying some other more varied things too.

Really don't panic about the queens gambit. Quite a lot in principle but a lot of it isn't very hard to just play with reasonable sucess.

Hello everyone,

I've been thinking of returning to chess after a long break. My strength is probably somewhere between 1900 and 2000 national ELO. I did some tactics and my mind still solves them pretty fast but one thing that bothers (and has always bothered) my inner perfectionism are the openings.
Let me explain a bit. I used to play low theory stuff before, like London, Colle Zukertot with white and some 1...d6 systems with black. Most boring was 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 - I liked the endgame but gave away too many draws vs lower rated. Also 4.Nf3 Nbd7 and it's a solid line for black but I still don't really enjoy playing it. Vs 1.d4 I played some ...d6 stuff with Bf5 (Janowski Indian), but this is not really sound vs anyone stronger.
So I was planning to re-build my opening repertoire. I think toying around with London, Trompowsky, Colle Zukertot is fine for my level (isn't it?), because there are so many options there. I MIGHT learn some proper Queens Gambit etc. in the future, but it will take time. Anyway, my biggest problem are my black openings. I do have some that I'd like to learn, but the amount of theory when I open the book(s) just drives me crazy. I start going through every single line, memorizing it, even though I am FULLY aware that most of my opponents would be out of book long ago. I just can't help myself and after this torture I usually get fed up with chess even though it's only temporarily. But it's a circle that keeps repeating.
So what I'm looking for here is some advice, can even be psychological one.
I'd like to learn 2 respected openings against 1.e4 and 2 vs 1.d4. I still wish them to be low on theory. 
So my ideas were: vs 1.e4 Sicilian Taimanov AND Petroff. I hate giving too many options to my opponent so 2...Nc6 is definitely off. And Petroff can definitely generate winning chances under a 2000 level (at least that was true some 8 years ago).
Vs. 1.d4 I was thinking Nimzo+QID (or Bogo-Indian instead of QID), and still not sure about the 2nd one. I think Nimzo/QID complex is very rich itself and I can play different continuations in most of the lines in order to surprise my prepared opponents. So maybe I shouldn't yet worry about the 2nd opening here.

So to sum it up: I need your recommendation on how to start studying all of this without burning out. And maybe even some different opening recommendations. I like open positions, lots of mobility and space and preferably as low theory as possible while still being in a sound territory.

I am 26 if that helps. 

P.S. Is Fundamental Chess Openings good choice for me? I have it and it seems good to get some basic grasp on the openings but I can't help myself until I have expanded it all to infinity with the help of Houdini's book or books on a particular opening...