I found that as a 1700-1900 rated player I felt reasonably comfortable
playing against d4 c4 Nf3 but not e4. A good friend of mine (who is rated
2200) who has in the past given me lessons taught me the Sicilian but it
seemed too easy for a player at or above my level to start the king side
pawn storm and kill me. Then I discovered an opening which allows black to
get a fairly solid position in my experience quite easily. This may be due
to the fact that it isn't currently in fashion and most players will not
know more than 2 or 3 moves of book theory.

Try the Scandinavian (Centre-Counter) 1. e4 d5 2. ed Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 If it
was good enough for Anand to play against Kasparov (he got beat but not out
of the opening)