Is opening with e3/e4 as good as I think it is?

I have always been taught that e4 or e3 is a good opening to use, usually as white. Are there clearly better alternatives, is this opening good simply because it allows you to checkmate when your opponent isn't paying attention, or is this opening just bad in general?

1. e4 is a great first move.

1. e4 is a great first move.

Thanks!

I'm curious: why 1. e3?

The bishop and queen can be developed quickly, and if your opponent isn't paying attention, you can win easily.

Assuming your opponent doesn't fall for the 4-move checkmate pattern, what's the followup plan? Do you play d4?

I usually do D6 to trick them into letting the bishop or queen check the king.

This is refered to as the Scholar's mate. It's an objectively bad opening, a crime against the opening principles of good chess. In most cases bringing out the queen early can be punished by good players.
The goal of your opening should be , 1) control the center, 2) Develop your pieces (knights and bishops out, connect the rooks), 3) castle (for king safety) ).

Whoever taught you, shame on him. That guy shouldn't teach anyone.

The move 1.e4 is regarded as best opening move in chess.

It is one of the few moves in chess which has been played, analyzed, studied, and had books published about it for over 500 years.

For the following reason the great American Chess Player Bobby Fischer coined the phrase:

Best by Test - Which was in regard to 1.e4.

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Even though 1.e4 may be considered the best to some chess players in world.

Their are plenty more who have thrown in their disagreements and rebuttals.

As a result, Other moves have been mentioned by strong chess players with similar high esteem as the move 1.e4.

These other moves include the following:

- 1.d4

- 1.c4

- 1.Nf3

These 3 above moves combined with the move 1.e4 create a Chess Opening Hierarchy.

I call this Chess Opening Hierarchy as “The Big 4”.

The 4 most powerful opening moves in all of chess.

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Unfortunately, the move 1.e3 isn’t considered among the best of the best.

However, I use to believe the move 1.e3 was very strong move.

I, personally, still believe the move 1.e3 is a sleeping giant type of move.

What fascinated me about the move 1.e3 was flexibility it allowed white to have.

When you play moves such as 1.e4 or 1.d4, they are very revealing moves.

You can’t hide any of your intentions because the moves are very forth coming.

They are more in your face types of moves.

The move 1.e3 is very subtle and because the move is played in a lot of different chess positions it makes figuring out what your doing as black very tricky.

You could say the move 1.e3 is a mystery.

Think about all the ways the little pawn move e3 gets played.

Lets say our opponent was to mirror us as Black.

What follow up move could white do here?

b3 - Would be like Nimzo Larsen position

f4 - Would be like Bird position

c4 - Would be like English position

d4 & c4 - Would be like Queen Gambit position

d4 & c3 - Would be like Colle position

d4 & b3 - Would be like Rubstein position

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When you look at the humble move e3, you can’t really tell what white is going to play.

I just listed several different ones they could try to play and I probably even forgot to mention some. It’s not very clear cut.

Furthermore, the lines which are being mentioned above are strong lines as well.

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You can begin to see why I thought the move 1.e3 was a very under rated move.

Personally, I feel not a lot of research, analysis, and study has been done on this move.

Its move played a lot, but rarely on move 1.

It does make you wonder why shouldn’t it be played on move 1?