Which is better: e4 or d4?

yeah maybe but your first move determines the type of position you get

e4 is more open and tactical

d4 is slower and more positonal

and more open and tactical games are less likely to draw

d4 openings are very hard to study. e4 is better for improving

Isn't move 3 for Black supposed to be d5? If you're winning a lot of games, I suspect it is because you're playing people who don't know how to play beyond move 2.

true but still you might be subject to inetense opening prep if you dont plY THE RIGHT OPENing against the right people openings still matter and if you dont care about getting a decent position youll spend 90 percent of game suffering through a bad position openings matter spent 10 percent of your time studying opening mistakes of your games and improving on them by getting positions that are good and your familiar with and 30 percent on strategy and the rest on endgames and middlegames

exactly for begginers or people with a lot of study time e4 is best

and d4 is worse since their are so many good weapons against d4 such as the slav

I don’t quite agree, as in e4 Black can force a Berlin Ruy Lopez or better (Improved Steinitz/d3 Closed Morphy, Vienna/KG/CG/Bishop’s, or it’s a Berlin and Black gets very strong drawing chances), whereas in d4/c4/Nc3 Black has no simple option to take winning chances off of the board so early. White always has ways to maintain a slight practical edge.

This topic died after 5 replies. Then, more than 10 years later a spammer resurrected it for no reason. And now people are happily replying to posts from 2013.

Black cannot force a Berlin in the Ruy, because White can play 4. Nc3 and now we're in a Spanish 4 knights. GMs may have "strong drawing chances" but down here in the fish bowl, just about anything goes.

Spanish Four Knights is also drawish or good for Black in the Rubinstein Countergambit. 5. Nxe5 is an easy theoretical draw, so only looking at the 5. Ba4 line from here. 5… Bc5 is no good, as it transposes to a Classical line, but 5… c6 is, as after 6. Nxe5 d6 7. Nf3 Bg4, Black scores 51%, and after 6. Nxe5 d6 7. Nd3 d5, there aren’t enough games played to show who wins decisively but Black has very strong chances.

e4 or d4 is completely subjective. They both suit different people. They both are played by numerous top players with success. They both lead to a playable middlegame, albeit with different styles. They both have reputable openings, such as the ruy lopez, italian, queen's gambit, catalan, etc. and the move you choose is up to you. I personally play d4 cos I win more games with it, and I struggle more with e4. If you prefer e4, i dont mind at all. They are also both well supported by the engine. If you leave the engine running, it will constantly flip back between e4 and d4 depending on the depth. Just go out there and play what u enjoy

I play e4

If you like Fischer then play e4.

no e4 is better acording to theory its just that d4 is only a tiny bit inacurate acording to theory ive read 1000 chess books e4 is better 100 of those where on openings

I play the Spanish Four Knights because that is what is used in the repertoire book Keep It Simple 1 e4 (edition one, not the 2.0 book). Indeed, I find it very drawish, but it does also make it more difficult for stronger opponents to defeat me. In recent games I managed to win when a lower rated opponent blundered in a knights and pawns endgame. Also recently drew in a rooks and pawns endgame against someone rated over 100 points higher.

What helps some in getting a win now and then is that the lower rated someone is the more likely they are to mishandle the endgame badly. Don't clearly recall but I think I've lost only once with it against someone higher rated. The Scotch Four Knights is not for someone who hates draws.

the reason why the spanish four knights is not a good opening from a practical standpoint is that it doesnt follow the five critea of a suitable opening

critea for white

1. it gives white a practical chances for a good advantage of at least ten percent of a pawn 0.10

2. it does not loose by force

3. their have been lots of games played in this opening the more gm and super gm games the better

4. you feel comfterble with that opening.

5. avoid openings such as the london system as this ruins your ability adjust to what your opponent is doing as you get the same positions every time you are not thinking about diffrent pawn strutures and this might have a negative impact its better to play complicated ruy lopez than a drawish and puny london system.

for black

1. it does not give white a better position of more than 0.60

2. it is a practical position to defend.

3. its been played a lot by the supergms.

4. if its drawish its good opening for black

5. avoid unsound gambits unless its been played by a lot of gms and supergms and the position better not be losing

1e4 is more chaotic and tactical. 1d4 is slower and more positional. Just chose.

[quote]

Stonewall atack is bad.

Rosseau is worse[/quote]

and yet in the REAL WORLD, 3...f5 has THE BEST stats rated 1600-2000!

in fact, it is the ONLY reply that can legit claim to be WINNING

another gambit hater crashes into reality

it's not even about the stats for me. I hate the scandinavian or any other opening that allows the e5 cramp. gotta play 1...e5 to stop that. i'm NOT looking for draws, so screw the petroff. I don't want to get into long positional struggles either. rousseau is the most tactical answer for me. as a king's gambit player too, I'm already familiar with semi-open f files and knight plus Qh4+ dangers.

that's what I said

OPENINGS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!!!

I despise slow, closed games. RIGHT THERE is a major difference! you attack in the center for open and on the flanks with closed, generally pawn storming. I hate pawns. closed games are an abomination to me. give me an open gambit with mobility, and that's where MY skillset is useful. closed games just create annoying positional problems I'm not good at solving.

just like clicking with the mieses gambit... I live for Nf3/Bc4 and a semi-open f file. that's MY comfort zone. that's why my stats in the mieses are WAY above average, I clicked with it because it's an opening that lets me use THOSE TOOLS. I haven't studied it AT ALL! I started playing it by accident and just know what to do in THAT variation... punish Nf6 & Bg4 with Bxf7+! you can't do THAT in closed positions & that's why I hate them.

ANYTHING else I've tried against the caro requires DIFFERENT playing techniques.

you realize people, not everyone thinks the same? that's why there are gambit players, closed game players AND hypermoderns. no style is either correct or wrong, just different.

I do love crushing E4 players with carro kann.

E4 is terrible, even more terrible is BC4 after, you will lose to anyone thats learn(ed/ing) carro kann.