Which is better,e4 or d4 as your first move for white.

Does anyone have any input? e4 opens two lines, but black can play c5😞. d4 opens only one line, but white has some great openings.😀

c4!

Best by test....

Originally posted by Diet Coke
c4!

d4 is a form of vitamin D, more technically (1S,3Z)-3-[(2E)-2-[(1R,3aS,7aR)-1-[(2R,5S)-5,6-dimethylhept-2-yl]-7a-methyl-2,3,3a,5,6,7-hexahydro-1H-inden-4-ylidene]ethylidene]-4-methylidenecyclohexan-1-ol

e4 means your second baseman dropped the ball.

c4 is so potent, they named an explosive after it. 'Nuff said.

Paul (still filling in for Heinzkat)

c4 for president!!!

It depends on your style I guess, E4, and D4-C4 tap into different qualities. Personally I play C4. I used to play D4, but the Slav and Nimzo-Indian were very annoying to play against. Some people are seriously booked up, but with C4 you're almost guaranteed to know more than your opponent. I avoided E4 to avoid having to learn Sicilian and Ruy Lopez theory, but I do think you have to play it at some point in your life; it gives some of the funnest games in chess and you do need to learn how to play open games to progress!

I guess now it's the best first move for white. Well,I'd say d4 because of the Queen's Gambit.🙂

Originally posted by Maxacre42
It depends on your style I guess, E4, and D4-C4 tap into different qualities. Personally I play C4. I used to play D4, but the Slav and Nimzo-Indian were very annoying to play against. Some people are seriously booked up, but with C4 you're almost guaranteed to know more than your opponent. I avoided E4 to avoid having to learn Sicilian and Ruy Lopez theo ...[text shortened]... some of the funnest games in chess and you do need to learn how to play open games to progress!

You have a point, I'll try c4 sometime.

Originally posted by kingkong2468
You have a point, I'll try c4 sometime.

Honestly though, you should focus more on learning opening principles than particular openings. More importantly, you'll get much more out of studying tactics than anything else. I don't think you should be choosing between e4,d4 or c4 yet.

Originally posted by Diet Coke
c4!

1. f4!

Originally posted by Tiwaking
1. f4!

No!

Originally posted by orion25
No!

yes!

It's been long-established and statistically verified that left-handed players start 1. d4 and right-handed players, e4. Ambidextrous players choose either; and people with no hands nudge a pawn forward with their nose, a3 or h3 being popular. People on the far Right prefer f4; people on the far Left, c4 or even b4! A few start with Nf3 but that's mainly because they're undecided.

Try g3! It fools all your enemies. (Like b4, another "good" move). If you specilize in either you will definately get your opponents thinking. Any other opening requires way much more time studying. And it will not pay of in results, I promise. As white I only rarely play mainstream openings, and the only ones I study are KG, Semi-slav and slaw. Also studying the french opening (Watsons book is exellent, really) will make you appriciate playing pawnmoves on the flank. By all means learn al the mainstream openings as you will see them over and over, that beeing said I dont think it will mean much in case of results achived. Dont be afraid to experiment.

Edit: Openings does not matter, really. Endgames and tacticts does!

People that play 1.g3 or 1.b4 give up any hope of keeping their first-move advantage. Why bother?

Yes, I realize you can play it in hopes of getting out of book, but in CC there isn't any point and OTB your opponent can just build up a strong center and be relatively safe as long as he doesn't do anything too stupid.