/csg/ Chess General

e4 vs d4: The Great Debate

>>53754259
I love seeing the Albin countergambit. I used to train with a GM (Gennadi Sagalchik) who, on occasion used to throw the Albin against d4 players like myself.

I guarantee it, you will not play it as well as he does. I might not have seen all the tricks, but I'm comparatively well booked on this variation, especially one that often gets seen for surprise value.

Frank Marshall had a boner for the ACG but nobody has seriously used it since WWI.

>>53754422
e4 leads to simple, tactical openings and d4 complicated positional openings...no. Actually there's plenty of e4 openings like the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, and French Defense with a great deal of theory and positional complexity behind then, not to mention all the Caro-Kann and Pirc variations.

>>53754724
I never play 1...e5 because the only e4 e5 opening worth playing is the Ruy Lopez and that shit gets old fast.

I like d4 better and usually always open with it, partially because I don't know a lot about playing the Sicilian Defense as White. As Black, the Caro-Kann is my usual response to 1. e4.

Let's check some stats from the world championship matches since 2000, when Kramnik wrested the title from Kasparov.

In 89 games, e4 was used 25 times resulting in a record of 1-3-21. d4 was used 62 times resulting in a record of 18-6-38.

>>53755460
d4 openings lead to more transpositions and fewer prepared lines, one advantage to them is to avoid your opponent's opening prep.

1. e4 is a more assertive move (though not necessarily better) and makes it harder for Black to equalize quietly. Quiet, positional games are easier to achieve with d4 and grandmasters generally favor openings that allow them to draw if desired. It's partially due to the business side of the game.

After Black plays 1...e4, he obviously needs to defend his e pawn, and 2...Nc6 is the most obvious and logical way to do it. 2...f6 (Damiano's Defense) is a tragic mistake that will fuck your shit up, while 2...d6 (Philidor's Defense) gives Black a cramped position and no place for the dark squared bishop to go. However, we know that after d4, d5...Nc3 statistically virtually throws white’s advantage away completely, whereas c4 is met by c6, which doesn’t block a bishop in and has been shown historically despite centuries of analysis to be rock solid.

It's harder to respond quietly to 1. e4 outside the Petrov's Defense, but it also offers Black no real advantage while the Slav/Semi-Slav can lead to a win or a draw depending on how you play it.

So to make it simple, e4 is for when White wants to play aggressively and win, d4 is for when you either want a draw or hope to use a subtle positional advantage to win.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/e4-vs-d4

I'm surprised at the lack of Russian posters here, but I guess most of them don't have good enough English skills.