Why is 1.e4 is the most common starting move ?

Why is 1.e4 is the most common starting move ?

1. e4 immediately opens up squares for the light-squared bishop and queen, allowing for rapid piece development and good piece activity.

Because it's both a very useful and an "urgent" move, in the sense that it's easily prevented if you give black a move.

1. d4 is just as good (some say: less direct / less concrete / more subtle), but 1. d4 openings can be reached with other first moves as well.
   I'm not sure if 1. e4 is still the most popular if we count transpositions correctly.

1.d4 is a perfectly respectable move for those that like it, but as a whole, more likely to lead to slow positional (in my opinion, dull) games. Most folks like open attacking games, so most folks play 1.e4.

1.e4! is best by test
I personally play 1.Nf3

1. e4! prepares 2.Ke2!!

I have no idea. Personally, I prefer f3 preparing for kf2 or a4 preparing for ra3 but some people are just simpletons ;)

i prefer 1 e3 e5 2 Ba6 bxc6 and white is winning. Simple and easy and everyone falls for it. Also 1 e3 e5 2 Qf3 Nf6 3 Qxf6 white is winning in this example too

i also like the bongcloud attack

@Avocado-love antichess is a fun variant