Nimzovich called 1 e4 premature.
Kasparov has played both, but in World Chamionship matches he preferred 1 e4.
Fischer stayed true to 1 e4 his whole career. Only after his system with Bc4 against the Sicilian was dealt a blow in the 4th game of his match with Spassky he temporarily shifted to 1 c4, before resuming 1 e4 with the Rauzer Bg5 against the Sicilian. Also in the revanche match he played 1 e4, although he adopted Closed Sicilians and Bb5 against the Sicilian.
In the last Carlsen-Karjakin match: 13 games with 1 e4, 3 with 1 d4.
for my part(1550 player in fide in standart,1535 FIde in rapid)
i used to like e4..but now i tend to play against some players d4.
i like open positions,but you can do close positons against e4
I have a database from downloaded TWIC games played by 2700+. The numbers are:
Total: 7708 d4: 2867 54.6% score 52% draws e4: 2860 54.1% score 52% draws .
The numbers are pretty similar.
Breyer said something like : "after e4 white is agonizing". Does someone remember the actual quote ?
Only in German: „Nach 1.e4 liegt Weiß in den letzten Zügen.“ Which is a bit ambiguous, meaning in the last moves / in the end-stadium.
@Palamede “After 1.e4 White's game is in its last throes!” Julius Breyer.
Hyper-modern theory of controlling the center.
e4 > d4
d4>e4
meh e4 has too much theory and I'm (like most people i would imagine) too lazy to learn a ridiculous amount of theory. Whereas with d4 i think u can get more experience playing a small set of pawn structures
For a long time I was an almost always 1. e4 player. However in recent years I have come to include 1.d4 in my repertoire. It more so depends on my general mood at the time which I play.
If I want to play "Solid", and "Strategic" with a "Closed position" I go with d4.
If I want to "Attack" and "Play for tricks" with an "Open position" I go with e4.
I think you need to know a lot more opening theory to play e4 correctly. You need to know how to play against c5,c6,e5,e6...
That's 4 things you may get thrown at you on move 2. People play a lot of things against 1.e4! There are all sorts of tricks, and complicated branches in each of these lines, and others you absolutely must know these 4.
On the other hand as for what openings you gotta know with the d4 lines you will basically see 1 of 2 moves 95+% of the time. d5 or Nf6.
Both e4, and d4 are great first moves. However you are going down two extremely different roads on move 1, and it's best to know the difference. When I was an exclusive 1e4 player I faced a lot of 1d4 as black... a lot... lots, and lots, and lots. My time playing against queens pawn as black is what made me eventually start playing it as white.
