Carrel Chess Club

If you consult Chess computers you will see that they often (if not always) favor e4 over d4 as did Bobby Fisher who said "e4 is best by test!' .

But Kasparov proved that d4 is indeed a viable opening for white. Opening most of the games in his career with d4.

I personaly favor d4 because it often leads to more closed games but when I play as black 9 times out of 10 my opponent will play e4.

So what do you play and why?

I play 1. NF3. It's what Kaspy used to defeat Deep Blue and Fisher favored it early on in his career. It seems safe and I don't get into much trouble in the opening with it.

1. b4!!!!!

Why play anything else?

1. b4! will certainly confound your opponent and cause such a shock that he will resign immediately! :-)

E4, I prefer it because it offers development of the bishop.