This I is something I have been noticing at open tournaments here in Iowa and I wonder, why don't people try and play king pawn?  When I get up and walk around I see almost every game having Queen pawn being played and I just feel it is getting boring seeing it everywhere.  When I first seen it going around I thought that it is the kind of opening that is stronger, but that is also not true. Is it because everybody is afraid of Sicilain or what?

I would like to know which first move do you play and why one over the other?

I used to play e4 but I went into many different defenses and I had problems remembering all the theory of e4 defenses so I switched to c4 and then to d4 and back to e4, it depends on the person.  The silcilian was one of the reasons to  my switching because theres 32 or more variations. What do you play or how do you study the game of chess?

Well it is right to answer my own question... I like King pawn since it is simple and it has the kinds of games I like to play (gambits usually taken).  I feel that games that start quicker are more fun to play and queen pawn can get passive on who easily it becomes closed.  Even tho there is the Sicilian I don't think it is to hard to beat since there are positions that you can still get into their position.  King pawn is harder to transpose into another opening and it will make things easier to keep track of what is going on.  Queen pawn you fly from one to another style of opening/defense where it can get confusing without enough games in it.  I also think a lot of games are queen pawn so why not just play what people are not playing.

How have you been? What do you do to study chess? Im thinking about buying some chess books. I heard they really help you improve if you actually read them. Want to play a game? I cant wait to see you at another tourney again, I'll remember to get more sleep : )

My all time favorite is and probably will be c3.

  The difference between the e4 and d4 opening is that the d4 pawn is protected while the e4 pawn is not. When starting with e4, it is fairly easy for white to play d4 at any time and open some lines. When starting with d4, Black can make it difficult for White to play e4 and so the game slows down.

  IMO, e4 is a more adventurous opening because White must react to Black's plans and cannot just play his formation as in the d4 openings. Many d4 players follow with Nf3, Bf4, e4, Bd3, 0-0, and Nbd2 and there is very little Black can do to prevent this formation. I used to play d4 and f4 as my first 2 moves. You can set up an attack equally well with both starting moves, but it takes skightly longer with 1.d4.

Lately I've really been into 1. e4 followed by 2. Bc4 when possible...  it's a great opening!

Fischer said, "e4 is best by test."  Yet, I was an e4 player all my chess life and am trying to switch to d4.  I think there is a fallacy that there is more theory behind e4 than d4.  I am finding that is not true.  However, I do believe that a mistake in e4 openings is more quickly punished than d4 openings. So when people say that d4 requires less theory, I think that is what they mean.

Jim Hodina