Chess Opening Theory/1. e4
1. e4 - King's Pawn Opening
White's assertive opening move opens lines for the queen and king's bishop and fights for control of the squares d5 and f5. This move is popular at all levels of the game and was the favorite opening move of world champion Bobby Fischer who called it "best by test".
Openings with 1. e4 are traditionally considered more sharp and attacking than those with 1. d4, but this is an extreme generalization and both players will have many more opportunities to influence the type of position that appears.
With a pawn on e4, White's simplest plan is to play d4 on the next move, creating a strong 'classical' center.
Black's responses
It's useful to think of Black's responses to 1. e4 as motivated by one of the following counterplans:
- Establish a pawn on e5, securing a share of the centre for Black.
- Establish a pawn on d5, securing a share of the centre for Black.
- Attack White's e-pawn immediately.
- Leave White's e-pawn alone but prevent White from achieving the classical centre with e4 and d4.
- Ignore what White is doing, allow White to build the classical centre and deal with it later.
