1. d4 e6

I have recently switched from playing primarily 1. e4 to 1. d4.  In a suprisingly high number of my games I have been seeing 1...e6 (Horwitz Defense) as a response.  I'm not sure if this is just because some of these players are just unsure what to play against 1. d4 or if they are hoping to transpose into a french after 2. e4.

I guess my question is: Is it objectively worse to play 2. c4 rather than 2. e4 (getting two pawns immediately in the center)? 

It seems to me that the game should simply transpose into familiar 1. d4 openings as black can choose bogo-indian, QGD, etc.  The Chess.com database shows 2. e4 being played more than 5x as often as c4.  I have been using 2. c4 and was wondering if this was considered an inferior way of playing.

In otb chess I often use 1... e6  against 1 d4 in order to avoid the trompowski : 1 d4 Nf6  2 Bg5 .... However , I am also a french player so dont fear white playing 2 e4 in response.

Agree with Estragon, though some players occasionally switch; transposing the Horwitz Defense into a French; with

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 transposes.

Yes, c4 is better according to my analysis...

I used to play 1. ... e6 against "everything" :) yes, hoping to get the French, however most opponents will continue 2. c4 and I don't like to play the QGD, so I have discontinued this ...

My Fritz rates 2. e4 better than 2. c4. From my patzer's point of view I'd say it must be better, because it grabs the big pawn centre that every White player should strive for (e4 and d4) ... but most 1. d4 players probably like 2. c4 better because that's their realm of openings, after all they don't play 1. e4 to avoid these annoyances like the French :)

lol

I think Black is using a transpo trick:if you play e4, he transposes into French. If you play c4, he transposes into QGD. 

If you play an unexpected move, he transposes into Nimzo-Indian...

Clever tactic.

After 1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 most of my opponents played 3.c3 intending a later Bf4/g5 which doesn't give white any advantage at all. After 1.d4 e6 2c4 if what orginal play black can play 2...Bb4ch too with BogoIndian like play where black tries to make something of not played Nf6, but allows white to play an early e4.

Good comments---I append just an anecdotal remark. I play 1 . . . . e6 planning to play 2. . . . f5 and head into the Dutch Stonewall. So, 2.e4 is a bit of a wrench in the works. I am learning the French.

I play 1..e6 always against d4.  The Nimzo-Indian is my main choice against d4 but after a while I figured "Why play Nf6 first when I could offer to play the French instead and maybe, if I'm REALLY lucky, get into a Sicilian?"  Also I like that it's a bit more exotic of a move order.  But trust me only 1 in 20 games does a 1.d4 player voluntarily walk into a French..  If they play 1.d4 then they clearly like d4 systems.  I often wonder what goes through the mind of someone who chooses to walk into the French instead.  Perhaps they think they've caught me off guard by this transposition?  Or maybe they aren't very experienced with d4 and changed their mind?  Or maybe they like the French but don't like other popular responses to 1.e4 like the Sicilian?

That's the idea. My play runs: 1.d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 and then if they try to avoid the Nimzo with Nf3, I play d5 and a bunch of good lines with Nge2 in the QG Exchange are off limits to White too.

Hi. This is an interesting conversation about the French. I played d4 e6, 2 e4 Qh4?!, hoping to undermine the center. (3 Be2 Qxe4) The pawn capture took his queen out of the game. What is your analysis?

How about some unusual second moves for white, like 2 Nd2 or 2 f4 or 2 Bf4

Nd2 as "an unusual second move for White" in the QP opening has a bad reputation.

Nd2 might be an inferior move, but it is not losing! It is h3 that is an outright, multiple-question-mark blunder.  Even if he did not just know this trick (and it is hard to become at all strong at chess without seeing this opening trap along the way) he shoulod have been able to see it at the board.  ANyone with a functioning chess Brain will immediately be alerted to the weakening of the e1-h4 diagonal by h3, and the danger of a Q or B check on that line and that ought to make the move Ne3! leap out at them. And even then all Black needed to do to avoid it was to look at ALL the moves available to the Black knight after h3?? and to analyse two moves deep - and that is just a normal chess habit

[I suppose I have to add ... if you are playing at a speed that allows for good chess (rather than bullet, or fast blitz, where speed of action is at least as important as the purely chess  quality of the moves)]

That is not a good enough reason to abandon 1. d4 e6. You do not have to go into a Queen's Gambit after 2. c4.  Other mainstream options are 2. .... Nf6, heading for a Nimzo-Indian, Bogo-Indian, or Queen's-Indian,  2. ... f5 heading for a Classical Dutch, and 2. ... c5 heading for a Benoni, but with all sorts of possibilities for transposition (e.g. into lines of the English opening)

Less common moves (Bb4+, b6) are playable too, transposing to one of the above systems, or branching out into independent lines.

Hi, what I meant is play any of  those moves after 1d4  ..1e6 (in the variation you give black goes e7-e5 in one go as the pawn is on e7,not e6.

Playing 1...e6 as Black against 1.d4 has its pros and cons:

Pros:

A) For Dutch players, it avoids the Staunton Gambit and 2.Bg5 lines

B) For Nimzo-Indian players, it avoids the Trompowsky Attack

C) There are independent lines that start with 1...e6, the most common being the English Defense (1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6)

Cons:

A) You must be willing to play the ...e6 lines against non-2.c4 lines, so if you normally like to avoid the Colle or make the Colle useless, where maybe you play 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 but against 2.Nf3, you prefer 2...g6, you lose that opportunity.

B) You must be willing to play either the French Defense (2.e4 d5) or else a vastly inferior line like Owen's Defense (2.e4 b6 where White doesn't play c4, which would transpose to the English Defense, which is more sound than Owen's Defense) or the Franco-Benoni (2.e4 c5), which White can also force you into a line of the 2...e6 Sicilian with 3.Nf3 if you play 2...c5.  As long as you are happy with the French Defense, and ok with lines with an early e6 against 1.d4 and 2.Nf3, you are fine!

Nice idea Richie and Oprah. You make the Dutch  a less attractive choice (White pawn being on c2 rather than c4, N on c3) and, if  for some reason you do not want to try 3 Bf4 , you still retain the option of 3 e2-e4 transposing into a normal French Classical, or Winawer or Mc  Cutcheon etc. after ..2 d7-d5). Good point.

This is what I played a few weeks ago when confronted with this. My opponent then played 2....Bb5+ initiating what I later came to understand is called a 'Franco-Indian Keres Kangaroo' (see the thread of that name)! My opponent made a real hash of it and I battered him, resulting I'm afraid to say in accusations from him that I was using an engine (a first for me and very flattering!). The game wasn't played on this site and the accusation wasn't based in fact.