1.e4? e5? ;)

I was wondering...

Is there anyone alse who hates 1.e4 e5? I hope I'm not the only one.

I hate this opening, it's so boring to me, I always play the sicilian as black and 1.d4 (rarely 1.c4) with white.

(Well, I know that there are lots of fascinating lines after 1.e4 e5 but I was playing this as a child and I just can't stand it any more!)

I don't like e4 e5 not because it's boring, (the Italian Game without c3 where white just plays d3 and Nc3 is pretty bad because black can easily copy that.) but because it can be really dangerous for black and white needs to make a mistake to hand over the initiative. Black is usually only slightly worse if not equal but usually white is the one with chances. The ruy lopez with black can be fun, though, like the chigorin or breyer defence when black does stuff in the queenside and sometimes equalizes in the center with even chances but White still usually has a decent advantage and usually black is the one to fear as all of the sound gambits and scary moves are only really effective with white. Black has to deal with tons of gambits and white can easily refute black's.

I like it when 1. . .e5 comes on the board when I'm playing white.  I am a big Ruy Lopez player, and used to play the Scotch as well.

2. f4?  2. d4?  2... f5? Evans gambit?  Marshall gambit?  Etc. Etc.

Its only boring if you continue with boring lines

I hate e5.  I love seeing it as White and that is the only time I will play e4 if I know that my opponent plays e5 or another patsy move.  I like the French, Caro-Kann, and the Sicilian in that order

Well said!

Patsy?  Morphy, Steinitz, Capablanca, Lasker, Alekhine, Spassky, Karpov etc?

I never play 1.e4 and if I play as black I play 1...c6 (Karo-Cann) against 1.e4.

As white I play 1.d4/Nf3/c4

Elubas has a point, I've always been weak against  1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 .  I have a 0% success rate against human practitioners of the evans gambit.

*hides in corner*  nooo evans gambit...  my one weakness...

I like e4 e5 only when I'm white. It leads to sharp, open games, wich I enjoy mostly because I often win;) When playng black, I prefer Nc6, cause it's unusually.

I now play e5 almost exclusively since I realized that I almost always lose in the sicilian regardless of color.  As white I tend to play either 1. d4 or 1. Nf6

I've played both the French and Sicilian extensively, and still do sometimes, but e5 is my defense of choice these days.  I think it's the most active and challenging defense to e4, more so than any of the half-open defenses

Honestly, I think the main reason so many people play the Sicilian is just because it's easier to steer towards familiar lines.  But anyone that would call the Ruy Lopez "boring" just doesn't know how to play it.

I think whether a game is boring or not, if it leads to favorable positions it should be played.  When I play a "boring" game I find it takes me to a decent endgame (my specialty).