Best opening for white

The trouble with "best" is:

What do you mean with that? There is a "best" move theoretically, and there is a "best" move practically. The theoretical best moves might not be the most challanging for your opponent (which means it isnt difficult to find the best reply).

I believe that theoretically most opening moves lead to a draw, even s.th. awkward like 1.e4 f6(?) - it wont be enough of a weakness to win the game for white. 

But practically I doubt 1.e4 f6 will give you great success.

TitanCG is certainly right: a move that is statistically very good, might have been good in the past, but meanwhile a refutation is found.

I am actually playing such a refuted opening as black, but I do so because statistically black scores better than white . The refutation is almost not known to people, but if I ever reach Master level, I might need to look for a different opening as black, especially if my games start to appear in databases. For my expert-level it is enough, though.

Not refuted against 1.e4 is:

1...g6 (The Modern) and 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6! (O'Kelly), both openings are probably theoretically sound and practically excellent (better stats for black in most variations).

But that leads to s.th. I noticed often: the best moves seem to be the most flexible moves, that can still adjust to white's/black's play.

So no wonder that the very flexible 1.Nf3 or 1...g6 score so well. The disadvantage to this big flexibility is, that these practically best openings require considerable amount of theory to be learnt.

Statistically speaking d4 is the best move, mainly because the Sicilian scores very well against e4. That of course doesn't mean you must play d4. If you like e4, play e4. Many top GM's do with great success. 

 if you're interested in properly learning chess, you should probably stick to the opening principles and play classical openings. Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit accepted/declined, Slav and the Sicilian. 

The King's Gambit is fine if you're a top level player and want to throw your opponent off, but all offbeat and obscure openings aren't really beneficial, either for winning or for educational purposes.

I'm happy to see that the highest rated player in the world has set himself one goal as far as the world championship match is concerned. This is none other than to prove that what I have said in this thread about the best opening choice of white and about inferior opening moves are all true.

He already devoted two games to prove that 1. Nf3 is a good for nothing drawish move with good losing chances. In the first game he showed that if played in the conventional way you get a quick draw. The third game he devoted entirely to prove that it is even worse to try c4 without prior d4 which line was proposed by some in this thread as a wunderwaffe of some sort. In both cases 1. Nf3 was met without hesitation by 1. ... d5! just as I proposed rather than 1. ... Nf6?.

The fourth game was a showcase of how stable the Berlin defense is against the Ruy Lopez. Not only rock solid but offers practical winning chances. I have always said that one of the main reasons 1. e4 is somewhat weaker than 1. d4 is that the Ruy Lopez (which is the most solid line of 1. e4 openings) can be countered in this foolproof way.

I always wonder about educational value of King's Gambit. On the one hand, people always say it's good to stick to classical openings in the beginning, and KG certainly is a classical, romantic opening. On the other hand, while it indeed follows principles such as rapid development and centre control, it also negates some others (like king safety) and generally feels pretty wild (don't know how to describe it). Anyone with an opinion on that matter?

The King's gambit is an objectively weak system but it can create complications the response to which may be difficult to find at the board and this offers practical winning chances for white.

Here is the problem:  Chess is a draw with best play so in that sense there is no best opening. In the World Championship--the players are experimenting but cannot find an opening where Black cannot draw. 

The Berlin Defense sinks the Ruy Lopez which more or less sinks 1. e4.

[Centaur players already knew 1. e4 can be drawn against]

Maybe they will try 1. c4...

What is the best opening for the non master is another question. If you go by stats it is 1. d4  with 1. Nf3  and 1. c4 very close.

I know that more or less. I was rather asking about educational value of KG, like if it's good to be one of the first real openings to be played by someone learning chess.

Dead_Assassin wrote:

I've played many games... Times have gone by... But the problem is what is the most useful opening so that white can get advantages from black? Now I'm not saying that I don't read books but it's hard to compare them and I'm not so good at chess, am I? So what's the most useful opening for white?

You cannot say that queens gambit is better than Ruy Lopez it depends on what you want to play, and what type of position you feel comfortable in.

About the educational value of King's gambit I know little. I personally like solid systems and even in blitz I avoid playing gambits. Gambits are some sort of rule breaking openings and first you have to know what the rule is in order that you can break it so it seems logical to learn solid systems first.

Whoever told you this is an idiot!

1.b3, 1.b4, 1.Nc3 are all fine moves if you want nothing more than Equality.

According to your color scheme, 1.d4, 1.e4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3, and 1.g3 should all be green!

1.Nf3 is not like playing Black up a tempo dude, and neither is 1.c4

1.c4 e5 is NOT a Sicilian up a tempo.  If White plays a Dragon setup, Black going for the Yugoslav will get him KILLED!

1.c4 c5 and what am I playing a tempo up?  It's a Symmetrical English, not some "reversed" opening

1.c4 Nf6 and again, what am I playing "reversed"?

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 is a Reti, not some "reversed" line.

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 is the same as 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3.  So the former I'm playing some reversed lined up a tempo and the latter I playing the best move on the board?

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 and last time I looked, it's a King's Indian Defense, but yet I played 1.Nf3, I thought you deemed that a "reverse" opening?

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d6 5.d4 and last time I looked, it's a Fianchetto King's Indian, again, nothing "reverse" about it!

Stop trying to over-analyze and learn how to play the game rather than making rash generalities about move 1 by White!  If your over the board rating isn't at least 1800, you shouldn't be so honed in on openings anyway!

By the way, Nigel Short play 1. b3 yesterday in his ETCC game

I'm looking forward to exactly which thesis of mine laid down in this thread will be proven eminently right during the course of the next game of the world championship match.

You may find interesting the opening research of TCEC games ( TCEC is the site where top engines regularly compete on high end hardware for the unofficial engine world champion title ):

I don't draw my conclusions on opening moves based on statistics but engine performace after 1. b3, 1. g3 and 1. Nf3 is very much in line with what I have said about these moves in this thread. Also my coloring scheme does not look too bad in the light of this research.

This is my coloring scheme presented prior to being aware of the above statistics:

1. d4 +++

1. e4

1. c4

1. Nf3

1. a3

1. a4

1. b3

1. b4 ---

1. c3

1. d3

1. e3

1. f3

1. f4 ---

1. g3

1. g4 ---

1. h3

1. h4

1. Na3

1. Nc3

1. Nh3

• first class move
• move to be avoided
• neutral move ( you play as if you were black but a tempo up )
• +++ recommended
• --- played by some as a surprise but wrong

The order of the first four moves exactly matches engine statistics.

According to my database 1.Na3 scores far better than anything else.

Very funny. But the inquiry I have made into the merits of possible opening moves by white is somewhat more serious than this.

Very difficult to say Nf3 or c4 is bad when it can so easily transpose into a d4 line which apparently you consider objectively good.

And there's nothing particularly drawish about the Berlin defense compared to other openings where the queens are traded early.  Carlsen can hold a draw with just about any opening he feels like holding a draw with.

I have not said 1. c4 or 1. Nf4 was bad. If they were bad they would have been colored red. They are colored black because they are all right just inferior to 1. d4 and 1. e4 ( being the only 'green' first class moves on my list ) which is very much reflected in the engine statisctics. The site TCEC is very recent - it only begun in 2010. So these results are fresh and meaningful and are known to few.

Yes 1. c4 or 1. Nf4 can transpose into lines reached after 1. d4 or 1. e4 but they may not should black play correctly. Hence the difference.

Well, if statistics of TWO, FOUR, and SIX games are enough for you to draw any conclusions, I don't think there is much to discuss.