I ranked all 20 first moves for white.

I haven't posted much here yet, and when I did I gave off a bad first impression. So I decided to show a more complete set of my views in the opening by ranking all 20 of whites first moves. My criteria was a combination of realistic potential, and how logical it is to choose said opening. It's gonna be controvertial, but that wasn't intended. Please let me know your thoughts on it.

Bottom tier:
All 1st moves are playable. That being said, some are better than others, and this tier contains the “others.”

#20 Amar Opening (Nh3)
It has no direct or indirect impact on the center in comparison to most moves, and it gives your opponent a chance to develop properly, and cripple your structure. In exchange you get the G file, which at this point is absolutely useless! It doesn’t even have the likelihood of causing black to mess up.

#19 Barnes Opening (f3)
This opening only works well if black plays d4 on its first move, or does a response weird enough to make up for you being crazy enough to do this opening. The reason it’s not at last is because it has some potential if black does d4, which is definitely a realistic move.

#18 Ware Opening (a4)

The pawn advance itself accomplishes nothing, and the rook is not getting developed any time soon (unless it’s the only piece that develops, because it gets chased around), so there isn’t anything good about it. If you press the pawn forward, black can just dodge the pawn trade, and be way ahead on development. Since it is rarely played, I’m not impressed with it’s having such a high win ratio, either.

#17 Clemenz Opening (h3)

It doesn’t mess white up that much, but it does slightly cripple your king side (albeit with potential for it to make your king side castling better afterward).

#16 Polish Opening (b4)

Ideally white trades its b pawn for black’s e pawn, which on paper is ideal. The problem is that black already has the center controlled by the time you get to press this advantage. This works better as black.

#15 Sodium Attack (Na3)

The reason that this one has such a high win-loss record is that not a lot of games were played under it. Of course, there is potential for it, which is why it did well in the few games it was played in. If the black plays e4 you can play Nc4 and threaten it. Or you can let them cripple your queen side structure and move your bishop to b2, thus threatening the king pawn. That way you can still castle well on the king side. But still, I just can’t put it higher. I still just can’t grasp why you’d rather move your knight to a3 over c3.

Middle tier:
These are mostly moves that are fine but seem wrong to do on move 1. The next 4 were super close, as 3 of them were all ones that basically let black decide which opening they turn into and need no further explanation, as the statistics of them were the tie breaker. The other one is good but super risky, and was either better than all the other 3 or worse than all of them. I wound up choosing better, since there’s at least a reason to choose it for its individuality. I don’t like letting my opponent choose my moves.

#14 Van’t Kruijs Opening (e3)

#13 Mieses Opening (d3)

#12 Van Geet Opening (Nc3)

#11 Grob Opening (g4)

This is actually a really fun opening. Many players (even advanced ones) won’t know how to respond. If they do d5 you do Bg2 which is called the “Grob Gambit” and will mess them up. The main catch to it is that you won’t have as good of a castle on either side. Don’t do it against a GM though, they won’t fall for any of the tricks in it.

#10 Saragossa Opening (c3)

If you’re playing against someone who can’t handle the Caro-Kann defense, you can do this. If black does e5 you can do d3; black will likely do d5 you can do d4, and voila. You’ve managed to reach the Caro-Kann as white. Unfortunately, this also blocks the knight from coming out, so I can’t put it much higher.

#9 Kadas Opening (h4)

I think this is ridiculously underrated! It has the potential to wreak havoc on the kingside, and you can castle on the queenside. It’s just that then black is winning in development by a sizable margin.

#8 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack (b3)

Solid move. Gets you a queenside fianchetto. I don’t know why that would be your #1 priority in the game, but if it is then this move is great for you to start with.

Top Tier:
These are obviously the moves that I would recommend using, most of them are moves that I like, and one of them is really not my style, but has good results. Strangely that wasn’t the lowest one though it was quite close.

#7 Bird’s Opening (f4)
It’s this low because you can’t fully discount statistics. For some reason though, Ireally like this opening. It stops e5, and lets you get this pawn out in addition to the kingsode knight. If it weren’t for the low record it would definitely be higher.

#6 King's Fianchetto Opening (g3)

If you’re doing this, you may as well do nf3 first. It still has great results though.

#5 Anderssen Opening (a3)

I think this is the most underrated first move. With this you can essentially play as black with this pawn stopping a minor piece from ever coming too close for comfort. It also stops you from chasing it away when it comes, but this is still a nice play.

#4 King’s Pawn Opening (e4)

Most people will hate me for this, but it is overrated. It’s predictable, everyone knows how to respond to it, it lets black decide how open or closed the game is… It still gets the basics done though, so I have to put it this high.

#3 English Opening (c4)

This is a really good opening that stops d5 without committing a center pawn, or tampering with the kingside castle.

#2 Reti Opening (nf3)
It stops e5, and prepares for the King’s Indian Attack, which is a really good opening (don’t try it if you’re a beginner though).

#1 Queen's pawn Opening (d4)I love this move so much! Queen’s Gambit, London Accelerated System… my favorite openings for white!

I disagree. I really enjoy playing Nimzowitsch-Larsen. It think it deserves at least #6. It's one of the more interesting openings.

Sorry, I meant to add this here.

I disagree. I really enjoy playing Nimzowitsch-Larsen. It think it deserves at least #6. It's one of the more interesting openings.

S tier:

1: d4

2: e4

3: c4

A tier

4:Nf3

5:e3

6:Nc3

B tier

7: d3

8: g3

9: a3

C tier

10: c3

11: b3

12: f4

13: h3

D tier

14: Nh3

15: h4

16: g4

F tier

17: b4

18: Na3

19:a4

20: f3

Why is Nh3 ahead of Na3?

g3 then bg2

I would rate 1.e4 as SECOND BEST. it's an ESSENTIAL opening to tacticians like myself who despise all the 1.d4 fiddly nth pawn wiggling, closed positions, and long drawn out attempts to attack that fizzle out once you move enough pieces and have to telegraph your intentions. I don't ever want to go back to 1.d4 and ESPECIALLY the stonewall attack ever again, BUT I do think that 1.d4 is stronger.

if you look at games, there are very few lines in which black gets an advantage in major 1.d4 lines and it's ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to gambit 1.d4! i actually quit playing because i was never told that about the englund gambit hartlaub charlick which tries to turn things into an open tactical game. (and WITHOUT VILE PUTRID DESPICABLE fianchettos! I'm never playing benko/indian/benoni etc.! deal with it! hahahaha)

it doesn't help that everyone hates the hartlaub charlick and that it won't ever get promoted widely even though I'm still CRUSHING black more often than not. I get so tired of trolls who WRONGLY try to push me towards toothless main lines I'll never be good at and away from the gambits I mini peeps with. tactics are my STRONGEST TOOLS. so "don't use them?" REALLY?

if I find what works, BREAK IT? I REALLY like the "you're only holding yourself back HAVING FUN playing YOUR KIND OF GAME with the 'unsound' hartlaub charlick and with your near 2:1 win rate"

FACEPALM!

with 1.e4, opponents have closed and positional options, but open and tactical is IMPOSSIBLE against 1.d4 without giving extra material up and miniatures are not a 1.d4 thing either

undergroundbrownrice

The sideline was the better option for black, with h6 ideas and in my opinion equalizes. The main line you showed did not show good play from black.