Possible justification of playing 1. e3 as white

E3 might not be very challenging, but it’s certainly playable and you might get and exchange French lol

Yes it's ridiculous. The real reason would be someone who liked reversed positions with an extra move. g6 was considered a good reply to 1. e6.

1.e3 and 2.d4 seems quite logical for a player who loves the French Defense as Black, and the feel of those positions.

I dont get it why people promote this move. It is simply inferior to the normal opening moves. With white you should try to put some pressure on your opponent. I understand that someone plays an inferior move in order not having to learn a ton of theory but here this is not the case as black has many ways to respond.

No.

So people should play the way you tell them to.

No, but if someone asks about this move he should get an honest answer: this move is bad, not because it will result in getting a worse position but because there are clearly superior moves available.

There are many other opening moves which are not optimal but they all have some advantages to make up for it, 1.e3 doesn't.

Yes, it's genuinely a reversed opening played that way but some people are going to be happy with it as white. It's ridiculous to denounce 1. e3 as a bad move. Perfectly strong move but just different.

If 1. e3 has a name, then it's Van't Kruijs' Opening.

So that should have put 1.d4 out of business, back when people were taken in by Bobby Fischer's "1. e4 is best by test" proclamation?

If you want a true reversed opening, you can't get much better but it can even lead into a Colle with d4 and Nf3, which is normally a ridiculously aggressive way of playing by white because the solid centre leads into a pawn storm on the k-side after black castles. It's very dangerous. 1. e3 is good for people who really know their openings and can choose from a range including c4, d4, b3 and f4 openings.

e3 is definitely alright. Could transpose into a lot of different openings or you could play a reverse French a tempo up. It isn't the best but it does not give a weakness. Just space advantage for black.

Quality chess has a book e3 poison, which considers 1.e3 and e3 after other points in opening. It's completely sound, and can use move-order tricks to get structures more familar with than opponent. For example looks at e3 in the english, and 1.e3 e5 2c4 is one possible way to arrive at these positions.