Should I learn e4?

Dang it. 3. fxd6

Thank you pfren

@Etymologist35 King's Gambit lovers (such as myself) can usually be tempted to come out to play with a theoretical discussion dangled in front of them. And those who dislike the KG such as ThrillerFan (a far better player than I am, a good chap who whupped me in the middlegame the one time I've played the KG against him) are likely to emerge too.

I'm still not sure what you mean: 3, fxd6 ain't a legal move either. No Pawn on the f-file will ever be taking anything on d6. Third time's the charm, I guess, but I'd say start a new thread and put "King's Gambit" in the title so as to attract us Old Romantics like moths to a candle.

Face palm. Very well.

Alright Ralph...I think I got it that time. Sheesh.

If you play 1. e4, play lesser known lines. Otherwise you'll just be banging your head against theory that people have been practicing for decades.

I've found this line works well -

For the caro-kann - the Tal variation is good. The accelerated panov has alot of room for lesser played deviations in it.

French - just play theory.

The sicilian is really the biggest problem white has after e4. I don't like most anti-sicilians. Most of them play basically the same for black and aren't that sharp. White players tend to think they're much tricker and lesser-known than they are. I think it's best to play the open lines, and for certain sicilians (classical, dragon, nimzowitsch, hyper-accelerated, Kan, scheveningen) play the strong main lines, while for others (Najdorf, Taimanov) find some sharp, lesser known sidelines. For example.... this is an odd sideline I like against the Bastrikov -

But I'd probably just play the main line against the a6 Taimanov -

@crazedrat1000 very much agreed. If I was to be making recommendations to a lazy new 1.e4 player not someone like the OP who seems to be about developing game understanding, I might disagree to the extent of suggesting the Tchigorin French and the classic Closed Sicilian (many concepts and position-types in common), but you're farming some wholemeal organic good sense there. I only play an anti-Sicilian because I'm a lazy, lazy man.

I went through a phase of trying sidelines against the french, including the chigorin... but ultimately decided that the sidelines were not sharp enough, because blacks position is too defensively sound. For the most part, they ceded back the space advantage and led to a typical game of chess. I did like the way the chigorin could play like a scandi at times. But the real weakness the french has is it cedes space, and the way capitalize on it is to play theory. But then I realized that, when I did play theory, I just always got strong positions... And so I gave up my effort to surprise the french player, and accepted my fate.

And I also found a few satisfying deviations a few moves into the theory... I like the alekhine-chatard. I wouldn't play the mainline winawer, but there are other options -

I never play e4 or e5, I just stick to the London, Scandinavian, and KID.

Aster 3.fxd6 you have played your second illegal move, and according to the rules you lose the game.

This is no biggie, you will find something better to play next time.