1. e3 is totally playable.

4.Bb2 would have lead to a good position for white.

No offence to the guy who started the forum but 1.e3 is not 'playable' just because he played a match with it and he won...let's face it guys when we amateurs say 'this opening is good' or 'that opening is perfect ' etc....is like a 500 rated player trying to teach a GM how to play...my point is that if it was playable it would have been chosen by GMs at tournament(no blitz or bullet)games and with success, but as we can see they never opt for it...i do not know...maybe there are some exceptions....but still because of a good game or two u cannot call an opening 'playable'....in my opinion.

Nimzowitch played it against Spielmann at Carlsbad in 1929 simply because Spielmann was an amazing tactician but poor at manoeuvring and so Nimzo wanted to drag him into a manoeuvring contest. It worked (and in fact Nimzo won that tournament just half a point ahead of both Spielmann and Capablanca). But it's rare, for sure. 

This crap has floated to the surface before. It's an old trolling technique to say something outlandish and then haggle over definitions of "playable" or to say that this or that GM once played a game with it...who cares?

From what I can recall from past threads on this opening "idea", it is playable, but usually it just transposes into something else after a few moves, which means that unless you play something with 1.e3 that does not transpose, you really aren't talking about a discrete opening system, but a clever transpositional method.

By move 5 in the game cited, the play has transposed into a Q-pawn opening that Black completely misplays with a premature e5.

Virtually everything is "playable" from the white side.  No surprises there.

White has wide latitude to blow a tempo and still have at least =.

Most people rather choose a good opening move that grabs some center and tries to maintain the initiative.

In the example it transposed in a queen's gambit, which is very playable. You can be more sure about getting there with a different order of moves. 1.e3 is a bit passive, but it doesn't look that horrible to me

I would love to see 1...d5 played against 1. e3.  My plan is to play 2. d4 next move and if 2...e6 we're in some sort of Queen's Gambit Declined variation and the only thing I've sacrificed is my Queenside Bishop's ability to get outside of my pawn chain. If I'm hit with a Nimzo-Indian Defense type of move (Nc3 followed by Bb4) I can play Bd2 and retain my pawn structure (even though Qb3 does the same).

It winds up being a solid game. I've had great successes with the opening. Not just against 1400 players in minute games online. On move 9 in that game, I should have played d6 however. 

1. e3 is playable, but it will probably transpose into a Queen's gambit line, so white not just to play 1. d4 instead?

Playing Black with a move in hand,.. Why NOT?

This is typical amateur thinking. Yes many of the main-lines such as the Najdorf or Ruy Lopez end up being equal, but that is after 25-30 moves of very precise play, one slip and white has a big advantage. With 1. e3 black can play like 5 different ways to equalize in 5 moves.

Yes, from a purely theoretical perfect play scenario 1. a3 may be just as good as 1. e4. When your opponents start playing absolute perfect games every game then go ahead and start playing 1. a3 (that is if you even bother to continue playing a game you know will be drawn every time). But in the mean time play the moves that put the most pressure on your opponent.

I would not disagree with you, but at the U2000 elo & U2200 US rating list,... the opening is greatly over-rated.  Your tactics need to be in shape,... and more importantly you have to develop a feel for how the middle game should be played and then some basic Endgame technique (Averbakh / Keres / Minev etc.),... Perhaps than it is time to sort out your opening rep,.. e3 at least is a fight for the centre after say d4 / c4 / or even f4.  Gives you some flexibility and does not allow the Master to wipe you out in the latest Grunfeld, Spanish, Nimzo, etc,... And 25-30 moves,... are you serious,... the possible mathematical derivations make me a bit suspect of your comment,... 

Obviously at your level,... Openings play a very important part of the game,...   But just developing and getting a good foothold in the centre, putting your King in safety, and not creating any glaring pawn weaknesses will get you through 90% of all games.

As the French would say, "We agree, too disagree."

To make an analogy, imagine you are playing the simple game tic-tac-toe against a frog (yes a frog). The frog randomly makes his moves by jumping on a square. Now you know of course tic-tac-toe is just a draw. You move first, you know playing your X to the center gives the frog the most opporunities to lose.. But you know the game is just a draw, so you decide why bother and play your X to a corner square.

Do you see how stupid this strategy would be?

Chess.com requires that every man does his duty, by completely disregarding this rabble rouser. The heretic supposes that logic and reasoning are more powerful than Chess.com's divination by forum.

ON TOPIC:

Which do you suppose is better:

1. e3  2. d4 (The Totally Playable Opening)

or

1. d4  2. h4 (The Daeth Trap)?

I guess a Frog might compare the simplicity of tic-tac-toe to the complexity of chess, but I cannot imagine that is what you as an FM are trying to do,..

It is like trying to convince a 12 DAN GO master that chess has the same strategic complexity and level as his game,... Not a real good comparison.

But I probably do not understand your point,.. forgive me

Nice doggy!

I have a USCF rating of 1900 that's rapidly approaching 2000, and I approve this message.

I've won more games at tic tac toe by playing my X to a corner than by playing it to the middle. Everyone knows how to draw when your opponent starts in the middle, but quite a few don't know the trick, when you start in the corner.

Even against that random frog, it is good to start in the corner, because there is only one drawing move against it. If you start in the middle, 50% of the replies are theoretical draws.

1.e3 gives you a chance to play many of the good openings that Black can play to equalize, with an extra tempo... but it also takes away the chance as White to play for an opening advantage.

So 1.e3 is playable, but certainly not the best move you can make, as Black can equalize and maybe even get his own advantage relatively easily.

Exactly. Looks like you can school an FM at tic-tac-toe at any rate. (Edge is not necessarily an objectively good opening move, but the drawing responses fall into an odd pattern that not everyone might get.)