You can start with pretty much every member of the Top 10!
The difficulty of gaining an advantage against the Berlin Wall, Marshall Attack, and Petroff Defense have caused a huge shift away from 1.e4 at the top level. Anand and Leko were 1.e4 players for years and years before changing.
Who didn't rely on 1.d4, should be the question. Fischer, maybe Keres. Just about everyone else plays 1.d4.
Karpov was also an e4 guy..
Karpov was "e4 guy" until the middle of 80ties, when he switched to closed openings.
nowadays, all the top players are majority d4 players. Karjarkin is probably the only player who pretty much is all e4, and that's probably because he's still young. Carlsen and Anand have a mix but Anand more or less is mostly d4 as well.
Polgar and Adams are exclusively 1. e4, but I can't think of anyone else.
Karpov also plays 1.e4 and other Masters.
That's why many masters plays 1.e4 than 1.d4 is because of many plans and ideas. If a master wants to play for a win, then that master can play a opening that is closed like 1.d4 but if one wants to play aggresively and needs to win a game, others will play 1.e4 then.
1.d4 is an closed game and 1.e4 is an open one.
That's why many masters plays 1.e4 than 1.d4 is because of many plans and ideas. If a master wants to play for a win, then that master can play a opening that is closed like 1.d4 but if one wants to play aggresively and needs to win a game, others will play 1.e4 then.
1.d4 is an closed game and 1.e4 is an open one.
the spanish is clearly the e4 opening. and it can easily be more closed than many queens gambit lines.
That's why many masters plays 1.e4 than 1.d4 is because of many plans and ideas. If a master wants to play for a win, then that master can play a opening that is closed like 1.d4 but if one wants to play aggresively and needs to win a game, others will play 1.e4 then.
1.d4 is an closed game and 1.e4 is an open one.
the spanish is clearly the e4 opening. and it can easily be more closed than many queens gambit lines.
Such Openings in 1.e4 is closed but more of the time 1.e4 is always an open game, where pieces get out immediately in 2-5 moves ahead.
Like the Giuco piano, Italian Game, Evan's Gambit, King's Gambit,Berlin Wall. Unlike the 1.d4 one
sure, but apart from berlin wall none of them are actively played at the strong GM level. besides the queens gambit has many very open variations.
i just think its a bit rediculous to class the openings as such. the first move definately doesnt determine the nature of the game.
e4 or d4 are better, however, depending on how you play, and the victory is yours
I think a lot of GMs started off playing e4 early in their careers but all of them switched to including d4 in their repertoires at some point. (Even Bobby Fischer - who said that e4 is "best by test" - played c4 in several games in the 1972 world champ match with Spassky). Not to generalize, but e4 leads to more open tactical games (where plans are more concrete) and d4 / c4 / Nf3 leads to more closed positional games (where plans are more abstract). Obviously at the high levels it's important for players to have a variety of styles, but personally I believe players of all strengths can benefit from learning both (e4 and d4).
If we look at the Yekaterinburg Candidates:
1 e4 was most played: 33 games; 1 d4, 1 c4, 1 Nf3 combined: 23 games
1 e4 scored 10 wins and 5 losses
1 d4, 1 c4, 1 Nf3 combined scored 7 wins and 3 losses
Ruy Lopez was most successful for white: 4 wins, 6 draws, not a single loss
Against 1 d4 Grünfeld was most successful for black: 5 draws out of 5 games
The majority of great players play both 1.e4 and 1.d4, but not necessarily at the same time. They may start out playing 1.d4 almost exclusively and then switch to 1.e4, of the other way around. Even Fischer, who is thought of as exclusively a 1.e4 player, began introducing 1.b3 and 1.c4 into his games later in his career
Crazy coincidence, Botvinnik and Fischer were my inspirations for playing c4; it’s all I play and fully enjoy it.
You can start with pretty much every member of the Top 10!
Surprisingly, no -- almost the opposite, in fact.
Of the current live top ten, Nepomnichtchi, Caruana , and MVL strongly favor 1. e4.
Historically, Firouzja has too, though he's been mixing it up a bit more recently.
Carlsen, So, Giri, and Nakamura all play both with some regularity, but all four actually have a narrow plurality of 1. e4 games over their careers.
Only two -- Ding and Aronian -- favor d4.
But yes, d4 (or "d4 openings" with a 1. c4 or 1. Nf3 move order) are a bit more common these days at the GM level.
I recently switched to d4 and basically im looking for some reccomendations for strong D4 players, so I can study how they play it.