Openings. Does it matter how?

Playing white in this example. Does it really matter what opening you choose. With different openings there are ways to win. I can start with king pawn (gamit) but also Queen pawn (gambit).

How important is the opening move?

It doesn't really matter. Some are better than others but what matters is that you understand what you are trying to achieve. 

At this point, it is most important to follow opening principles. The name of the opening you play is not that important.

Here you can find most of what you need to do in the opening as an improving player:

https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/surviving-the-opening-first-steps-to-chess-improvement

It doesn't really matter. I know the first few moves of the mainlines of only a couple of openings. The rest of the time I just play opening principles, selecting moves that look appropriate. As @Strangemover says, what is more helpful is to know the ideas and themes in the opening you play, that way you can select moves that are consistent with those themes. As you become more experienced you may start to develop a preference.

Depends on your level

+1

It does and it doesn't matter. Your goal should be the same: follow solid opening principles. That means as white trying for a strong center with pawns on e4 and d4, developing your pieces as efficiently as possible and castling your king to safety. That is the same for all openings, hence it doesn't matter which move you make, as long as it's a solid move that makes you adhere to these principles. 

Where it does matter, though, is the middlegame. As a lifelong trainer, I've always told my pupils to start playing d4 instead of e4. This is not mainstream advice. The reason why I advise it, is mainly that the middlegames stemming from 1. e4 - e5 are difficult to understand strategically. That's not the same for 1. d4 - d5, where one side might have a bad bishop etc. In my view that makes 1. d4 easier to improve with, cause the strategic concepts are easier to see and follow throughout a game.

Your only valid task in the opening is to reach a middle-game position in which you feel comfortable and confident. Whatever sequence of moves gets you there is a good opening for you.

@Warlord:

Good points.  I gave up correspondence chess ("daily") because every game was like a term paper due at the end of the semester.  Yeah, I can play at a reasonable level if I put several hours into researching every move, but where's the fun in that?  Nope, mediocrity is where the action is as far as I'm concerned and luckily I'm too old now to worry about getting better.  Oh I do still study both here and on another site, but that's just to get worse more slowly...

I personally think StarCraft's build orders share a lot conceptually with chess openings.  Choice of build order (or opening) trades off known weaknesses vs. known strengths, and it's up to one's opponent to either stick with the theoretically optimal response or to dive in aggressively with a less-played line of choices and hope you screw up.  The big practical difference is that an advantage in StarCraft is often visually obvious, while getting much out of watching chess depends a lot on being able to read a position quickly.

Love reading all ideas here about this here. Thank you.