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Train this openingAbout this opening
1.e4 takes the center and opens two lines at once, for the bishop on f1 and for the queen. Your reply matters more than anything you do in the next five moves, because it decides whether the position opens up or stays closed. e5 meets the pawn head on and leads to the open games, where development speed decides everything. c5 refuses the symmetry, trading a wing pawn for a center pawn and leaving you a queenside majority to push later. e6 and c6 build support first and strike at d5 a move later. The most played reply here is e5. It is also the one that teaches fastest, because every slow move is punished immediately.
- Play e5 to open the game and fight for d4 at once.
- Play c5 for an unbalanced game and a queenside pawn majority.
- Play e6 or c6 first, then break in the center with d5.
- Play Nf6 to attack e4 before you commit a center pawn.
- Pawn: d5, the break that frees all of these defenses
- Knight: f6, hitting e4 and covering d5
- Knight: c6, holding e5 and eyeing d4
- Bishop: c5 or e7, depending on how open the center gets
- King: castled short by move eight in the open lines
The fight settles on d4 and d5. Open lines reward whoever develops first, so a pawn move you did not need is usually the tempo you miss when the position breaks open.