I honestly say they are even, but I just personally like caro more.
DEBATE: What is best opening?
as white: 1.b4,... as black: against 1.e4,... Scandinavian/CaroKann against 1.d4,... QGA the side lines are usually the London or the Veresov.
What we play does not answer the title because there is no answer. There are a FINITE number of legitimate openings, but no one is "best".
To answer your question:
White - 1.b4 (Sokolsky)
Black vs e4 - 1...e6 (French Defense)
Black vs d4 - 1...e6 (2...d5 if 2.e4 or 2.Nc3, 2...f5 against most other responses, leading to a Dutch Defense)
indeed. I submit, as White the Best by Test (of Time) the Queen's Gambit. As Black, against 1. e4: The Sicilian, namely the d6 systems~of which is the No. 1, The Najdorf. Against 1. d4: The QGD~namely, Tartakower's Legacy baby. Can you diggit?!
Black: against e4 - french with rubinstein
Against d4 and other - nimzo/queens indian, delayed dutch or reversed colle zukertort
White
E4
Against e4 vienna gambit 67% win rate
Against sicilian closed fianchetto, started trying the alapin
Against french wing gambit, great success altho i knew it poorly
Against caro kann fantasy variation. Amazing winrate if they took, suffered from Qb6 two games. Switched to mieses gambit last two games before abandoning e4
Against hypermoderns byrnes and austrians, both great success.
Against scandi blackmar diemer with no particular success
Black
Against e4 caro kann with tartakower and 3.c5 in advanced. Over 70% winrate in 260 games, mostly because my opponents used to blunder their d and b pawns in advanced and exchange variations(in 90% of my exchange variation games I played qb6 at some point) against fantasy i played(you guessed it) 3. Qb6 with 100% winrate in 12 games
Against d4 i went like that
Dutch(no success) > old benoni(even worse) > c6 anglo-slav lines(no success) > slav defence(success but bored) > nimzo indian(success) and this led me to accepting 1.e6 as my first move, making me look at the french defence and loving it
Opening as white: 1. d4 2. h3 (I call this The Grasshopper Opening) and typical play resumes with a London-like setup.
Opening as black against 1. e4: Sicilian Defense, often developing into a Najdorf Anti-English, Kan Variation, or Accelerated Dragon.
Opening as black against 1. d4: Modern Defense, Pterodactyl, often developing in a Beefeater Gambit.
White: 1. e4 with Basman-Palatnik Double Pawn Gambit Delayed Alapin, Kramnik, and Rossolimo Sicilian; 7. c3 Spanish/5. d3 Spanish Berlin Endgame, 5. Qxd4 Old Steinitz, Exchange Jaenisch, 4. Qxd4 Philidor, 4. d3 Italian; Boleslavsky Steinitz, 7. Qg4 Winawer, 8. Ned2 Fort Knox Rubinstein, 5. g3 Blackburne Rubinstein; 4. Ng5 Breyer Caro-Kann/5. Nfd2 Breyer Caro-Kann; Marshall Modern Scandinavian, Leonhardt Gambit Mieses-Kotrc; 3. f3 Pirc/Modern to Saemisch KID transposition, Main Line Four Pawns Alekhine’s; 1. d4 with Classical NID, Kozul Gambit Neo-Classical KID, Accelerated Russian Grunfeld, Lilienthal Botvinnik Semi-Slav, Orthodox QGD, Showalter QGA/3. e4 QGA, Morozevich Carlsbad Krause Czech Alapin Modern Slav, London System, Ilyhin-Zhevensky Dutch, Main Line Leningrad; 1. c4 with Reversed Sicilian, Ultra-Symmetrical, Anglo-Scandinavian, or 2. d4 if else; 1. Nf3 Symmetrical KIA, Reversed Grunfeld, and transpositions if else; 1. g3 as above.
Black against e4: French with Wade Advance, Ultra-Symmetrical Exchange, 4… b6 Winawer, Armenian Winawer, 7… 0-0 Classical Winawer, 7… Be7 Boleslavsky Steinitz, Main Line Classical French, Fort Knox Rubinstein; Open Game with Berlin/Arkhangelsk/Neo-Arkhangelsk Spanish, Giuoco Pianissimo Main Line, Malaniuk Scotch, Declined Goring Gambit, Main Line Vienna, Berlin-Vienna Hybrid transposition to Svenonius Classical KGD, 3… g5 KGA; Sicilian with Closed Dragon, 2… Nf6 Alapin, 4… Nf6 Chekhover, 7… d4 Prins, not nearly enough Najdorf theory, Hungarian Dragon.
Black against d4: Mar del Plata KID setup, Fianchetto KID transposition to Main Line Hastings Benoni, Grunfeld, Main Line Noa NID, positional QGD against anti-Nimzo.
White: 1. e4 with Basman-Palatnik Double Pawn Gambit Delayed Alapin, Kramnik, and Rossolimo Sicilian; 7. c3 Spanish/5. d3 Spanish Berlin Endgame, 5. Qxd4 Old Steinitz, Exchange Jaenisch, 4. Qxd4 Philidor, 4. d3 Italian; Boleslavsky Steinitz, 7. Qg4 Winawer, 8. Ned2 Fort Knox Rubinstein, 5. g3 Blackburne Rubinstein; 4. Ng5 Breyer Caro-Kann/5. Nfd2 Breyer Caro-Kann; Marshall Modern Scandinavian, Leonhardt Gambit Mieses-Kotrc; 3. f3 Pirc/Modern to Saemisch KID transposition, Main Line Four Pawns Alekhine’s; 1. d4 with Classical NID, Kozul Gambit Neo-Classical KID, Accelerated Russian Grunfeld, Lilienthal Botvinnik Semi-Slav, Orthodox QGD, Showalter QGA/3. e4 QGA, Morozevich Carlsbad Krause Czech Alapin Modern Slav, London System, Ilyhin-Zhevensky Dutch, Main Line Leningrad; 1. c4 with Reversed Sicilian, Ultra-Symmetrical, Anglo-Scandinavian, or 2. d4 if else; 1. Nf3 Symmetrical KIA, Reversed Grunfeld, and transpositions if else; 1. g3 as above.
Black against e4: French with Wade Advance, Ultra-Symmetrical Exchange, 4… b6 Winawer, Armenian Winawer, 7… 0-0 Classical Winawer, 7… Be7 Boleslavsky Steinitz, Main Line Classical French, Fort Knox Rubinstein; Open Game with Berlin/Arkhangelsk/Neo-Arkhangelsk Spanish, Giuoco Pianissimo Main Line, Malaniuk Scotch, Declined Goring Gambit, Main Line Vienna, Berlin-Vienna Hybrid transposition to Svenonius Classical KGD, 3… g5 KGA; Sicilian with Closed Dragon, 2… Nf6 Alapin, 4… Nf6 Chekhover, 7… d4 Prins, not nearly enough Najdorf theory, Hungarian Dragon.
Black against d4: Mar del Plata KID setup, Fianchetto KID transposition to Main Line Hastings Benoni, Grunfeld, Main Line Noa NID, positional QGD against anti-Nimzo.
Holy hell
"Best" is a moot argument, as most main openings will (in theory) reach a draw with perfect play.
As for personal preference? I like:
1.Nf3 as White (a flexible "waiting" move, which can transpose into many different openings, depending on what defensive posture Black chooses).
Caro-Kann or Sicilian against 1.e4 (I like them both, and alternate depending on my mood).
1. Nf6 against 1.d4, with a preference for ...d6 structures rather than ...d5 structures.
Sometimes I like to play the Sicilian and King's Indian as black, and the London against black, but I would argue that the King's Indian Defense as black is one of the strongest openings at any rating range.
As white, king's gambit or italian, depending on how I feel.
Black against 1e4, e5.
Black against d4, englund gambit.
I like caro more. If you play caro, your knight still has a square it can develop to, but if you play french, your bishop is completely blocked in and you will have to spend an extra turn to fiancietto it. Both are great openings and there are reasons you would want to play either one.
I want to see everyones reasons for playing their individual openings, and why they prefer them over others.
You will give 3 answers:
Opening as white: (If you leave this blank, we will assume you play italian game, How original of you!)
Opening as black against 1. e4:
Opening as black against 1. d4:
If you want (I think it would be better, but you dont have to) you can elaborate on what lines you use in particular, or what you use against other sidelines (for example, for white, you could say you play scotch game, but against caro, you play the advance variation.)
Im honestly really excited for people to actually be talking about this. That is, if anyone sees this.
Note that there is no one true "best opening", and that these are all opinions.
My submission:
As white: Plays Italian game. If 2 Knights defense (3. ... Nf6) I play fried liver, and against guioco piano, I play center attack. I play this opening, as fried liver is VERY powerfull at my level, and I play center attack because I feel like giuoco pianissimo is too complex for my smol brain. However, I have been getting bored of it recently, and I am thinking of either using the giuoco pianissimo, or maybe even in the future switching to a non 1. e4 opening.
As black against 1. e4: CARO KANN!!! While I used to play the french, and very much liked it, I like this WAY more. In the classical, black gets this amazing, NIGH-IMPENETRABLE fortress of pawns, where black can withstand pretty much anything. In the advance variation, I can slowly chip whites pawn center, until it almost always inevitably crumbles. I LOVE this thing, and its the reason I like playing as black far more than white (despite having a decently worse win rate, as fried liver is just TOO GOOD!)
As black against 1. d4: Slav defense. Very similar concepts than in the caro kann, and as a result, I love it! Not sure what I like playing more: The caro, or the slav. Has an extremely similar pawn structure in the mainline/alapin variation, and I think its just SO GOOD!