Why am I much better playing as black, (moving second) than as White, (moving first)

which are you best playing as???

I'm about equal with both.

Athough my stats say I am slightly better with White, I think I play stronger as Black.

ADK

At our playing level, having the white pieces isn't much, if any, advantage. For the heavy hitters, it's a small advantage because white has a slight initiative. Although my results are about 50-50, I do find that I seem to have an easier time playing the black side. What I'm thinking is that you and I are more comfortable playing defensively and carefully. Perhaps we're not so adept at seizing and maintaining the initiative! I consider this one of my biggest weaknesses and am trying to force myself to play a bit more aggressively and take more risks. I'm currently reading and going over the games of The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal. I hope that this will inspire me to attack when there is the opportunity and to make those opportunities happen with the occasional sac.

What about you? Are you a cautious player? More of a Berlin Wall than a Sicilian?

I would say more aggressive.... my whole plan it so play a defensive approach in the begining, and use my aggresive attack as a counter....

I feel that white grabs the initial "momentum" because it has the first move... then as black I like to try to see what attack is being put together, and I defend with the intend to stop the attack at the last move, usually making the other player move his piece before it is lost by one of my pawns, and then quickly strike a 4-5 move checkmate... the problem I have is usually the better players sniff out the attack and then hopefully I am not down a piece... I feel if I am up a piece (another piece of other than a pawn) I can close the game...

with white I feel the added pressure of playing more aggressive, therefore I have weak defenses when I am white and can get broken down...

it also varies per player... some players I can beat more with one color than the other... (those players that I play more than once and can compare)

I like black because with your first move, you can basically dictate the opening.

If I could play the ruy exchange with the black pieces, I'd say it's even... I yield much better results with the white pieces over the board rated games.

Was just looking at my stats.  I would have said there was not much difference, but I am 61-37% winning as white and dead even (47% each) as black after 100 games, so I guess there is more than I realized.

A follow-up: Until recently, I played much more ive chess than turn-based.  For long games, no W-B difference, about 3% for blitz, and about 6% for quick.  I am not surprised that it helps to have the move in 1 minute games, but this makes it more surprising that there is such a split in the tournament and other online games.

I tend to do better as black for some reason. I suppose I am, at my current skill level, better at playing defense and waiting for my chance than dictating the game as white.

Oddly though, I hate slow, closed, positional games. I don't seem to have the patience for it, which is a weakness I need to work on.