Uncertainty of First- move advantage
Recently, as more and more people become interested in Grand Dice Chess, I have been forced to enter into discussions regarding the balance of the game. Opponents on this issue, as a rule, are chess players or inventors of chess variants. In their understanding, White has an undeniable advantage as a starting side due to the fact that he is the first to roll four dice and can make four moves with his pieces at once. Indeed, the ideal start for White is to roll 1-1-1-1.
For example:
In this case, Black immediately loses his queen and king. The probability that when rolling four dice you will get four ones is 1/1296, since the total number of elementary events is 1296, and getting four ones is an event that is the intersection of independent events of each individual die.
Without delving into mathematics and probability theory, we can say that this is unlikely, but quite possible. Thus, according to my opponents, White, although unlikely, still has the advantage of the first move. In order to balance the chances of the sides, they propose to limit White's initial throw to two dice.
I, as the creator of Grand Dice Chess, absolutely do not like this idea and I believe that it introduces disharmony and violates the parity of the sides.
When it comes to games in which there is uncertainty, about games where chance plays an important role, and these are all games with dice, one cannot talk about the advantage of the first move. It is pointless. The very concept of Uncertainty implies the absence or lack of information, in our case regarding the events on the chessboard when playing Grand Dice Chess, since the generator of random events here is the dice. I am deeply convinced that Uncertainty is a fundamental property of nature and all games, one way or another associated with it, are not subject to strict logic and rational human judgment.
The stern and cold mind of a chess player cannot accept this. Based on his empirical experience and accustomed to certain standards, he exclaims, seeing the double redoubts of pawns in the center of the board: “This cannot be played! This is absurd!" Seeing the possibility of moving four pieces at once from the first move, he is horrified by the right to move: “White has an advantage!”
In fact, everything is much simpler, and if you delve a little deeper into the processes occurring in games with uncertainty, then everything immediately falls into place. Let's say you decide to equalize the odds by giving White two dice on the first roll.
On the first move, you deprived White of the opportunity to immediately capture both the Queen and the King. Okay. However, Black, on his first move, has such an opportunity. How so?
The balance is broken and there is no harmony. As soon as any restrictions are introduced in search of balance, this balance is disrupted. After all, no one would think of giving a player who starts a game of backgammon only one dice in the first throw. Let the first one who starts the game throw one dice, and the second two, and then everyone throws two, as usual. No one is looking for balance in backgammon?
The balance is disrupted as soon as the starting side makes the first move. And it doesn't matter in what games - with or without dice. It is important that the opportunities for each side are equal. In ordinary chess, unfortunately, this cannot be achieved, since knowing the best moves (thanks to chess engines) you deprive your opponent of the opportunity to win. This is why, according to statistics, White has such an advantage in chess without dice (“First Move Advantage in Chess”).
Surprisingly, but true - based on several thousand tournament games in Grand Dice Chess, Black wins more than 50% of the time, which clearly indicates that White does not have a first move advantage.
Games with uncertainty and Grand Dice Chess, in particular, are harmonious and balanced in themselves, as I wrote above - Uncertainty is a fundamental property of nature, where its own laws and orders reign, providing equal opportunities to all participants in the events.
