There are certainly some strategy and war games (like Warhammer or Dungeons and Dragons) where winning initiative means going second. For many years, it has been maintained that white has an advantage by going first in Chess, but it's still not completely clear what that advantage is, since Chess hasn't been completely solved. But for each move, some of the best courses of action are documented, and black can certainly equalize in most, if not all, of the openings. You might correctly say, then, that white suggests an opening, and black then commits to a defense.
Black chooses the opening?
Sort:
When White tries to play a "reversed" opening, it often backfires precisely because the opening is based more on concrete responses to White's move and White can't just lose a move.
Actually, it is possible for white to completely lose a move and a play a truly reversed-color opening (although he can't really "choose" to). I spent one day just messing around doing this in live chess, and I remember arguing with one opponent who claimed that I wasn't playing the sicilian because my pieces were colored white when in fact it was a sicilian. Pretty funny actually. He said that it could only be sicilian if I were the black pieces, but white can play the siclian too if he's allowed to. It was kind of a funny situation because they guy seemed to be so serious about it ("NO! YOU AREN'T PLAYING THE SICILIAN!")
Interesting. This makes me think. Both players are attempting with their moves to dictate the course of the game from opening to endgame. Stuff starts happening from move one (actual and potential) and some of the stuff that gets set up earlier in the game is still around by the end of the game. Change happens too of course. Pieces get trapped. Open lines get blocked. Closed lines open up. Interesting.
I think it depends, maybe for moves 1.e4 and 1.d4 Black chooses the opening, but for instance 1.g4 and Black isn't choosing anything.
No single side CHOOSES the opening. See plenty of above metaphors. Even for a move like 1. g4, you don't think any of blacks 20 (is that the right number?) possible responses are different? Just because we don't have names (even if we do, it doesn't matter) for 1. g4 e5 and 1. g4 d5 or even 1. g4 g5 doesn't mean that they AREN'T openings. The opening itself is a constant series of responses, and as many of us have said no single player chooses the opening.