How to eliminate the first-move advantage.

Maybe someone has thought of this before.  You could eliminate the first-move advantage by having both white and black write their moves secretly on paper.  If the two moves are incompatible (for example, both moving to the same square) then toss a coin to see whose move applies.  I guess this would introduce an unwelcome element of chance.

Other than forcing the effective "second player" to make a move w/o knowledge of the other person's move, how is this different from tossing a coin to decide who plays which color?

I have a feeling that no one understood the OP's idea (including myself). The way it is written down is impossible for various reasons. there there must be some misunderstanding somewhere.

good point, i realized i misread the post, and don't actually know what it's saying, mb

OP here. I meant that __all__ the moves in the game would be made using the "write it on paper first" rule. Not just the first move. The entire game would be white/black symmetric with respect to the order of move.

Wow, i mean.....that sounds like a very chaotic kind of game....interesting.
I guess it is unknown whether white truly has an advantage or not. Maybe, as many believe, chess is a draw

What a dumb idea!

I think it is very much worth discussing. Instead of dismissing it outright, why not comment on what you perceive as the benefits and disadvantages of playing this way?

You eliminate the first move advantage by playing two games... one as White, and one as Black.

That method is in common use in some sports, where the teams change ends at half-time in order to eliminate any advantage due to sun position or wind direction.

Well, this is easy.

Advantage: none.

Disadvantage: pure luck will determine what happens each turn. Also, it'll have absolutely no similarity to chess.

^ This.

Also, regarding the original post: the "first-move advantage" is actually an illusion. Chess should (in theory) be a draw from the opening position.

White's first move "advantage" is nullified on the very next half-turn, when Black responds with his own first move.

White disturbs the equilibrium, then Black restores it. Rinse and repeat ...

Wins or losses happen because both players will inevitably make mistakes along the way ...

That's not known yet 😂

It's not hard-proven, true.

But as the saying goes: "All signs point to yes" ...

Weird how people posting on this topic are insistent that things should be "obvious" when in my mind at least, they are more than clearly open for discussion......see like, a guy i know who does CS stuff insists that we shouldn't put too much weight on the "signs" given the MASSIVE complexity of chess.....granted, he doesn't know too much about chess but....

Leads to people being less practiced with black though....since you tend to be less challenged when you play with black

No. You are playing people who are rated lower than you when you play with black, so you are less challenged. The rating "switch" doesn't matter because your opponent's rating is irrelevant once the game is finished.

To me that seems very different. If two games of chess are played, one as white and one as black to eliminate any sort of advantage then wouldn't the sports field change also have to be two games? Not mid game, because only one game is being played, but the conditions are switched mid game.

I think the reasons sides are switched in sports is because of things that never apply in chess, like wind, sun, or other environmental reasons.

I don't think it's possible to eliminate the first move advantage in chess.

This is probably knowledgeable:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-move_advantage_in_chess