Classically, a tempo is worth 1/3rd of a pawn.
White starts the game roughly that much ahead.
isn’t starting as white a huge advantage?
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Aug 21, 2021
0
#3
nicklausthebear wrote:
But basically, I want to know why isn’t white in a huge advantage compared to black,
But basically, I want to know why isn’t white in a huge advantage compared to black,
In positions where there are many forcing moves, then being the one to move first might be enough to win.
But in the starting position both player's pieces are disorganized and far away from each other. The knights can jump over pawns, but it takes a while before you can even move both your bishops out.
By the time threats are made, both players have made a number of moves, and so for example having 8 moves vs 7 is only a 14% increase over the opponent. When it's 100% (2 vs 1) there's no contact between forces, so it doesn't matter... and this percentage drops with every move.
Aug 21, 2021
0
#4
thats why black openings are called "defense", white attacks black defends..
and there are gambits, usually turns this situation around, you sacrifice a pawn to take the initiative. and in most cases you get your pawn back later on.
so people developed some workarounds to overcome this problem.
Chess is a draw, but the path to the draw is wider for white and narrower for black.
At higher levels most games do end in draws, though white wins slightly more than black.
The extra tempo is an advantage, but not enough to win.
I feel like I’m better as black but it’s marginal, I’m more comfortable countering
#7
At higher levels most games do end in draws. Classical World Championship: 12 draws out of 12 games. ICCF: 98% draws. Yekaterinburg Candidates: 31 draws, 17 white wins, 8 black wins.
Aug 22, 2021
0
#8
Most GM games end in draws.
Generally the stronger the player, the more draws they have.
For example something like 10% of my blitz games are draws, but a beginner would have more like 1%.
(long games draw rate is higher)
#9
Yes that is right: the longer the time control the more draws.
Here is a paper that proves this
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2009.04374.pdf
Surprisingly enough chess even remains a draw if stalemate were a win.
I know that some people say there is a slight advantage as to starting as white, but to me I always felt like it’s a pretty big advantage, I know I’m only 700 so my opinion and thinking of chess isn’t quite correct.
But basically, I want to know why isn’t white in a huge advantage compared to black, because personally from the small sample size of games I played, and just logically (thinking that the white player gets to go first, do things first), being white should be a big advantage right?