Playing White vs. Playing Black

I joined chess.com a few days ago and I checked my stats and game archive for the first time today.  I was very surprised to see the huge difference in performance between playing white and playing black.  On white I am 13-1 and on black I am 4-7-2.  Is this normal?  I didn't think the color really mattered unless it's top-level people playing.

Most people score slightly better with white, even at a low level.

In your case, with so few games it's hard to tell, but if the trend continues it probably means your approach to playing black (or the openings you choose) have a big flaw.

The 4 words before that partial quote are important.

Also the beginning of the sentence.

I looked through a few games and it is evident that you neglect piece development and king safety.  You lost your queen in several of the games you played as black. This happens because you bring out your queen right away as black and almost force your opponent to develop his pieces and attack your queen.

I would look at some of the lessons on how to open a game, develop your minor pieces first, get your king safe by castling and so on.

Same here. 24-9-2 vs 15-17-5 (I win about 70% of my games playing white vs 40% black), I will never understand this.

I didn't find your response particularly helpful.  I realize I'm not a great chess player, but a rating of 1123 with a record of 14-1 while playing white isn't really that bad for a beginner.  I'm certainly open to constructive criticism, but it seems that you like ragging on lesser chess players.  What would a GM rated 2500 have to say about the serious flaws in your thinking process?

@DierdreSkye's advice is definitely best for players looking to improve their game, and thus score better- with both colors.

However, the question posed by the OP is still interesting- there doesn't appear to be many (or possibly any) logical reasons for a low-rated player to score much, much worse with Black- as blunders are likely to happen with both colors.
Most likely it's a psychological component, or a different approach which doesn't work well for you. Example; You play slowly and solidly with White, and sharply with Black- but sharp chess isn't really your thing. (just an example, not necessarily your style of play).

Again, I agree with DierdreSkye that the best way to improve your game is focus on eliminating recurring mistakes- I just thought the question was interesting from a theoretical standpoint and provided what I think is the answer.

It is quite common in chess that players rated lower than Class B keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

This also common in others games such as duplicate bridge and poker.

To improve one must find his mistakes and understand why his mistakes hurt his game.  Often this will require a higher rated player to point out your mistakes.

@DeliciousOwl: I was merely answering the question the OP asked.
Also, players will learn more from finding the mistakes themselves- especially as the mistakes may have occurred off the board (example: Perhaps an elementary blunder was caused by them needing to leave the board, coming back, and moving too quickly?)

If they need clarification on whether a move is good, Chess.com has engines.

@DeliciousOwl: Anyone can benefit from an engine IF USED CORRECTLY!

As long as they are still thinking for themselves, an engine can be extremely useful- its job is to point out mistakes, and it's the human's job to figure out what type they are and how to prevent them.

True, in an ideal world it's better to analyze on your own first, but often time constraints make the above method easier/better to implement.

I suppose I haven't learned anything. However, simply playing more has allowed me to better recognize traps being set by my opponent.

What "one mistake" are you referring to?

Can you give me any specific pointers on how to improve my openings, like something easy to internalize that will give me an immediate boost?

My stats are pretty impressive, too. 70-25-6 with white and 51-44-12 with black in rapid play.

Anyway, the chess.com study plan for beginners should be very useful for you.

The advantage of moving first is not the initiative it's the ability to steer the game towards known waters, if that's a phrase.