^ A strong developing move that prepares for a king-side attack.
Uops ...
BTW I red somewhere that some GM had proposed a variant of chess where White arranges the pieces first (like in chess960) and then Black can choose how to arrange his pieces in reaction
so the first move advantage is equalized by the optimal setup of Black
I think that for lower-rated players (maybe <1200) having the white pieces is a significant advantage, more so than between masters. Most beginners learn to attack before they learn to defend, so as long as white doesn't blunder away the initiative by the middle-game, he will have an edge.
Yeah, as a beginner I'd often play pointless moves because I didn't know what to play: moved a pawn just to make a move.
Lower-rateds throw away tempos randomly, so an extra one won't matter much.
I have heard these gripes for years in other forums and in tournaments and I only have one question for most people. Does it really have an effect in your game? The answer for 99% of the chess players out there is NO. Outright blunders (as in dropping a piece) effect the game for almost all players below Master level. At Master level and above the stats show that yes white has an advantage but this is not a deciding advantage.
You're right, but if you think about the first move advantage is the only element of asimmetry in an otherwise harmonious (and gorgeous) game design.
I thought about playing a chess variant with black choosing the first move of white, but that would have to be one of the 7 regular moves (e4, d4, Nf3, c4, g3, f4, b3)
white would still have a good first move, but black would have an advantage in preparation, as they can know the first 2 moves before the game starts.
But I really don't think there is such a big problem with white's advantage in chess rules, because people can play multiple games.