teacher_1's LESSON #1

Hello chess.com members!!! Thanks for taking the time to participate in LESSON #1: STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT.

Ok, I’m going to EASE you all into my format, my STYLE, and start out slowly with this first lesson. So, seeing this IS a chess site, let’s start out by talking chess. Lesson #1 is intended for the chess novice--from just starting out to 1 year of playing time. Most intermediates and masters already know what I‘m about to say.

Now, before we begin, be wary of ANYONE who disputes what I’m about to say. TO dispute this lesson in ANY form will show you a person who wishes to take ADVANTAGE of the younger chess novices. The DISPUTER will be a person who ACTUALLY agrees with what I’m about to say but encourages you to NOT follow this lesson so he or she CAN follow this lesson and become a better player, AT YOUR EXPENSE.

Now…………(drum roll)……..LESSON #1

Life is all about ODDS or PERCENTAGES. Follow the odds, and more often than NOT, you will succeed. For example, If there is a 90% chance of rain, you wouldn’t plan an outdoor picnic. To take the chance-- 90% get wet, 10% no rain--and go ahead and plan an outdoor event, you will probably get WET. Next, If there is 51% chance of something happening (odds in favor of the HOUSE in Vegas), then over the LONG HAUL, the house wins. That simple 1% edge translates into BILLIONS of dollars per year. No gambling establishment has ever LOST money.

So it is with chess. STEP #1, Always fight to play as WHITE. Getting white puts the odds in your favor as you stand a 56% chance of winning the game vs. a player of equal strength who is playing black. The odds are in your favor before you EVEN MAKE ONE MOVE!!!! He who VOLUNTARILY accepts to play as black is a FOOL!

“In 1946, W.F. Streeter examined the results of 5,598 games played in 45 international chess tournaments between 1851 and 1932. Streeter found that overall White scored 53.4%. Statistician Arthur M. Stevens concluded in The Blue Book of Charts to Winning Chess, based on a survey of 56,972 master games that he completed in 1967, that White scores 59.1%. In 2005, GM Jonathan Rowson wrote that "the conventional wisdom is that White begins the game with a small advantage and, holding all other factors constant, scores approximately 56% to Black's 44%".” As you can see, students, over the course of time (1851-2005), the SAME results are found. We can only conclude this to be 100% FACTUAL that white wins more often than black. I could go ON AND ON with other studies, but I won‘t. The irrefutable proof is there. ACCEPT this fact and PROGRESS ONWARD.

Next, when you begin a game that you really want to WIN--not some friendly weekend game with your friends--you’ll want to further UP THE ODDS in your favor by playing your first move as D4 (Queen’s Gambit). Never ever play ANYTHING other than D4 as your first move. EVER!!!! Did I say EVER? EVER. NEVER ever. Ever never.

D4 ADDS to your winning percentage by giving you 58 points for every 100 games you play (40 wins and 36 draws). There is no other first move that can claim that score. FACT.

In conclusion, pupils, THE STATS don’t lie. White gets you an AUTOMATIC advantage, and D4 adds to that advantage. So, if you were to distill all these numbers down, you have an approximate 57% chance of WINNING a chess game if your first move as white is D4 (Queen’s Gambit) facing an opponent of equal skill.

Play the odds. White + D4 = WIN THE GAME more often than lose. History has shown this to be inarguably true.

Thank you. Class is dismissed.

homepage.ntlworld.com/adam.bozon/stats.htm#lists

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Of the games that start with 1.d4, statistics show that white is the better player 56% of the time.

Mark Twain may have been the great American author, but Samuel Clemens didn't known spit about math.

It's lucky he wasn't the one who coined the phrase, then.

It's still a stupid phrase. Statistics don't lie. It's just that people who don't understand statistics are easily lied to by people who misrepresent them.

That is exactly what the phrase is referring to, the misrepresentation of statistics. Obviously, in the right hands our friendly percentages will model our world quite happily. But that is not what the quote is about.

Anyway, my point was that we can't be sure playing 1. d4 is the reason for the extra wins. There are so many other factors that might be coming into play. What if people generally play d4 against weaker opponents, for example? Such psychological factors must be considered.

groundbreaking analysis!!

Well you played 1. d4 yet you still lost to chess.com. More information is obviously needed. 

Uh oh Bondiggity, you broke the golden rule! No referring to THAT account!! 

teacher is an acronym of cheater...anyone noticed?there was once a guy very popular here with hat name.welcome back!

I think that chess players should feel convenient with both sides so I would say: practise both sides because you cannot always play white.
I agree with Nytik, A player wins a game because he know's and sees what he must play not because he chooses an openingsmove that has winning statistics.

One more post before I get some shuteye.

I think the main flaw in this argument is what the 56% win statistic actually represents. The problem is thus:

If you play 1. d4, is there a 56% chance you'll win? Of course not! It's dependent on a LOT of other factors! Just because 56% of games in the past (and master games, at that) have been wins for white does not have any bearing on the game at hand.

I hope that helps anyone who the resident chess.com imbecile has managed to beguile this evening...

It all makes sense now... I was flawed in my beliefs before! Thank you!!

those stats are for titled players.  amature stats seperated by ratings would be more useful to most chess.com members.  if you think that playing as white and playing d4 will help you win go ahead; i might try it. 

OBVIOUSLY we're talking about similar ranked players.

D4 aint gonna help me one WHIT if I played Kasparov.

Finally, it doesn't matter if we're talking about pros or JOES, the stats are the SAME across the board. GM vs. GM, 57% edge with white and d4.

first year amateurs, same %.

"D4 aint gonna help me one WHIT if I played Kasparov."

You're giving "lessons", but seem unpracticed in the notation... it's "d4" numbnuts, capital letters are reserved for the pieces.

btw 1. d4 is not the Queen's Gambit.

Anyone who takes the least notice of anything you have to say deserves every bit of misinformation that they swallow.

d4 is mainly for positional players

as a player who has only been seriously playing online since april 2009, but not competing, I would have to say that 1. e4 is the better opening to start out as a beginner

novices should learn how to employ and use tactics, since they will occur much more frequently than the subtleties of positional play with 1. d4

although d4 has a lot less opening theory to learn, since the only replies that are seen nowadays are d5 and Nf6, with declined/accepted and slav/semi for d5, and the indian defenses for Nf6

also, playing black lets you train your defense skills and how to productively launch a counterattack against white, something you don't get a chance to have when you play the first move

I'm only thirteen, so please share your responses, and constructively criticize my above opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Gambit

Attention people, LIES will NOT be tolerated in MY TOPIC. I simply won't stand for it.

I will, however, tolerate the occasional DUNCE.

Okay, I'm just going to ignore all the flaws in your argument, and just ask the question we've all been dying to ask:

What if black plays Nf6?