What happens when White refuses to make his first move?

When the two players sit down to play a game of chess, what rule governs the situation when the White player refuses to make move one?

Surely this has happened.

Is it considered the same as White not showing up at all?

I guess he just times out?

I'd consider it a protest.

Black starts the clock at the scheduled round start time.

When the game starts the clock starts. If the white player doesn't want to start the arbiter will start the clock or forfeit the game and give a win to the other player.

Yeah, it affects pairings (black would get a point), but would it affect ratings?  I think it would be TD's discretion.  Note the TD wouldn't be able to send in any scoresheets for that game, so if the white pieces player complained to USCF then TD may get in trouble.

Safe bet to treat it as if white didn't show up.  Black gets paired as if he won, but ratings don't change.

Yeah but then White can say they "did show up."  Or does showing up explicitly entail 1) physical presence and 2) making the first move...

Yeah, but it's about proof and how people usually use occam's razor type reasoning.  If you're a 3rd party listening to these claims, it's more reasonable to assume white didn't show up rather than white sat at the board and didn't move.

If an arbiter says that White isn't there, then that is final.

White will say he was there.  Black will probably tell the truth and say white was there.  There may be other witnesses.

Are you saying the TD will intentionally lie?  

Mika Rao, you do not seem very intelligent (much like most people on this site.)

If there is nothing on the scoresheet and you could even take a picture of the site with another clock with the real time on the display. The TD shouldn't lie; if the white player isn't there, and the TD says he isn't there, how wod it even be possible for the white player to later appeal?

It depends on whether it's OTB. Not sure about online but the rule in OTB tournaments is that black starts whites clock & it goes from there. IF white never moves & loses on time its NOT rated since no game was ever played & black gets a full point as if they'd won. So it would affect their tournament standing & pairing but not their rating.

This is very interesting.  This could be exploited, perhaps.

The USCF has a catch-all rule titled Conduct of Players ("Players shall participate in the spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship...").  One of the penalties for violation of this rule is loss of game.

I think that refusing to make the first move would fall under this rule.

and what happend if black refused to start the clock?

In tournament play, Black would sign his scoresheeet as White losing on time.  This happens sometimes when a player gets the time of the round wrong.  I believe the result stands as a win for Black and is rated (it can not be considered a loss by forfeit, because the White player was present), because White had "not played the prescribed number of moves in the given time."

Ah yes, fine query.  The plot thickens.

#18 I think hit the nail on the head.

Fischer - Spasskey 1972 World Championship Game 2:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1432857

Moral of the story, when it is your turn to move, make your move.