choosing black when issuing a challenge is not available

correct.

Erik,

I wouldn't be able to advance to where I am right now (a high begginer) without some real repetition and this change is quite discouraging. For me the repetition allowed me to slowly progress ceratin aspects of my game and finding my repeated flaws that I need to work on while seeing where I stand in relation to other players with a real metering system. Sure, for a seasoned player who already managed to understand how certain positions control the middle game and endgame it seems illogical that someone will play the same color, but for me it was the only way to progress and find my mind flaws. Unrated games take away any edge from a game, so that suggestion seems to defeat the purpose of learning to handle pressure as well as the errors that we make. It also promotes quitting when things are not great for you and removes most pressure from your counterpart.

Chess.com should allow for all kinds of players IMHO and not limit us to challange friends with the colors we like... if someone doesn't like playing against someone who prefers to work on a certain color he can easily abort. The advantages here, where newbies have a chance to learn through repetition and exploration (changing color really breaks the chain of thought and familiarity), is a great promotion for those people, myself included to pick up the game.

Perhaps this limit should be imposed on higher rated players who are not beginners.. that WOULD make sense to me. Otherwise, the change is only good to already experianced players and to deter/handicap new ones from actually improving to a point where they understand more than an intuitive 4 move play.

This frustrates me as I prefer to play one color over another depending on my mood - i normally rematch opponent and automatically colors swap and I have no problems with this as I have already played the side I wanted to.

If you are so concerned about White and Black ratios, you could come up with an algorithm that if a person has played too many of the one color, then the option to play a game of that color is not available.

Another option is that for all rated games, you make it compulsory to always play two games with the same opponent.  The thing that irritates me is when you play the one game and then they disappear when you are wanting a rematch.

If people are wanting to play all games of the same color, I don't really see what harm that is, i would prefer playing them twice with the same color than only once.

I do think that what is best is to have it totally random each and every time you play a new opponent if you are going to persist with this. 

i have read your thoughts and i understand your points, but the harm caused by allowing choices outweighs the benefits. 

if you like repetition, then always play the same openings as white and black. chess is a game of both sides. 

good suggestions Gaiger - we're trying to move toward that direction. but what we really want is #1 fairness and #2 clarity. the current change brings us closer to that. i understand that upsets some people who always want to play one color, or who have some other specific desire, but again, we have to please the greatest good. 

Wrong color!? just offer a draw, and then rematch...then the color will change (HI). I play white because I practicing a white opening. After that will I practicing a black opening and so on....

I think it's pretty silly! 

Just now I was playing someone who challanges me twice with Phildor when I'm white (I lost on both and won when playing black without even paying attention to the opening). I was interested in playing white a few more times and explore the Phildor from white's perspective... the "greatest good" seems absurd when I can't do just that and develop my game against Phildor by exploring variations of this position. This is an interenet website and not a club and I don't see a "greatest good" in slowing down the progress of begginers by denying them the basic option expected when going online.

I'm not against a method of flagging players for 'white only' and tagging yourself as a player who wants to play with players who play both colors only. Also, it seems fair that advanced players will require to play both... for me, this is a terrible insensitive change that denies me the option of learning through the curve that I set out for myself.

This lack of consideration is, frankly, snobbish towards the begginer. I would really hope that some consideration will be made to my suggestions or some type of other method that allows game-condition (not unrated) repetition.

Erik, I'm an Australian. You guys are American. Isn't it supposed to be "The Land of the Free"? Freedom of choice is what democracy is based on, take that away and you have the bud of dictatorship.

This, to me, is not about playing black or white, it is about a principle. While you say that democracies have rules, and that is true, these rules are principally enacted to stop people from harming others or self-harming (such as your smoking in restaurants). I don't think someone wanting to play white, or black, all the time harms anyone, because others still have the CHOICE NOT to play them. They can sit on white all day long with nobody challenging them if others choose to do so.

This is all about freedom of choice. Taking that away undermines the principles of democracy and sends out the wrong sort of message, especially to the many non-American players out there.

You might think that this is only a chess game but this just reinforces the beliefs of those who see America as a repressive regime. They will be thinking "Americans are always dictating the rules, even telling us how to play chess". I think it is better that you send out a clear message that freedom, even in chess, should be the paramount foundation of any civilised society. Give us back our freedom of choice.

As you can see this is the typical fascist American response. Laughing at others people's beliefs and thoughts is exactly what most non-Americans think Americans do all the time, because they are not smart enough to engage in critical thought. No wonder your country has so many enemies and many people hate your country. This ThreeNailz from Georgia exemplifies everything that is wrong with your country in one word. Hilarious!!

(well, here's a canadian doing it too) lol!

eric is simply trying to (somewhat) regulate the live chess ratings on chess.com in order to keep people from getting incredibly inflated ratings. you still have the option to choose your color - just in unrated games.

if all you are doing is looking to practice with a color, then just make it an unrated game and practice. if you are looking to increase your rating, then you shouldn't have the option to always play one color because that's not how rated chess games work. there is no rated tournament or match or game in the entire chess world that counts for real ratings that allows a person to play only with white (or black). if anything, erik is making live chess even closer and more similar to real, over-the-board chess (as opposed to the alleged free-for-all it was previously).

what he is not doing is "taking away your freedoms" (since you still have that choice in unrated games).

Thanks Trigs for the comment, but according to Homer Simpson Canada is "America Junior". Unfortunately, you cannot have a little bit of freedom with the option of playing unrated games. You are either have freedom or you do not. Freedom doesn't come with options, it is an absolute.

I can't believe I have to try and give a lecture on the semantics of freedom to you guys. Your country's whole existence is based on it. Has it really come to this? 

lol freedom in this sense is not absolute. i'm not free to walk down the street and kill people. i'm not free to steal from people. if that is your definition of freedom then no one is free anywhere.

by the way, your definition of freedom is not what america means by freedom, obviously, but thanks for the "lesson". lol.

and honestly, if you're going to make condescending comments like this, you may want to check your facts first.

i'm Scottish and i think your wrong Dazza, no concept of freedom here either I guess :)

 The ratings are competitive. We are against each other with our ratings. If someone only plays with the side they are good at, they have an unfair advantage.

If you want to practice - this can be done with unrated games where we do not compete against each other with our ratings. I really don't get what the problem is.

the problem is he doesn't know what the term 'freedom' is referring to in this situation, and on top of that, he's suggesting that freedom of a country has a direct correlation to freedom on a chess website. and from this faulty understanding of freedom, coupled with his flawed comparison, he's claiming that an entire country (america) is hypocritical.

it is quite the argument lol.

I thnk U talkn bout Me. I usually play as White, cuz know less bout Black. But I appreciate Ur decision- it shows dat how much u r concerned bout chess and U really want We 2learn. Thanks once agn. Now I will play wht I get

Hey trigs, thanks for the uniformed response. If you had read my earlier statement you would have seen this While you say that democracies have rules, and that is true, these rules are principally enacted to stop people from harming others or self-harming (such as your smoking in restaurants).". But no, you didn't. Whose ignorance is showing now. P.S. Canada sucks!

You say freedom does not apply over the internet. The internet was MADE FREE by the guy who invented it. He gave it to the world for free, instead of charging all of us to use it. He understood how crucial it is to have freedom on the net.

Funnily enough, the only propaganda filled news shows we get over here are your redneck FOX NEWS with some jerk named Bill Reilly and some other yank twats spouting their hate filled rhetoric. I believe their all made in the US. Who's the idiot now?

This just killed your whole argument. This rule is doing EXACTLY that, it's stopping players from harming others. When one player plays only one color, it messes with the rating system, thereby affecting EVERYONE. So, by your own admission, this rule is fine for a democratic setting (which this site is not, but that's another issue entirely).

OK, this is my last posting on this subject. Everyone who responded just doesn't get what I am talking about. I'll just summarise quickly it for the morons out there.

"FREEDOM OF CHOICE"

which is taken away.

Now all you idiots can just piss off. I don't care what you are saying. You don't get it and you obviously never will. You don't listen, you never will.You think you're right about everything without understanding the argument. READ what I am writing. No wonder everyone wants to blow you guys up all the time. 

Who's the idiot now?

This is a completely ignorant response. To lump all Americans (or any group, but, you used Americans) into one big pile is no better than the behavior you are complaining about. I have news for you... not all Americans are the same, not all Americans think or act the same way. About the only thing you can say with accuracy about "all Americans" is that well, we're American.