Notes On The Strategic Advantage Of Playing White In Chess

R. and I play chess and are of roughly the same skill level (probably a result of well over 50 percent of our games being played against one another). I think he would agree that I am better in the early- to mid-game; my strategy is to gain a material advantage at the outset and trade off to an easy endgame. He is better late - if he can survive until the endgame tied with me he usually wins. So one day I will compare the number of moves to the eventual winner, testing the hypothesis that he wins the longer games.

But here's a stat: in our games played over a popular internet social network, which archives our results, White has won 16 out of 20. According to Wikipedia, White is usually found to win between 52 and 56 percent, with the advantage less pronounced for weaker players. Presumably that makes R. and me chess gods.

I recall about six moves into a chess game (this one played in person a few years ago), after each of us had developed our bishops and knights in the smartly conservative way that we know will not lead to any serious early gaffes, R. remarked that we begin this way so often that we might as well start from that developed position instead of the legally prescribed way. (This is entirely reminiscent of our adopted rule that Twenty Questions shall begin with the answerer identifying the subject as animal, vegetable, or mineral, so that we might dispense with the first one to three formality questions and get to the point.) I have ever since found it fascinating how quickly each game becomes virtually unique (I know, like you could even know that) within the subsequent few moves. But what is almost as interesting is that despite this remarkable spin into vagary-dom, White seems to maintain the upper hand. At least between R. and your faithful 'Dlogger.