The advantage of the first move in chess

The advantage of the first move in chess is the hypothetical advantage of the player (white), who makes the first move in chess . Chess practitioners and theorists generally agree that White starts the game with some advantage. Collected statistics from 1851 support this view; White consecutively wins a little more often than blacks, and usually gain from 52 to 56 percent. ^{[1] The} percentage of white wins is approximately the same for tournament games between people and between computers . However, White’s advantage in blitz and games between beginners is less significant.

Around 1889, when world champion Wilhelm Steinitz considered this issue, the prevailing opinion was that a perfectly played game would end in a draw. However, several well-known players argued that White’s advantage could be sufficient to win: and Vsevolod Rauser claimed that White won after the first move 1. e4 , while Hans Berliner claimed that White won by 1. 1. d4 . Some players, including world champions , such as Jose Raul Capablanca , Emanuel Lasker and Bobby Fischer , expressed concerns about " no man's death " as the study of chess tactics and strategies deepened. To mitigate this danger, Capablanca and Fisher proposed various chess options to renew interest in the game, while Lasker proposed changing the rules for evaluating a draw and a stalemate .

Since 1988, chess players have been challenging previously prevailing ideas about the advantages of whites. Grandmaster Andras Adoryan wrote a series of books on “Black is OK!” ( English “Black is OK!” ), Arguing that a common understanding that whites have an advantage is based more on psychology than on reality . Chess player and mathematician Mihai Shuba , as well as others, argue that sometimes White’s initiative disappears for no apparent reason during the game. Today's style of playing for black is to strive for dynamic, unbalanced positions, and not just try to equalize them. There are opinions that Black has certain compensating advantages.