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How big is the advantage when playing as white

How big is the advantage when playing as white

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Originally posted by Paul Dirac
Okay then, let us say GM = 2,400.

😛
He might not be a GM, actually. I found a thread about it and David Tebb said he (Ironman31) played at the level of a very strong master or GM in correspondence chess. And, supposedly the RHP ratings are either lower or higher than corresponding FIDE or ELO ratings or something...

Anyway, 2400 sounds fine to me 🙂

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I am definitely doing better with white. My record so far: 2 losses out of 19 games with white, 5 losses out of 21 with black. And the second loss with white, which happened today, was in my first game against a much higher rated player, and I would be very surprised if I wouldn't lose my other game (with black) against the same player.

There is a simple reason why I am better with white: When I started playing chess half a year ago, I only played against the computer. I felt there was so much to learn and it was so confusing that I didn't need the extra confusion of having to play different colours (actually when I took my first steps, I used a free demo where it wasn't even possible to play black). Eventually I started playing black from time to time, but I still played white much more often. If people learn playing chess by playing against other humans, I guess this won't happen to the same degree, although it's probably not uncommon to offer a beginner to play white. When I started playing here, I forced myself to play black at least as often as white, and I hope it won't take long until there's not much difference anymore. So being better with white might be typical for beginners and top players, while it wouldn't play much of a role for those in between (hey, isn't it nice to have something in common with top players? 😉 ).

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72 wins, 4 draws, 8 losses as white.
76 wins, 3 draws, 12 losses as black.

Don't know what that says.

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White has the advantage because he is the first to move, but if he makes a blunder, black should be able to seize momentum and not give it back. Black has to wait for a slight mistake, and not let up. White, I feel, cannot afford to make blunders and hope to win....

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Originally posted by jugglingeek
I know that there is some advantage and I remember watching Short vs Kasparov as a kid and hearing the comentators talking about Kasparov trying to win as white and draw as black. Is there such a great advantage and should different tactics be used when playing as black durring the opening
Perhaps someone who is better than me could explain this better, but it's all to do the momentum, at the top end a wasted move means massive trouble but for the likes of us it makes that less difference. Being white if you are always making a move that forces the pace means your opponent is always catching up, hence the advantage.