White or black?

A post by orfeo in the "Is anyone else's performance balanced?" thread got me thinking.

Which side do you feel more comfortable playing? I personally prefer to play white because I like to get stuck in and attack straight away. Which also causes me to go more traditional with the centre pawns rather than a more hypermodern approach.

If you prefer a particular side, what is the reason for your preference?

Just wondering if there are deep rooted psychological reasons (e.g. a white player being more proactive in life, while a black player being more reactive).

This might end up becoming more of a debate thread. 😛

What does it mean when you really don't have a preference? Honestly, I am tring to learn better attacking play with white, but I play for solid defensive positions with black (Caro-Kann/Slav Defense). I am equally happy pressing the attack or trying to balance a tough defense. I don't enjoy 1 sided games much, even if I'm on the winning side.

My favorite color is plaid by the way 😉

White is just always better maybe some people feel they prefer to play with black because they like to counterattack with the sicilian defence. But you can have an even better counterattack with the english opening so... This mean that they are just playing the wrong opening with white. Not that they are better with black.

As white I'm a d4 player. The downside of this is if the QGD is played we meander into sterile positions occasionally. The upside is I have great fun against the KID (Four Pawns attack all the way) and the Nimzoindian (Catalan fun) plus the Dutch, Benoni and Benko are all fun to play against.

As black I'm a Dragon Sicilian player (KID if d4) who hates closed sicilians. I love the positions I get in the Dragon. The thematic exchange sac followed by the attacks on the c3 pawn etc.

So my whole point is. I love playing both white and black if the circumstances are right. If they aren't I don't enjoy it nearly as much.

Somehow I win a bit more games as black than with white. Probably because I like to attack and trip over every now and then because of this and my sillyness. That will happen slightly less when I am black, and as a consequence usually have to adapt to my opponent.

btw. I prefer playing white and opening with the vienna gambit. It leads to very interesting, sharp and alive play and can give you an easy crush sometimes.

I prefer White. I generally feel I have more space and/or a more solid position as White.

I actually like to play black better even though theoretically it's worse. My reasoning is black gets to make choices on their first move that effect the style and resulting position. I feel that black's second move has a bigger effect on the kind of position you'll get into, and me being a very picky player want to make sure it's what I want to play. For example after e4, the game could end up open or closed, tactical, positional, or strategical. And a lot of these decisions are made on black's first move.

Originally posted by ark13
I actually like to play black better even though theoretically it's worse. My reasoning is black gets to make choices on their first move that effect the style and resulting position. I feel that black's second move has a bigger effect on the kind of position you'll get into, and me being a very picky player want to make sure it's what I want to play. F ...[text shortened]... ical, positional, or strategical. And a lot of these decisions are made on black's first move.

I find i perform better as black. As white i attack without enouph planning. Over estimate my attacks and underestimate my opponents counter play. As black however, i play a much slower positional game, responding rather than calling the shots. I have a better score as black, though i haven't checked all the ratings. I have a feeling a lot of my black games are agains weaker players.