text: first - move advantage in chess the first - move advantage in chess is the inherent advantage of the player ( white ) who makes the first move in chess . chess players and theorists generally agree that white begins the game with some advantage . since 1851 , compiled statistics support this view ; white consistently wins slightly more often than black , usually scoring between 52 and 56 percent . white 's winning percentage is about the same for tournament games between humans and games between computers . however , white 's advantage is less significant in blitz games and games between novices . chess players and theoreticians have long debated whether , given perfect play by both sides , the game should end in a win for white , or a draw . since approximately 1889 , when world champion wilhelm steinitz addressed this issue , the overwhelming consensus has been that a perfectly played game would end in a draw . however , a few notable players have argued that white 's advantage may be sufficient to force a win : weaver adams and vsevolod rauzer claimed that white is winning after the first move 1.e4 , while hans berliner argued that 1.d4 may win for white . some players , including world champions such as josé raúl capablanca , emanuel lasker , and bobby fischer , have expressed fears of a " draw death " as chess becomes more deeply analyzed . to alleviate this danger , capablanca and fischer both proposed chess variants to renew interest in the game , while lasker suggested changing how draws and stalemate are scored . since 1988 , chess theorists have challenged previously well - established views about white 's advantage . grandmaster ( gm ) andrás adorján wrote a series of books on the theme that " black is ok ! " , arguing that the general perception that white has an advantage is founded more in psychology than reality . gm mihai suba and others contend that sometimes white 's initiative disappears for no apparent reason as a game progresses . the prevalent style of play for black today is to seek dynamic , unbalanced positions with active counterplay , rather than merely trying to equalize . modern writers also argue that black has certain countervailing advantages . the consensus that white should try to win can be a psychological burden for the white player , who sometimes loses by trying too hard to win . some symmetrical openings ( i.e. those where both players make the same moves ) can lead to situations where moving first is a disadvantage , either for psychological or objective reasons . winning percentages in 1946 , w.f. streeter examined the results of 5 , 598 games played in 45 international chess tournaments between 1851 and 1932 . streeter found that overall white scored 53 . 4 % ( w : 38 . 12 ; d : 30 . 56 ; l : 31 . 31 ) . white scored 52 . 55 % in 1851 – 78 ( w : 45 . 52 ; d : 14 . 07 ; l : 40 . 41 ) , 52 . 77 % in 1881 – 1914 ( w : 36 . 89 ; d : 31 . 76 ; l : 31 . 35 ) , and 55 . 47 % in 1919 – 32 ( w : 36 . 98 ; d : 36 . 98 ; l : 26 . 04 ) . streeter concluded , " it thus appears that it is becoming increasingly difficult to win with black , but somewhat easier to draw . " two decades later , statistician arthur m. stevens concluded in the blue book of charts to winning chess , based on a survey of 56 , 972 master games that he completed in 1967 , that white scores 59 . 1 % . however , stevens assembled his games from those that had been published in chess magazines , rather than complete collections of all the games played in particular events . more recent sources indicate that white scores approximately 54 to 56 percent . in 2005 , gm jonathan rowson wrote that " the conventional wisdom is that white begins the game with a small advantage and , holding all other factors constant , scores approximately 56 % to black 's 44 % " . international master ( im ) john watson wrote in 1998 that white had scored 56 % for most of the 20th century , but that this figure had recently slipped to 55 % . the website holds regularly updated statistics on its games database . as of january 12 , 2015 , white had won 37 . 50 % , 34 . 90 % were drawn , and black had won 27 . 60 % out of 739 , 769 games , resulting in a total white winning percentage of 54 . 95 % . new in chess observed in its 2000 yearbook that of the 731 , 740 games in its database , white scored 54 . 8 % overall ; with the two most popular opening moves , white scored 54 . 1 % in 349 , 855 games beginning 1.e4 , and 56 . 1 % in 296 , 200 games beginning 1.d4. the main reason that 1.e4 was less effective than 1.d4 was the sicilian defence ( 1.e4 c5 ) , which gave white only a 52 . 3 % score in 145 , 996 games . statistician jeff sonas , in examining data from 266 , 000 games played between 1994 and 2001 , concluded that white scored 54 . 1767 % plus 0 . times white 's elo rating advantage , treating white 's rating advantage as + 390 if it is better than + 390 , or − 460 if it is worse than − 460 . he found that white 's advantage is equivalent to 35 rating points , i.e. if white has a rating 35 points below black 's , each player will have an expected score of 50 % . sonas also found that white 's advantage is smaller ( 53 % ) in rapid games than in games at a slower ( " classical " ) time control . in the 462 games played at the 2009 world blitz chess championship , white scored only 52 . 16 % ( l 34 . 63 ) . other writers conclude that there is a positive correlation between the players ' ratings and white 's score . according to gm evgeny sveshnikov , statistics show that white has no advantage over black in games between beginners , but " if the players are stronger , white has the lead " . an analysis of the results of games in chessbase 's mega 2003 database between players with similar elo ratings , commissioned by gm andrás adorján , showed that as the players ' ratings went up , the percentage of draws increased , the proportion of decisive games that white won increased , and white 's overall winning percentage increased . for example , taking the highest and lowest of adorján 's rating categories of 1669 games played by the highest - rated players ( elo ratings 2700 and above ) , white scored 55 . 7 % overall ( ) , whereas of 34 , 924 games played by the lowest - rated players ( elo ratings below 2100 ) , white scored 53 . 1 % overall ( ) . adorján also analyzed the results of games played at the very highest level : world championship matches . of 755 games played in 34 matches between 1886 and 1990 , white won 234 ( 31 . 0 % ) , drew 397 ( 52 . 6 % ) , and lost 124 ( 16 . 4 % ) , for a total white winning percentage of 57 . 3 % . in the last five matches in 's survey , all between anatoly karpov and garry kasparov , white won 31 ( 25 . 8 % ) , drew 80 ( 66 . 7 % ) , and lost 9 ( 7 . 5 % ) , for a total white winning percentage of 59 . 2 % . chess engines grand tournament ( ) tests computer chess engines by playing them against each other , with time controls of forty moves in one hundred and twenty minutes per player ( 40 / 120 ) , and also 40 / 20 and 40 / 4 , and uses the results of those games to compile a rating list for each time control . at the slowest time control ( 40 / 120 ) , white has scored 55 . 4 % ( ) in games played among 38 of the strongest chess engines ( as of may 27 , 2009 ) . at 40 / 20 , white has scored 54 . 6 % ( ) in games played among 284 engines ( as of may 24 , 2009 ) . at the fastest time control ( 40 / 4 ) , white has scored 54 . 8 % ( ) , in games played among 128 programs ( as of may 28 , 2009 ) . drawn with best play joseph bertin wrote in his 1735 textbook the noble game of chess , " he that plays first , is understood to have the attack . " this is consistent with the traditional view that white , by virtue of the first move , begins with the initiative and should try to extend it into the middlegame , while black should strive to neutralize white 's initiative and attain equality . because white begins with the initiative , a minor mistake by white generally leads only to loss of the initiative , while a similar mistake by black may have more serious consequences . thus , sveshnikov wrote in 1994 , " black players cannot afford to make even the slightest mistake ... from a theoretical point of view , the tasks of white and black in chess are different : white has to strive for a win , black — for a draw ! " chess theorists have long debated how enduring white 's initiative is and whether , if both sides play perfectly , the game should end in a win for white or a draw . george walker wrote in 1846 that , " the first move is an advantage , ... but if properly answered , the first move is of little worth " . steinitz , the first world champion , who is widely considered the father of modern chess , wrote in 1889 , " it is now conceded by all experts that by proper play on both sides the legitimate issue of a game ought to be a draw . " lasker and capablanca , the second and third world champions , agreed . reuben fine , one of the world 's leading players from 1936 to 1951 , wrote that white 's opening advantage is too intangible to be sufficient for a win without an error by black . the view that a game of chess should end in a draw given best play prevails . even if it cannot be proved , this assumption is considered " safe " by rowson and " logical " by adorján . watson agrees that " the proper result of a perfectly played chess game ... is a draw . ... of course , i can 't prove this , but i doubt that you can find a single strong player who would disagree . ... i remember kasparov , after a last - round draw , explaining to the waiting reporters : ' well , chess is a draw . ' " world champion bobby fischer thought that was almost definitely so . lasker and capablanca both worried that chess would suffer a " draw death " as top - level players drew more and more of their games . more recently , fischer agreed , saying that the game has become played out . all three advocated changing the rules of chess to minimize the number of drawn games . lasker suggested scoring less than half a point for a draw , and more than half a point for the opponent 's king . capablanca in the 1920s proposed capablanca chess , a chess variant played on a larger board and with additional pieces . fischer advocated fischer random chess , another chess variant , in which the initial position of the pieces is determined at random . today some of the sharpest opening variations have been analyzed so deeply that they are often used as drawing weapons . for example , at the highest levels , black often uses the marshall attack in the ruy lopez , a line where black sacrifices a pawn for strong attacking chances , to obtain an endgame where black is still a pawn down but is able to draw with correct play . in 2007 , gms kiril georgiev and atanas kolev asserted that much the same was true of the so - called poisoned pawn variation of the najdorf sicilian , which arises after 1.e4 c5 2.nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.nxd4 nf6 5.nc3 a6 6.bg5 e6 7.f4 qb6 ! ? this has long been considered one of the sharpest and most problematic , or even foolhardy , opening lines . the game usually continues 8.qd2 qxb2 qa3 . georgiev and kolev stated that 6.bg5 is seldom seen at the highest level because the main line of this variation leads , with best play , to a draw by perpetual check . they wrote that the following game " will probably remain the last word of theory " : francisco vallejo pons – kasparov , moscow 2004 : 1 . e4 c5 2 . nf3 d6 3 . d4 cxd4 4 . nxd4 nf6 5 . nc3 a6 6 . bg5 e6 7 . f4 qb6 8 . qd2 qxb2 9 . rb1 qa3 10 . f5 nc6 11 . fxe6 fxe6 12 . bxc6 13 . e5 dxe5 14 . bxf6 gxf6 15 . ne4 16 . rd1 be7 17 . be2 0 - 0 18 . 0 - 0 19 . kh8 20 . rd7 21 . qh6 22 . rxd1 + 23 . qa5 24 . qd8 25 . qxf7 qxd1 + 26 . + 27 . qd1 + 28 . qc2 + 29 . bc5 + 30 . qxc5 + 31 . qf2 + 32 . qd4 + 33 . qf2 + 34 . 1 / 2 – 1 / 2 ( after 34 ... qd4 + , white cannot escape the checks . ) however , georgiev and kolev 's pessimistic assessment of 6.bg5 has since been called into question , as white succeeded with ( another critical line ) in several later high - level games . gm wrote in 2013 that after , " a forced draw results " , but that after , " we reach a very sharp position , with mutual chances . " white wins white wins with 1.e4 although it is very much a minority view , three prominent twentieth - century masters claimed that white 's advantage should or may be decisive with best play . weaver adams , then one of the leading american masters , was the best - known proponent of this view , which he introduced in his 1939 book white to play and win , and continued to expound in later books and articles until shortly before his death in 1963 . adams opined that 1.e4 was white 's strongest move , and that if both sides played the best moves thereafter , " white ought to win . " adams ' claim was widely ridiculed , and he did not succeed in demonstrating the validity of his theory in tournament and match practice . the year after his book was published , at the finals of the 1940 u.s. open tournament , he scored only one draw in his four games as white , but won all four of his games as black . adams also lost a match to im i.a. horowitz , who took the black pieces in every game . according to sveshnikov , vsevolod rauzer , a leading soviet player and theoretician during the 1930s , likewise " claimed in the [ 1930s ] : ' 1.e4 — and white wins ! ' and he managed to prove it quite often " . white wins with 1.d4 more recently , im hans berliner , a former world champion of correspondence chess , claimed in his 1999 book the system that 1.d4 gives white a large , and possibly decisive , advantage . berliner asserted that with best play white wins against the grünfeld defense , the modern benoni , the benko gambit and other ( unnamed ) " major defences " , and achieves at least a large advantage in many lines of the queen 's gambit declined . however , he allowed that , " it is possible that the rules of chess are such that only some number of plausible - appearing defences to 1.d4 can be refuted . " berliner wrote that adams ' " theories , though looked upon with scorn by most top chess players , made an immediate and lasting impression on me . weaver w. adams was the first person i met who actually had theories about how chess should be played . " berliner 's thesis , like adams ' , has been sharply criticized . modern perspectives as explained below , chess theorists in recent decades have continued to debate the size and nature of white 's advantage , if any . apart from berliner , they have rejected the idea that white has a forced win from the opening position . many also reject the traditional paradigm that black 's objective should be to neutralize white 's initiative and obtain equality . white has an enduring advantage in 2004 , gm larry kaufman expressed a more nuanced view than adams and berliner , arguing that the initiative stemming from the first move can always be transformed into some sort of enduring advantage , albeit not necessarily a decisive one . kaufman writes , " i don 't believe that white has a forced win in chess . i do however believe that with either 1.e4 or 1.d4 , white should be able to obtain some sort of advantage that persists into the endgame . if chess were scored like boxing , with drawn games awarded by some point system to the player ( if any ) who came ' closer ' to winning , then i believe white would indeed have a forced win in theory . " black is ok ! starting in 1988 , adorján has argued in a series of books and magazine articles that " black is ok ! " alone amongst modern writers , adorján claims that white starts the game with essentially no advantage . he writes , " in my opinion , the only obvious advantage for white is that if he or she plays for a draw , and does so well , then black can hardly avoid this without taking obvious risks . " adorján goes so far as to claim that , " the tale of white 's advantage is a delusion , belief in it is based on mass psychosis . " rowson writes that adorján 's " contention is one of the most important chess ideas of the last two decades ... because it has shaken our assumption that white begins the game with some advantage , and revealed its ideological nature " . however , rowson rejects adorján 's claim that white has essentially no advantage , reasoning that " ' white is better ' and ' black is ok ' need not be mutually exclusive claims " . in one of adorján 's books , gm lajos portisch opined that " at least two - thirds of all ' tested ' openings give white an apparent advantage . " according to portisch , for black , " the root of the problem is that very few people know which are the openings where black is really ok . those who find these lines have nothing to fear , as black is indeed ok , but only in those variations ! " rowson considers this an important point , noting that " 1.d4 players struggle to get anywhere against main - line slavs and 1.e4 players find the najdorf and sveshnikov sicilians particularly tough . " modern writers often think of black 's role in more dynamic terms than merely trying to equalize . rowson writes that " the idea of black trying to ' equalize ' is questionable . i think it has limited application to a few openings , rather than being an opening prescription for black in general . " evans wrote that after one of his games against fischer , " fischer confided his ' secret ' to me : unlike other masters , he sought to win with the black pieces from the start . the revelation that black has dynamic chances and need not be satisfied with mere equality was the turning point in his career , he said . " likewise , watson surmised that kasparov , when playing black , bypasses the question of whether white has an opening advantage " by thinking in terms of the concrete nature of the dynamic imbalance on the board , and seeking to seize the initiative whenever possible " . watson observes that " energetic opening play by black may ... lead to a position so complex and unclear that to speak of equality is meaningless . sometimes we say ' dynamically balanced ' instead of ' equal ' to express the view that either player is as likely as the other to emerge from complications with an advantage . this style of opening play has become prevalent in modern chess , with world champions fischer and kasparov as its most visible practitioners . " modern writers also question the idea that white has an enduring advantage . suba , in his influential 1991 book dynamic chess strategy , rejects the notion that the initiative can always be transformed into an enduring advantage . he contends that sometimes the player with the initiative loses it with no logical explanation , and that , " sometimes you must lose it , just like that . if you try to cling to it , by forcing the issue , your dynamic potential will become exhausted and you won 't be able to face a vigorous counter - attack . " rowson and watson concur . watson also observes , " because of the presumption of white being better , the juncture of the game at which black frees his game or neutralizes white 's plans has often been automatically assumed to give him equality , even though in dynamic openings , the exhaustion of white 's initiative very often means that black has seized it with advantage . " advantages rowson argues that both white and black have certain advantages : white 's advantages according to rowson , white 's first advantage is that , " the advantage of the first move has some similarities with the serve in tennis in that white can score an ' ace ' ( for instance with a powerful opening novelty ) , he has more control over the pace and direction of the game , and he has a ' second serve ' in that when things go wrong his position is not usually losing . " second , white begins the game with some initiative , although rowson regards this as a psychological rather than a positional advantage , " and whether it leads to a positional advantage depends on the relative skill of the players . " third , some players are able to use the initiative to " play a kind of powerful ' serve and volley ' chess in which black is flattened with a mixture of deep preparation and attacking prowess . " fourth , " if white wants to draw , it is often not so easy for black to prevent this . this advantage is particularly acute in cases where there is a possible threefold repetition , because white can begin the repetition without committing to a draw and black has to decide whether to deviate before he knows whether white is bluffing . " rowson cites as an example of the last phenomenon the well - regarded zaitsev variation of the ruy lopez . after 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 3.bb5 a6 nf6 5 . 0 - 0 be7 b5 7.bb3 0 - 0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 bb7 re8 ( initiating the zaitsev variation ) , white can repeat moves once with rf8 this puts black in an awkward situation , since he must either ( a ) insist on the zaitsev with 12 ... re8 , which allows white to choose whether to draw by threefold repetition with rf8 , or play on with a different move , or ( b ) play a different ( and possibly inferior ) variation by playing something other than 12 ... re8 . black 's advantages rowson argues that black also has several advantages . first , " white 's alleged advantage is also a kind of obligation to play for a win , and black can often use this to his advantage . " second , " white 's ' extra move ' can be a burden , and sometimes white finds himself in a mild form of zugzwang ( ' zugzwang lite ' ) . " third , although white begins the game with the initiative , if " black retains a flexible position with good reactive possibilities , this initiative can be absorbed and often passes over to black . " fourth , " the fact that white moves before black often gives black useful information " . suba likewise argues that white 's advantage is actually less than a move , since white must tip his hand first , allowing black to react to white 's plans . suba writes , " in terms of the mathematical games theory , chess is a game of complete information , and black 's information is always greater — by one move ! " rowson also notes that black 's chances increase markedly by playing good openings , which tend to be those with flexibility and latent potential , " rather than those that give white fixed targets or that try to take the initiative prematurely . " he also emphasizes that " white has ' the initiative ' , not ' the advantage ' . success with black depends on seeing beyond the initiative and thinking of positions in terms of ' potential ' . " these ideas are exemplified by the hedgehog , a dynamic modern system against the english opening that can arise from various move orders . a typical position arises after 1.c4 c5 2.nf3 nf6 3.g3 b6 4.bg2 bb7 5 . 0 - 0 e6 6.nc3 be7 7.d4 cxd4 d6 a6 . white has a spatial advantage , while black often maneuvers his pieces on the last two ranks of the board , but white " has to keep a constant eye on the possible liberating pawn thrusts ... b5 and ... d5 . " watson remarks , " black 's goal is to remain elastic and flexible , with many options for his pieces , whereas white can become paralyzed at some point by the need to protect against various dynamic pawn breaks . " he also observes that , " white tends to be as much tied up by black 's latent activity as black himself is tied up by white 's space advantage . " moreover , attempts by white to overrun black 's position often rebound disastrously . an example of this is the following grandmaster game : lev polugaevsky – ftáčnik , lucerne olympiad 1982 : 1 . nf3 nf6 2 . c4 c5 3 . nc3 e6 4 . g3 b6 5 . bg2 bb7 6 . 0 - 0 be7 7 . d4 cxd4 8 . qxd4 d6 9 . rd1 a6 10 . b3 nbd7 11 . e4 qb8 12 . bb2 0 - 0 suba wrote of a similar hedgehog position , " white 's position looks ideal . that 's the naked truth about it , but the ' ideal ' has by definition one drawback — it cannot be improved . " 13 . nd2 rd8 14 . a4 qc7 15 . 16 . qe2 ne5 17 . h3 ? according to ftáčnik , is h5 ! 18 . f4 ng6 19 . nf3 now black breaks open the position in typical hedgehog d5 ! 20 . cxd5 ? ! ftáčnik considers or h4 ! 21 . nxh4 nxh4 22 . 23 . dxe6 fxe6 24 . e5 ? ftáčnik recommends instead rxd8 bc5 + 25 . nh5 ! 26 . 27 . nd5 other moves get mated immediately : # ; qxh3 # ; # . rxd5 28 . rf1 + ! 29 . rd2 + if ( the only legal response to the double check ) , + 31.kf4 rf8 + forces mate . 0 – 1 an examination of reversed and symmetrical openings illustrates white 's and black 's respective advantages : reversed openings in a " reversed opening " , white plays an opening typically played by black , but with colors reversed and thus an extra tempo . evans writes of such openings , " if a defense is considered good for black , it must be even better for white with a move in hand . " former world champion mikhail botvinnik reportedly expressed the same view . watson questions this idea , citing suba 's thesis that black , by moving second , has more complete information than white . he writes , " everyone has such difficulties playing as white against a sicilian defence ( 1.e4 c5 ) , but ... leading masters have no qualms about answering 1.c4 with 1 ... e5 . " to explain this paradox , watson discusses several different reversed sicilian lines , showing how black can exploit the disadvantages of various " extra " moves for white . he concludes , " the point is , black 's set - up in the sicilian is fine as a reactive system , but not worth much when trying to claim the initiative as white . this is true because black is able to react to the specific plan white chooses ; in suba 's terms , his information is indeed a move greater ! furthermore , he is able to take advantage of dead equal positions which white ( hoping to retain the advantage of the first move ) would normally avoid . " watson also observes , " similarly , the dutch defence looks particularly sterile when white achieves the reversed positions a tempo up ( it turns out that he has nothing useful to do ! ) ; and indeed , many standard black openings are not very inspiring when one gets them as white , tempo in hand . " gm alex likewise notes that gm vladimir , a successful exponent of the leningrad dutch ( 1.d4 f5 g6 ) at the highest levels , " once made a deep impression on me by casually dismissing someone 's suggestion that he should try as white . he smiled and said , ' that extra move 's gonna hurt me . ' " also agrees with alekhine 's criticism of e5 2.nf3 , a reversed alekhine 's defense , in réti – alekhine , baden - baden 1925 , writing that alekhine " understood the difference in opening philosophies for white and black , and realized they just can 't be the same ! white is supposed to try for more than just obtaining a comfortable game in reversed colour opening set - ups , and , as the statistics show — surprisingly for a lot of people , but not for me — white doesn 't even score as well as black does in the same positions with his extra tempo and all . " howard staunton , generally considered to have been the strongest player in the world from 1843 to 1851 , made a similar point over 160 years ago , writing that owen 's defense ( 1.e4 b6 ) is playable for black , but that is inferior to " the more customary [ first ] moves , from its being essentially defensive " . the current view is that owen 's defense is slightly better for white , while is playable but less likely to yield an opening advantage than 1.e4 or 1.d4. watson concludes that ( a ) " most moves have disadvantages as well as advantages , so an extra move is not always an unqualified blessing " ; ( b ) " with his extra information about what white is doing , black can better react to the new situation " ; and ( c ) because a draw is likely to be more acceptable to black than to white , white is apt to avoid lines that allow drawish simplifications , while black may not object to such lines . symmetrical openings rowson writes that " in general one would assume that whatever advantage white has would be revealed most clearly in symmetrical positions . " accordingly , watson , suba , evans , and the eminent player and theorist aron nimzowitsch ( 1886 – 1935 ) have all argued that it is in black 's interest to avoid symmetry . nonetheless , even symmetrical opening lines sometimes illustrate the tenuous nature of white 's advantage , in several respects . it is often difficult for white to prove an advantage in symmetrical opening lines . as gm bent larsen wrote , annotating a game that began 1.c4 c5 b6 , " in symmetrical openings , white has a theoretical advantage , but in many of them it is only theoretical . " gm andrew soltis wrote in 2008 that he hates playing against the symmetrical petroff 's defense ( 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nf6 ) , and accordingly varies with 2.nc3 , the vienna game . however , there too he has been unable to find a way to an advantage after the symmetrical 2 ... nc6 3.g3 g6 4.bg2 bg7 , or after 3.nf3 nf6 ( transposing to the four knights game ) bb4 5 . 0 - 0 0 - 0 6.d3 d6 7.bg5 bg4 nd4 , or ne7 8.c3 ba5 c6 ng6 d5 , when ? ! e4 ! may even favor black . moreover , symmetrical positions may be disadvantageous to white in that he has to commit himself first . watson notes that it is even difficult for white to play in a symmetrical position , since almost every move has certain drawbacks . fischer once went so far as to claim that after 1.nf3 nf6 g6 bg7 4 . 0 - 0 0 - 0 d6 ( reinhard – fischer , western open 1963 ) , " ' believe it or not , ' black stands better ! now , whatever white does , black will vary it and get an asymmetrical position and have the superior position due to his better pawn structure ! " however , gm paul keres responded in magazine , " we just don 't believe it ! " in symmetrical positions , as the hodgson – arkell and portisch – tal games discussed below illustrate , black can continue to imitate white as long as he finds it feasible and desirable to do so , and deviate when that ceases to be the case . further , a particular extra move is sometimes more of a liability than an asset . for example , soltis notes that the exchange french position arising after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 exd5 4.nf3 nf6 " is pretty equal . " the same position , but with black 's knight moved to e4 , arises in petroff 's defense after 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nf6 3.nxe5 d6 4.nf3 nxe4 d5 . that position offers white better chances precisely because black 's extra move ( ... ne4 ) allows the advanced knight to become a target for attack . finally , symmetrical positions may be difficult for the white player for psychological reasons . watson writes that anyone who tries the exchange french , " even if he thinks he is playing for a win , assume [ s ] a psychological burden . white has already ceded the advantage of the first move , and knows it , whereas black is challenged to find ways to seize the initiative . " two famous examples of white losses in the exchange french are m. gurevich – short and – korchnoi . in m. gurevich – short , a game between two of the world 's leading players , white needed only a draw to qualify for the candidates matches , while black needed to win . gurevich played passively and was outplayed by short , who achieved the necessary win , qualified for the candidates , and ultimately went on to challenge kasparov for the world championship . in – korchnoi , the italian im fell victim to korchnoi 's whirlwind mating attack , losing in just 14 moves . rowson gives the following example of black outplaying white from the symmetrical variation of the english opening . he remarks , " there is something compelling about black 's strategy . he seems to be saying : ' i will copy all your good moves , and as soon as you make a bad move , i won 't copy you any more ! ' " hodgson – arkell , newcastle 2001 : 1 . c4 c5 2 . g3 g6 3 . bg2 bg7 4 . nc3 nc6 5 . a3 a6 6 . rb1 rb8 7 . b4 cxb4 8 . axb4 b5 9 . axb5 here rowson remarks , " both sides want to push their d - pawn and play bf4 / ... bf5 , but white has to go first so black gets to play ... d5 before white can play d4 . this doesn 't matter much , but it already points to the challenge that white faces here ; his most natural continuations allow black to play the moves he wants to . i would therefore say that white is in ' zugzwang lite ' and that he remains in this state for several moves . " 10 . nf3 d5 10 ... nf6 11 . 0 - 0 0 - 0 d6 bd7 would transpose to the portisch – tal game below . 11 . d4 nf6 12 . bf4 13 . 0 - 0 bf5 14 . 0 - 0 15 . ne5 ne4 16 . h3 h5 ! ? finally breaking the symmetry . 17 . the position is still almost symmetrical , and white can find nothing useful to do with his extra move . rowson whimsically suggests ! ? , forcing black to be the one to break the symmetry . 17 ... re8 ! rowson notes that this is a useful waiting move , covering e7 , which needs protection in some lines , and possibly supporting an eventual ... e5 ( see black 's twenty - second move ) . white cannot copy it , since after 18.re1 ? nxf2 black would win a pawn . 18 . be3 ? ! nxe5 ! 19 . dxe5 ! rowson notes that with his more active pieces , " it looks like black has some initiative . " if now , bxe5 " is at least equal for black " . 20 . bxe5 ! 20 ... nxf2 ? ! wins . 21 . nd4 bxd4 22 . bxd4 e5 rowson writes , " now both sides have their trumps , but i think black has some advantage , due to his extra central control , imposing knight and prospects for a kingside attack . " 23 . b5 rc8 24 . bb2 d4 now white has a difficult game : rowson analyzes ? ! bc2 bc4 ! , winning ; hxg4 nxf2 ! bc2 , winning ; ! ? rc2 ! with advantage ; and ( risky - looking , but perhaps best ) nc3 ! , and black is better . 25 . b6 ? overlooking black 's threat . 25 ... nxf2 ! 26 . if , bc2 forks white 's queen and rook . 26 ... ne4 27 . b7 rb8 28 . g4 hxg4 29 . hxg4 be6 30 . rb5 nf6 ! 31 . qxf6 32 . bc4 33 . g5 + 0 – 1 the opening of the following game between two world - class players , another symmetrical english , took a similar course : lajos portisch – mikhail tal , candidates match 1965 : 1 . nf3 c5 2 . c4 nc6 3 . nc3 nf6 4 . g3 g6 5 . bg2 bg7 6 . 0 - 0 0 - 0 7 . d3 a6 8 . a3 rb8 9 . rb1 b5 10 . axb5 11 . b4 cxb4 12 . axb4 d6 13 . bd7 once again , white is on move in a symmetrical position , but it is not obvious what he can do with his first - move initiative . soltis writes , " it 's ridiculous to think black 's position is better . but mikhail tal said it is easier to play . by moving second he gets to see white 's move and then decide whether to match it . " here , soltis writes that black could maintain equality by keeping the symmetry : 14 ... bh3 . instead , he plays to prove that white 's queen is misplaced . 14 ... rc8 ! nd4 ! threatening 16 ... + . 18.qd2 qc7 rc8 although the pawn structure is still symmetrical , black 's control of the c - file gives him the advantage . black ultimately reached an endgame two pawns up , but white managed to hold a draw in 83 moves . tal himself lost a famous game as white from a symmetrical position in tal – , ussr championship 1974 . tournament and match play in chess tournaments and matches , the frequency with which each player receives white and black is an important consideration . in matches , the players ' colors in the first game are determined by drawing lots , and alternated thereafter . in round robin tournaments with an odd number of players , each player receives an equal number of whites and blacks ; with an even number of players , each receives one extra white or black . where one or more players withdraws from the tournament , the tournament director may change the assigned colors in some games so that no player receives two more blacks than whites , or vice versa . the double - round robin tournament is considered to give the most reliable final standings , since each player receives the same number of whites and blacks , and plays both white and black against each opponent . in swiss system tournaments , the tournament director tries to ensure that each player receives , as nearly as possible , the same number of games as white and black , and that the player 's color alternates from round to round . after the first round , the director may deviate from the otherwise prescribed pairings in order to give as many players as possible their equalizing or due colors . more substantial deviations are permissible to avoid giving a player two more blacks than whites ( for example , three blacks in four games ) than vice versa , since extra whites " cause far less player distress " than extra blacks , which impose " a significant handicap " on the affected player . tournaments with an even number of rounds cause the most problems , since if there is a disparity , it is greater ( e.g. , a player receiving two whites and four blacks ) . solving chess endgame tablebases have solved a very limited area of chess , determining perfect play in a number of endgames , including all non - trivial endgames with no more than six pieces or pawns ( including the two kings ) . seven - piece endgames were solved in 2012 and released as " lomonosov tablebases " . jonathan rowson has speculated that " in principle it should be possible for a machine to ... develop 32 - piece tablebases . this may take decades or even centuries , but unless runaway global warming or nuclear war gets in the way , i think it will eventually happen . " however , information theorist claude shannon argued that it is not feasible for any computer to actually do this . in his 1950 paper " programming a computer for playing chess " he writes : with chess it is possible , in principle , to play a perfect game or construct a machine to do so as follows : one considers in a given position all possible moves , then all moves for the opponent , etc . , to the end of the game ( in each variation ) . the end must occur , by the rules of the games after a finite number of moves ( remembering the 50 move drawing rule ) . each of these variations ends in win , loss or draw . by working backward from the end one can determine whether there is a forced win , the position is a draw or is lost . it is easy to show , however , even with the high computing speed available in electronic calculators this computation is impractical . in typical chess positions there will be of the order of 30 legal moves . the number holds fairly constant until the game is nearly finished as shown ... by de groot , who averaged the number of legal moves in a large number of master games . thus a move for white and then one for black gives about 103 possibilities . a typical game lasts about 40 moves to resignation of one party . this is conservative for our calculation since the machine would calculate out to checkmate , not resignation . however , even at this figure there will be variations to be calculated from the initial position . a machine operating at the rate of one variation per microsecond would require over 1090 years to calculate the first move ! it is thus theoretically possible to " solve " chess , determining with certainty whether a perfectly played game should end in a win for white , a draw , or even a win for black . however , according to shannon the time frame required puts this possibility beyond the limits of any feasible technology . hans - joachim , a professor of mathematics and biophysics at the university of california at berkeley , further argued in a 1965 paper that the " speed , memory , and processing capacity of any possible future computer equipment are limited by certain physical barriers : the light barrier , the quantum barrier , and the thermodynamical barrier . these limitations imply , for example , that no computer , however constructed , will ever be able to examine the entire tree of possible move sequences of the game of chess . " nonetheless , did not foreclose the possibility that a computer would someday be able to solve chess . he wrote , " in order to have a computer play a perfect or nearly perfect game [ of chess ] it will be necessary either to analyze the game completely ... or to analyze the game in an approximate way and combine this with a limited amount of tree searching . ... a theoretical understanding of such heuristic programming , however , is still very much wanting . " recent scientific advances have not significantly changed that assessment . the game of checkers was solved in 2007 , but it has roughly the square root of the number of positions in chess . jonathan schaeffer , the scientist who led the effort , said a breakthrough such as quantum computing would be needed before solving chess could even be attempted , but he does not rule out the possibility , saying that the one thing he learned from his 16 - year effort of solving checkers " is to never underestimate the advances in technology " . quotation " you will win with either color if you are the better player , but it takes longer with black . " – isaac