Are both sides really equal in chess?

Question

Or does White have a slight advantage due to the fact that White moves first. Put the players skills aside.

Answer 1

White always has an advantage over black, because white moves first.  In chess, one of the main advantages a player can have over the other is tempo.  Essentially white starts the game with one more tempo than black.  Any skilled player will try to keep this advantage as white and try to eliminate it as black.  

Even for the "best" black openings such as the Sicilian still result in a white winning percentage of 55-60% which may not seem like much, but is a significant advantage at higher levels of play.

Answer 2

White might have an advantage, but that doesn't matter, since it is usually random who has white.

Answer 3

White has an advantage.  In computer simulations, white wins about 36.1% of games while black wins about 27.4% (the rest are draws).  This is actually a pretty significant advantage for white.

If you truly "put the players' skills aside," (in the sense that both sides play flawlessly) supposedly neither side has an advantage.  It is theorized that if both sides play flawlessly, neither can force checkmate and all games would end in draws.

Answer 4

everyone knows its pretty much equzl and white may have a small advantage but if you think about it this way

black gets to see what white does before he makes up his mind

black may have the advantage then

Answer 5

white have the advantage... it will all go back to the tempo...

if the tempo stayed the same way it is till the very end of the game, white wud have a higher chances to win (putting aside both players skills)...

for example, white could have his/her pawn to the eighth rank first thus he/she will be able to trap the opponents pawn(again, if the game continues with the same tempo regardless of each players skills)...

but if black have an opening that results in depleting the whites tempo(for example:the sicilian) which causes the white to lose the ability to use the ruy lopez thus controlling the centre which white haven't, then black wud probably have the chance to end the game in draw(again, regardless of both player's skills)... but if white responded in a way that wud still keep their tempo with them, such as developing their big pieces earlier or probably use the grand prix attack (1.e4c5 2.f4...) then, black wud have some trouble :)

huhh... long one... :P

Answer 6

No , white has advantage over black.

If u have observed in international matches, the general trend is that good players win with White pieces but tend to draw with Black pieces and are satisfied with the draw. This clearly shows that White has some advantage due to his first turn.

Answer 7

Although one could argue an advantage for white because he gets to move first, it may be an advantage for black that he is able to choose a response. White has to be the first to make a plan and stake out territory. Black just has to respond to it. and like others have said, if skills are not a factor, They will draw. Losses come from error, with no error you will not lose. There Will be a draw.

Answer 8

idt there is an advantage- i think its all equal and just good stategy that wins the game...so it helps to be one step ahead

Answer 9

Having the first move gives white a distinct advantage.  Because of this White can seize the initiative in many openings, forcing Black to react to White's plans rather than come up with plans of his own.  Black can counter this somewhat, but he must play more risky opening lines to do so.

Answer 10

Ignoring player skill is difficult in this question; White does have an advantage at lower skill levels but the advantage diminishes at higher skill levels.