Who goes first in chess? | So Good News

Chess is one of the oldest and most famous games you can play. It has stood the test of time and remains popular today, earning itself a reputation as the Game of Kings and the ultimate strategy game.

Much of chess is deeply rooted in history, as many beginners may experience when they first learn chess. Who goes first?

Which side goes first in chess? Chess sides explained

The white piece is the first player in every game of chess played today, but this has not always been the case throughout the game’s history. The ability to move first gives the player who makes the first move a significant advantage, and achieving a draw as black pieces is considered a good result at the highest levels of the game.

Until the late nineteenth century, either side could start a chess game, but in 1880 it was coded that White goes first. Since then, both human and computer play have shown an advantage for this side, as the advantage of first place, but the advantage of amateur level play is so small and almost irrelevant.

While White always has first place, who gets to play with White is often determined randomly. Whether it’s a one-off online match or a tournament setup, the process is different, but the result is the same. In individual online games, all players have a 50% chance of winning, which evens out over a large sample size.

The purpose of the tournaments is to split players roughly fifty-fifty by color, which affects how players with the same score stack up against each other in different rounds.