White moves first.....

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  • White moves first.....

    The last major rule change in chess (on the board) took place in the 1920's when the rule that "White moves first" became standard. Prior to this, there was no standard rule. A player winning the toss would have the right to move first - but also had the choice of colour. Generally - he took White.

    During the Staunton - St.Amant match (1843), when Staunton had "the move", he always took White ("Weiss" (sorry - can't seem to generate that double-s German letter) ). However - St.Amant usually (not always) took Black ("Schwarz"). Thus - the German tournament book shows the first couple of moves of a (now known as the Grand Prix) Sicilian as 1. e7-e5 c2-c4 2. f7-f5 e2-e3 etc. when St.Amant had "the move".

    The rules of the London 1883 tournament obliged the player with "the move" to play with the White pieces, while the rules of Hastings 1895 gave the player the choice (although all games in the tournament book are labelled "White Black" with none being labelled "Black White"). St. Petersburg 1914 mentioned nothing about colours, and all games in the tournament book are labelled "White Black".

  • #2
    Re: White moves first.....

    I heard a story that they used to flip for colours, and then flip to see who went first. Black was considered the luckier colour so was invariably picked, as was going first obviously. Players losing both flips thought it unfair and it brought about the change that while one player got to choose the lucky colour, Black, they'd at least let White go first. You couldn't have both! I don't know if this is true or not... but it sounds sensible.

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