You could think of chess as teaching a valuable lesson about the importance of the head start that the white pieces have. 
RACISM IN CHESS. White moves first
Sort:
Jan 17, 2017
0
#2
The pieces are not really white or black. They only wear uniforms in that colour. These are armies. Inside, both armies have a mixture of white, Asian and African.
Jan 17, 2017
0
#4
DavidHHH wrote:
The pieces are not really white or black. They only wear uniforms in that colour. These are armies. Inside, both armies have a mixture of white, Asian and African.
Are you sure? the pieces are completely white or black. Not just its uniform.
Chess is all ideas. The physical pieces are not really there. One can play chess even purely in the brain without pieces. Or on the screen. Pieces can be blue and red. Or black and white. Or they can be small glasses of vodka and whisky. In the initial original idea of chess there are two armies. The armies wear uniforms. They knock each other out of the board. Nobody dies. In the end they shake hands, mix teams and play again. Or they go together to the beach for a barbecue.
Yes. How racist that the white horses and castles get the advantage. So much racism among animals and inanimate objects. I'm glad we is so smart on this here webpage.
Jan 17, 2017
0
#7
Do you want ridiculousness?
Here you have it: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/suggestions/is-there-racial-descrimination-in-chesscom-app-visuals
Jan 17, 2017
0
#8
EduardGlinkin wrote:
Why when we poop , our feces is black ? It's racist. Even the snow is white,
i see what you did there lol
Even if Black moved first, people would still call it racist.
Jan 17, 2017
0
#10
I read somewhere that in The Middle Ages the black pieces were painted and therefore, more beautiful. White pieces were more plain, so they started the game first as a compensation.
Racism in Go, Black moves first
Now for those who are actually intelligent, there's some interesting history here. But to preface this history, I think it's obvious to anyone beyond a fifth grade comprehension level that the two colors in chess are not really black and white (oh god why does this phrase always use black first? reverse racism. stop oppressing me, me), but they are light and dark. And light is most commonly a metaphor for good, and dark for bad. More crime happens at night, things can hide and sneak in the dark, etc. It's a very obvious metaphor. And like skin color, it's easier to just refer to contrasting colors. After all, white people aren't really white and black people aren't really black.
But onto the history. The squares themselves are most often referred to as light and dark, not black and white, even though they commonly reflect the same material and color as the pieces. Staunton pointed out that there used to be no coloring at all in the squares, it was a European innovation in the 13th century.
In old chess writings, red and black are sited because those were the two colors of ink most commonly available. And even after the transition from red to white, white did not used to always go first. The Immortal Game as a prime example was played with Anderssen going first as black. White going first wasn't even standard going into the late 19th century. It wasn't until 1880 that the first "white goes first" rule was documented for tournament play in New York. And even several years after that were tournaments still deciding that the player who went first got to choose their color. Considering the US Civil War was fought and over by 1865, I doubt chess was used to make some statement about race. (Especially since the first suggestion of the rule was by Johann Lowenthal, a Hungarian Jew who resided in England (and slavery in England had been abolished for 25 years, and in Hungary for over a century).
Most likely white was just Lowenthal's color choice and that's why he first suggested it as the rule. Assuming something is racist without any context is just as ignorant as racism.
Jan 17, 2017
0
#13
Racism? This word that has to do with human skin color and human prejudice only, has absolutely nothing to do with chess, just think about it, any chess server you play on, any tournament you play in ; makes sure that you get to start just as many games with white as you do with black. If you want to make a case for rascism in chess, start talking about america in the early 1900's. Blacks couldn't even get on the same buses as whites, so do you think they were allowed to participate in chess tournaments? No sir
Jan 17, 2017
0
#15
Rahimallah...yeah..get a life, ok? I'm sure allah will take a deep interest in your brownie factory, if she hasn't already
Jan 17, 2017
0
#17
rahimallah, may I axe... er... ASK you a question?
On your profile page, don't you mean "JUST REMEMBER TO NOT FORGET THE GOOD THAT EXISTS INSIDE OF YOU" rather than "JUST REMEMBER TO DO NOT FORGET THE GOOD THAT EXIST INSIDE OF YOU"?
P.S. I once lived next to a guy who's name was "Shahi", fancied himself an African prince, I suppose. Well, one day, I get his mail by mistake. His REAL name?... "Eddie Ponder". Yeah, I would have changed it too. Doesn't exactly bring majestic images to mind.
Some time later, I was walking one evening into my door just as "Shahi's" girlfriend is simultaneously walking into his adjacent door. I hear blood curdling screams and run in behind her. There's Eddie unconscious on the kitchen floor with a needle in his arm! She wasn't interested in any help from whitey so I left...Classy... He survived.
Funny thing, I actually knew a REAL African prince. His name was Kwaku Osai Bonsu, a real life Prince of the Bonsu tribe. Very nice guy. Intelligent, diligent, and humble. Sounds silly but there really was a kind of regal aura about him.
Jan 17, 2017
0
#18
TRextastic wrote:
Now for those who are actually intelligent, there's some interesting history here. But to preface this history, I think it's obvious to anyone beyond a fifth grade comprehension level that the two colors in chess are not really black and white (oh god why does this phrase always use black first? reverse racism. stop oppressing me, me), but they are light and dark. And light is most commonly a metaphor for good, and dark for bad. More crime happens at night, things can hide and sneak in the dark, etc. It's a very obvious metaphor. And like skin color, it's easier to just refer to contrasting colors. After all, white people aren't really white and black people aren't really black.
But onto the history. The squares themselves are most often referred to as light and dark, not black and white, even though they commonly reflect the same material and color as the pieces. Staunton pointed out that there used to be no coloring at all in the squares, it was a European innovation in the 13th century.
In old chess writings, red and black are sited because those were the two colors of ink most commonly available. And even after the transition from red to white, white did not used to always go first. The Immortal Game as a prime example was played with Anderssen going first as black. White going first wasn't even standard going into the late 19th century. It wasn't until 1880 that the first "white goes first" rule was documented for tournament play in New York. And even several years after that were tournaments still deciding that the player who went first got to choose their color. Considering the US Civil War was fought and over by 1865, I doubt chess was used to make some statement about race. (Especially since the first suggestion of the rule was by Johann Lowenthal, a Hungarian Jew who resided in England (and slavery in England had been abolished for 25 years, and in Hungary for over a century).
Most likely white was just Lowenthal's color choice and that's why he first suggested it as the rule. Assuming something is racist without any context is just as ignorant as racism.
So, you are saying with this that the Racism in chess is non existent ?
I'm not saying it. Common sense is.
Isn't it racist that white has to move first? Chess shouldn't be such a racist game. The first to move should be the winner of a coin flip