Why does it matter which side of the board is white?

Ok so what I mean is , chess boards has letters and numbers and white usually stays with the starting letter A1 and black H8

My friend once keep turning board every time we tried switching colours I asked why don't we just switch pieces instead of turning the actual board all the time, but he insisted that it must be in a proper position wtf?

Does it really matter ? Why?

ciarli wrote:

it doesnt matter which side of the board is white because the board is a thought or immaterial idea and if you see A1 from some position it is like H1.

Ok then why we always plays white from begging of the game on A1 and not just random every game? Why when we set up the board we set up white always there, not just random ? Must be a reason?

I think setting up the board so that h1 and a8 are white is just a convention; in principle it wouldn't make any difference as far as the play of the game is concerned if these squares were black.

In fact, we don't actually need the squares to be "light" and "dark" at all; we could just as well play a game on a simple 8 x 8 grid of squares with no colouring.

The square that white's queen's rook starts on is always a1 no matter what. This is a convention that we use so other people can understand and reproduce our games. It doesn't matter what you write next to the square, you can label it h8 or x0 and it's still a1 according to the system of algebraic notation.

For casual games where you aren't keeping score it doesn't matter if the board is oriented so that the notation is correct, although it might bother some people if it isn't.

Its all in the name of consistency. For example, does it matter if the board is rotated 90 degrees, or if the king and queen are switched. Technically, the play will be the same, but for consistency's sake it will feel wrong.

If some small island nation began a baseball league but some how got the rules mixed up and ran the bases clockwise instead of counterclockwise, there would not really be any difference in the play, but those familiar with the right way will see it and their stomach may churn.

obviously its against the rules...so is running clockwise around the bases in baseball. That is not the point. The point is that it will not have any practical effect on the game, just as having the notation on the board backwards will not have an effect of the game (as long as you arent notating).

So why is it a rule if it wont really have effect of the game....consistency.....so that everyone is "speaking the same language". When someone discusses a "dark squared bishop" the other person will know if thats the queens or kings bishop, etc.

im implying that each player is starting the game but with king and queen swithched knowingly. Technically, opening theory will be the same, just reflected vertically.

As along as it's "white on the right" on the closest rank to each player, the board is ok.  But if notation is being taken, it's confusing if the 1 is on the Black side.  I once was Tournament Director where a draw was claimed on 3x appearance of a position and the inexperienced players had been recording in long algebraic but had the board turned around so that e2-e4 was recorded as d7-d5. etc.