Online Chess: Choosing Side

I've been trying to find out where I can set my preferences when I use the "Play now" button so I can choose to be either white or black.

It always seems to put me as random and I dont get a chance to edit it a lot of the time...sometimes I can edit the game settings while It waits for someone but 90% of the time it just throws me into a match.

Is there a way to adjust this so my PLay Now Settings are always the same?

any help?

Sure.  Go to home>online chess>start new game>random and you have the option to play random, white, or black.  Of course if you pick white, you have to wait for someone in your rating range who wants to play black.  Maybe it happens quickly, never used it myself...

awesome thanks, was going crazy trying to find it.

but what if i want to send a challenge link, how to select sides then?

You create the challenges the same way. But only Daily let's you choose your color on rated games. For Live, you have to play unrated to choose color.