"The Historian" wrote in message
oups.com...

David Kane wrote:
"Paul Rubin" wrote in message
...
"David Kane" writes:
Newsflash. Games are either won, lost or drawn.
If Black's not going to lose (or win), then it's (dead) drawn.

You want to insist upon the existence of a mysterious
"advantage" that doesn't help you win, be my guest.

Huh? There's nothing mysterious about the concept of advantage.
For example, the starting position is almost certainly drawn, but
White has an advantage.

Why do we say that White has an advantage
in the opening position? Because White *wins*
more often from that position. Period.

Err, David, very few chess games, even in your tournaments, are won
from the opening position. Guess again. The more likely explanation is
that White has the first move, and having the first move constitutes an
advantage - I believe it's been compared to having the serve in tennis.


Still not getting it. If White and Black had equal results
from the opening position, would we still say that
White has an advantage? No. We conclude from
empirical evidence (not help bot's drug-induced
hallucinations) that White wins more often than
Black, so say that White has an advantage.

Just for the record, do you, like helpbot, also believe
that Evans was lying when describing the position
as dead drawn?