Hello how may I help you? Who goes first, the black piece or the white piece, in chess? In chess the white piece typically goes first. Why does white go first? It is just by tradition, however, recently there has been talk of how the white piece going first gives the person an uneven advantage Oh right, I thought that may have an effect on the overall game You're right. It appear to do just that. So does that mean there are alternative ways of determining who plays their piece first? There is. You can determine who goes first by a game of rock paper scissors. Oh seems like an unorthodox way of doing it but it works. Would you like to know anything else? Not at this time, thanks again.