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First move advantage in Western Chess - why does it exist?[Subject Thread] [Add Response]

Joe Joyce wrote on Sun, Aug 19, 2012 02:16 AM UTC:

Something else I didn't think of, but which could play into this, is piece
density. In FIDE, it's 50% to start. In Chief, it's 33%. In Border War,
it's 25%. FIDE is deliberately cramped, with the pawns placed as they are
to blockade the player's own pieces. And the cramping is maintained by the
pawn's peculiar basic move and capture rules. That feeds into the first
turn advantage, which you can see as a sort of head start on freeing
yourself from the bondage of the pawns. Very often a mate is achieved with
the passive help of the victim's own pieces, which block possible escapes.