 According to Rowson , White 's first advantage is that , " The advantage of the first move has some similarities with the serve in tennis in that White can score an ' ace ' ( for instance with a powerful opening novelty ) , he has more control over the pace and direction of the game , and he has a ' second serve ' in that when things go wrong his position is not usually losing . " Second , White begins the game with some initiative , although Rowson regards this as a psychological rather than a positional advantage , " and whether it leads to a positional advantage depends on the relative skill of the players . " Third , some players are able to use the initiative to " play a kind of powerful ' serve and volley ' chess in which Black is flattened with a mixture of deep preparation and attacking prowess . " Fourth , " If White wants to draw , it is often not so easy for Black to prevent this . This advantage is particularly acute in cases where there is a possible threefold repetition , because White can begin the repetition without committing to a draw and Black has to decide whether to deviate before he knows whether White is <unk> . " 
