 In a " reversed opening " , White plays an opening typically played by Black , but with colors reversed and thus an extra tempo . Evans writes of such openings , " If a defense is considered good for Black , it must be even better for White with a move in hand . " Former World Champion Mikhail <unk> reportedly expressed the same view . Watson questions this idea , citing Suba 's thesis that Black , by moving second , has more complete information than White . He writes , " everyone has such difficulties playing as White against a Sicilian Defence ( 1.e4 c5 ) , but ... leading masters have no qualms about answering 1.c4 with 1 ... e5 . " To explain this paradox , Watson discusses several different reversed Sicilian lines , showing how Black can exploit the disadvantages of various " extra " moves for White . He concludes , " The point is , Black 's set @-@ up in the Sicilian is fine as a reactive system , but not worth much when trying to claim the initiative as White . This is true because Black is able to react to the specific plan White chooses ; in Suba 's terms , his information is indeed a move greater ! Furthermore , he is able to take advantage of dead equal positions which White ( hoping to retain the advantage of the first move ) would normally avoid . " 
