"At the very very highest levels winning with black is really quite an impressive achievement, and black will often go into a game playing for a draw. The advantage of the first move is very pronounced, and sets the tone for the entire game, with white generally calling the shots. Attempts by black to generate active counterplay are often very risky. "
"So the aim when black is to survive and make sure you're doing enough sensible things to not get exploited because of the disadvantage of moving second."
That reminds me of the billiards scene from Boomerang:
"The white ball dominates everything. Knocks the shit out of the yellow ball, the red ball, right? And the game's over when the white ball drives the black ball completely off the table."
You'll be glad to know that in GO, the ancient Japanese game which is played with black and white stones on a cross-hatched board, black goes first and has the advantage.
