My first teacher played chess instead of Go --very unusual for an abbot of a Japanese monastery. Of course, we all played chess too because he did. When we had visitors, they thought we were all crazy. We were known as the chess monastery. The only monastery, I'm sure, in Japan where all the monks, and the abbot, played chess. My teacher would always insist choose black over white. I think it was his way of expressing compassion for his opponent, ie, giving them a slight advantage. Lately, though, I'm wondering if this was simply his strategy--allowing us to think we had an advantage!! This would still be compassionate, of course. I learned something every time I played him (ie, I lost every time I play him!).