elder999 is wrong about one thing however. Grandmaster chess tournaments, especially between the world champion, do often end in draws. You only need to look at recent events for evidence of this. It is quite commonly respected that White has the adavantage, or intiative if you will, and between games which are won in the opening this if often enough. Hence we find many players memorizing tonnes of openings, confident that they are able to win games with them. Often because of the traps associated with thus. But players who choose to concentrate on their middle or endgames, will have other such strategies to bring to the table, when the opening is over. I hope that helps add to the discussion, from someone who actually actively plays.