Hello there !
I'm fairly new to chess and totally new to red hot pawn so hello to everyone !
I'm embarking on a fairly large project for my 3rd year @ uni of writing a chess program. I know it's been done before and
there's a lot of literature on how to go about doing it but I would value the opinion of some chess players :
How do you go about evaluating a board position in your head ?
For me , I look at pawn structure , number of pieces on both sides , number of available moves vs available opponent moves,
defence ( number of pieces attacked and their relative worth ) and defended and a certain element of 'gut feeling' . Is there
anything big that I'm missing ?
And how do these change towards the end of the game in your opinion ? Any pointers would really be appreciated .
mudl@hotmail.com
There are a couple of things not on your list that I would consider.
Tempo is an important part of the game. How many moves it takes to reach a
certain square is an important factor. the person who can get there first will
have an advantage. This means certain squares are more valuable than others.
identifying these squares is crucial.
Also, space is important to the game in a small way and should not be
overlooked. Most of the time this doesn't concern me, but in certain games this
will affect whose pawns are closer to queening. moreover, the control of the
center of the board is perhaps the most important factor in the category of
space. the center squares tend to be more important than other squares. the
center needs to be secure for any attack to have a reasonable chance of
succeeding. If the center is not secure, an attack is questionable.
Finally, we must consider that there are certain types of positions that occur
on the board that we learn to recognize as leading to victory. I look for an
opportunity to create a position which I see as winning. I know a position on
the board is winning from my past experience on the board. this helps to embody
the concept of intuition into something that a computer can handle. by storing
certain positions in its memory, it can check for wins.
Symphony