Evaluating position is the tricky part of the game of Chess. At a beginner or intermediate level, your mind is not trained to calculate beyond a few moves ahead. But when one moves past that level, it is important to learn how to evaluate chess positions.
The evaluation of a chess position is an assessment of the current situation on the board based on strengths and weaknesses of both players position.
Any chess instructor would tell you the need to evaluate any position accurately to stay ahead in the game of chess. It's all about comparing the progress either side has made to assess strengths, weaknesses, and best applicable chess strategies/tactics necessary. Let's analyze the following example that can help us understand things better.
Black to make the next move. Let's evaluate the above position using each of the following objectives.
The first step of evaluation is to compare Queens, Rooks, Bishops, Knights, and Pawns of both sides. In the above position, each side has 1 queen, 2 rooks, and 7 pawns. White has a bishop and a knight, whereas black has 2 bishops. For material evaluation, knight is equal to bishop, so overall, white and black have equal materials here. Hence, the material objective does not exert influence over the final evaluation of this position.
While counting number of pieces is the simple way to evaluate a chess position, some positions might require you to calculate points based on piece values. Below is the points chart:
Piece Type | Points |
---|---|
Pawn | 1 point |
Knight | 3 points |
Bishop | 3 points |
Rook | 5 points |
Queen | 9 points |
For the position above, below are the total points for white and black:
The next step is to compare the progress in the development objective. Here, you have to compare the development of all the individual pieces to find out who is enjoying the lead in development. Here's how!
Both queens don't have much scope because they are restricted by their own pawns and pieces. White queen on c2 is restricted by pawns on e4-c4-b3 and knight on c3. Black queen on e7 is restricted by pawns on e5-c5 and bishop on c7.
However, by playing Qf2, white queen can coordinate with bishop on e3 to attack the c5 pawn and the black queen cannot be developed because it is tied to the defense of c5 pawn.
White has a stable advantage here.
White rook on a1 is restricted as it only controls b1-c1 squares. Black rook on b8 is better because it controls the semi-open b-file. As the game progresses, the b-file will be an important factor because black rook on b8 can obtain counterplay by opening the file with moves like a4.
Black has a clear advantage over white.
Both rooks control the open d-file, so they have a similar level of development. However, black rook has a potential outpost on d4 whereas white rook has no equivalent outpost on d5 because black's c6 pawn controls d5.
Black has a small advantage here.
When comparing bishops, it is important to take a look at the square color of opponent pawns. In above position, we can quickly see that white has pawns on light squares whereas black has pawns on dark squares. Thus, black's dark squared bishop on c7 is restricted by its own pawns on a5-c5-e5, whereas white's bishop on e3 can target the c5 pawn.
White has a clear advantage here.
Black's bishop on a6 is restricted by white pawn on c4, which is well defended by the pawn on b3. White knight on c3 controls central square of d5, but more importantly, it can go to a4 to attack black pawn on c5.
White has a clear advantage here.
We can gather the following conclusions from this evaluation:
The number of pawns and other pieces that influence the center determines center-control.
In this example, we can highlight the following:
This evaluation helps us conclude that the situation in center is very imbalanced and dynamic. Although more white pieces control the central squares, none of the white pieces can actually occupy central squares due to black's 3 central pawns. On the other hand, black rook has a strong outpost on d4 square. So black has an advantage here.
The safety of the king is of supreme importance and can be evaluated by checking whether:
To conclude, white's king is slightly safer than black king. Although white cannot immediately take advantage of the weak f6-h6 squares, king safety can be an important factor as position develops.
To evaluate the structure of pawns, assess the extent to which pawns affect the progress towards achieving your objectives. Identify weak pawns and squares that have a great chance of becoming targets. Identify squares that can become targets by pawns.
In the above position, white has a great pawn structure with pawn chains (or connected pawns) on a2-b3-c4 and g2-f3-e4. Black has a weak pawn structure with isolated pawns on a5-c5-c6, since these pawns cannot be supported by other pawns.
White has a huge advantage here.
To summarize our evaluation, white has a stable advantage in terms of great pawn structure with connected pawns whereas black has a dynamic advantage in terms of center control with a great outpost for rook on d4. White has a safer king than black, but whether white can exploit that is not clear. In terms of development, white and black have dynamic equality and lastly, material for both sides is equal.
Considering all factors above, it is my opinion that the position is dynamically equal. White should try to attack the isolated pawns on a5 and c5 with moves like Na4 and Qf2. Black should try to use d4 outpost by playing Rd4 and doubling rooks on d-file, while also trying to break white's pawn chains with pawn breaks like a5-a4 and f7-f5.
Once the tricky part of chess position evaluation or assessment is over, it becomes easy for the player to strategize and come up with the best chess tactics like passed pawn, double attack, fork, pin, mate, discovered attack, skewer, etc. to win the game.
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