Answers.Body: <p>It depends on how much accuracy you want to put in, but to have a precise strength, it needs to be able to build a tree of possibilities and look for moves ahead.</p>
  
  <p>Just imagine a hypothetical case where one have tons of material, already developed everything, castled, some pawns close to be promoted BUT without being able to do anything to prevent getting mated. There is no way to give a correct read no matter how much elements you take into account without some alpha-beta searches.</p>
  
  <p>More information can be found in <a href="http://blog.chess.com/_valentin_/how-computers-quotthinkquot-in-chess" rel="nofollow">this article.</a></p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>But I suppose that is too difficult to implement, some easier starting points to do are:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Some things that chess engines do is to recognize end/middle
  game patterns and also get help from opening databases.</li>
  <li>You can also look for poorly placed pieces like bishops trapped by
  own pieces or the king being too exposed.</li>
  <li>Check for castling ability and how easy is to perform that (e.g pieces in the way or attacked squares)</li>
  <li>At the very endgame, be familiar with the terms "wrong bishop", "opposition" and "rook pawn", etc. (those are often decisive and should be easy to determine wins, loses and draws)</li>
  </ul>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-08-28T14:26:30.360Z
Answers.Text: What's a rock-pawn? :) I want one of those.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jeff Davis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-08-28T14:50:52.450Z
Answers.Text: @JeffDavis basically, when the king is in front of his pawn from either in A or H and the opposite king is near enough to never let him get out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_endgame#King_and_pawn_versus_king
Answers.UserDisplayName: ajax333221
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-08-28T15:02:00.883Z
Answers.Text: I believe you mean rook-pawn :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_pawn#Rook_pawn
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jeff Davis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-08-28T15:08:30.050Z
Answers.Text: @JeffDavis a fun typo :P
Answers.UserDisplayName: ajax333221
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-09-10T19:55:31.880Z
Answers.Text: I was able to pull out a draw recently against a stronger player because I remembered reading this post and pushed his king in front of his rook pawn. I only read it because of the typo, because I wanted to make sure I had it right. So thanks for linking the article ;)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jeff Davis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-08-28T04:16:17.597Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2012-08-28T15:07:34.903Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2012-08-28T15:07:34.903Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: ajax333221
Body: <p>As part of a demo for a rules engine I'm dreaming up, I'd like to do an evaluation of a chess board that communicates each side's general strength at that point in time.  Advanced things like predicting moves or establishing mate patterns are way beyond the scope of this idea; I only need to think about what's in front of me for now!</p>
  
  <p>I also do not need to establish precisely how to reduce board strength to a number; that will be a lot of tinkering, this way and that, to find something that seems reasonable.  For now I just need to figure out the top, say, 3 elements to deciding how strong or weak someone's position is on the board.</p>
  
  <p>My current thought is, in general order of importance:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Material (in pawns, so rook = 5, knight = 3 etc)</li>
  <li>Open attack paths on the center of the board (critical area, goes to development)</li>
  <li>Total attackable squares (development)</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Am I missing a particularly important element in this evaluation?  Am I attempting to measure it wrong?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-10-16T20:06:22.723Z
Comments.Text: @ajax333221 Done.
Comments.UserDisplayName: tmesser
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-12-17T13:59:28.537Z
Comments.Text: There is one particularly important element missing: King safety.
Comments.UserDisplayName: BlindKungFuMaster
Tags: <analysis><strategy><engines><evaluation>
Title: Elements to take into account when evaluating 'board strength'
ThreadText: # Elements to take into account when evaluating 'board strength'
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2012-08-27)
  
  As part of a demo for a rules engine I'm dreaming up, I'd like to do an evaluation of a chess board that communicates each side's general strength at that point in time. Advanced things like predicting moves or establishing mate patterns are way beyond the scope of this idea; I only need to think about what's in front of me for now!
  
  I also do not need to establish precisely how to reduce board strength to a number; that will be a lot of tinkering, this way and that, to find something that seems reasonable. For now I just need to figure out the top, say, 3 elements to deciding how strong or weak someone's position is on the board.
  
  My current thought is, in general order of importance:
  
  * Material (in pawns, so rook = 5, knight = 3 etc)
  * Open attack paths on the center of the board (critical area, goes to development)
  * Total attackable squares (development)
  
  Am I missing a particularly important element in this evaluation? Am I attempting to measure it wrong?
  
  **Tags:** analysis, strategy, engines, evaluation
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: @username_2 Done.  
  > **username_1**: There is one particularly important element missing: King safety.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2012-08-28. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
  
  It depends on how much accuracy you want to put in, but to have a precise strength, it needs to be able to build a tree of possibilities and look for moves ahead.
  
  Just imagine a hypothetical case where one have tons of material, already developed everything, castled, some pawns close to be promoted BUT without being able to do anything to prevent getting mated. There is no way to give a correct read no matter how much elements you take into account without some alpha-beta searches.
  
  More information can be found in [this article.](http://blog.chess.com/_valentin_/how-computers-quotthinkquot-in-chess)
  
  ---
  
  But I suppose that is too difficult to implement, some easier starting points to do are:
  
  * Some things that chess engines do is to recognize end/middle
    game patterns and also get help from opening databases.
  * You can also look for poorly placed pieces like bishops trapped by
    own pieces or the king being too exposed.
  * Check for castling ability and how easy is to perform that (e.g pieces in the way or attacked squares)
  * At the very endgame, be familiar with the terms "wrong bishop", "opposition" and "rook pawn", etc. (those are often decisive and should be easy to determine wins, loses and draws)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: What's a rock-pawn? :) I want one of those.  
  > **username_2**: @JeffDavis basically, when the king is in front of his pawn from either in A or H and the opposite king is near enough to never let him get out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_endgame#King_and_pawn_versus_king  
  > **username_3**: I believe you mean rook-pawn :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_pawn#Rook_pawn  
  > **username_2**: @JeffDavis a fun typo :P  
  > **username_3**: I was able to pull out a draw recently against a stronger player because I remembered reading this post and pushed his king in front of his rook pawn. I only read it because of the typo, because I wanted to make sure I had it right. So thanks for linking the article ;)  
  
  ---
  
  