The article consists of two series separated by years. Of course, over time, you begin to look at many things differently, as well as write differently. One of the classics even said that there are no people more different than the same person at different moments of life. But in this case, I largely agree with my young self.
Evaluation of a position in chess.
White already has two extra pawns here, and more can be taken. And Black has a certain advantage in development multiplied by optimism! In the fight against the computer, this is not enough for a positive result. But you can play against people, even against grandmasters. None of them (except those with headphones) can find the exact path to victory during the game, everyone will certainly make mistakes in big complications. It is very important that the position has a clear plan, clear positional ideas that make it easier to choose a move. In the absence of these, even very good positions in the absolute sense can lead to a deplorable result in the performance of protein players. So, for a person who is going to play chess with his own kind, the first assessment of the position is much more important - a statistical one! You can call this assessment human. Let Garry Kimovich later prove, together with the iron monster, that your position was really bad. After all, it will be later, after the game you won. Won contrary to an objective assessment of the position! You can regularly successfully play an objectively bad position, and you can lose an objectively good one over and over again. So do not be afraid of the ratings that commentators give to one or another option. Remember - a live person will sit opposite you at the board, who may well make a mistake! He will help you. The main thing is that the position is full of life, and that it is not easy to play it for both sides. In this case, an objective-absolute assessment will not have much significance. Especially when you're short on time! Play chess with people! Sergey Shipov, 2002.
And now let me supplement the article with today's considerations that arose during the discussion at the TCOP forum ... They clarify, reveal and supplement some points. Mobutu wrote: “The conclusion of the article, as I understood it in relation to this example: if you are not a hero, then spit a thousand times on the absolute assessment. Pick the club with the best stats." Exactly! And also choose the club that Like. For if you play with mood, with desire, with passion, then you regularly win bad positions. For example, a certain player, who is already established (this is important), plays crooked openings, gambits with pleasure, and scores a decent percentage of points there. Then a smart, strict uncle appears and begins to instruct the player, they say, play correctly - choose solid openings, get objectively good positions. And what's going on? Of course, the player's mood disappears, the pressure disappears and the percentage of points may well decrease. Here's a specific example for you - international master Nikolai Vlasov (aka bazar-wokzal, he's also the world champion on the Internet, he's also the owner of two samovars, etc.). Take away his favorite horses from him ( 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!), signature Scandinavian, Coffin's attack and other curvature, hand over orthodox, correct openings - and instead of a bright, original fighter who can beat literally any opponent, you will get an unremarkable, unpromising player. He will be easy not interested play emerging positions. There will be no desire to dive into the nuances. And as a result, practical power will fall. Of course, it is very important to consider your style of play. It is necessary to select an opening repertoire for it, without being embarrassed by the theoretical assessments of strict analysts. And he dictates the optimal strategy for fighting in unfamiliar positions. For example, let's take Tal, Shirov and other talented attackers... They became who they are because they managed to use their best qualities without adjusting to standards and regulations. Along with quite correct combinations, they often bluffed, which also brought them success. Opponents sometimes knew and felt that the victims of magicians were incorrect, that there must be a refutation somewhere. And the analysis after the game confirmed this. What's the point? Over the board, under the ticking of the clock, opponents in objectively better or even won positions made mistakes and lost - in most cases! But in a dry positional, correct fight, they would have had more chances. Thus, the attackers are conscious worsening positions are sought improvements their results. And that's okay. An absolute assessment of a position is not an end in itself! And vice versa, subtle positional masters - Petrosyan, Kramnik and others - sometimes feel that the position objectively requires sacrifices, combinations and other special effects. But they, knowing their shortcomings, deliberately dry up the game, strictly speaking, worsen their position, but at the same time increase the likelihood of a positive result and practically exclude loss. Eliminate the possibility of a gross error. And again, this is normal. Statistics speak in favor of this method. So, players regularly choose that class of positions in which the probability of their error is lower than the probability of error of the opponent - in accordance with their own style and sometimes (this happens much less often) in accordance with the opponent's style. And absolute estimates of emerging positions often play a secondary role.- it is most important! Averaging here does not take place over all players from both sides, but only over opponents on one side - the opponents of a particular performer. This is one of the ways to implement a probabilistic strategy in chess. Apparently, in the context of the above, it is worth introducing a third term - individual position evaluation. (You can also say “subjective”, and then for the sake of uniformity, you will have to replace the word “absolute” with “objective”). The same position for a tough attacker and a cautious techie can be evaluated differently. And there is no contradiction in these assessments! Before us is the real theory of relativity in chess. It all depends on the point of view, on the coordinate system. Indeed, in a complex irrational position, the attacker will have great chances of winning, and the techie will have only some chances of salvation. Conversely, it is easy to come up with an opposite example. The discrepancy (discrepancy, not full correspondence) of the absolute and statistical assessment occurs all the time. But I will give a vivid example. Let's imagine a middlegame position in which White is attacking and has already sacrificed a couple of pieces. Suppose they have a single, non-trivial, very complex, multi-way path to victory, associated with the sacrifice of a couple more pieces and with quiet moves in the middle of a hot battle. It could be any intermediate position from a complex combination. For example,
Absolute position score: 1-0. Strictly! To understand it, it is enough to understand the idea (sacrifice of the queen on e5 followed by domination) and watch it with a good computer. Thus, which is not able to calculate the vast majority of other positions and will give only approximate estimates in them, which can be taken as absolute to some extent. But the statistical assessment of our position will be completely different! Well, people can't count like machines, especially with limited time. And they are not used to giving away queens for horses. Therefore, in the position on the diagram, the retreat of the white queen will surely follow, the e6-pawn will die, and Black will spin up. And most often the game will end in peace or the defeat of White. That is, this position, which is objectively lost for Black in human duels, is objectively more profitable to play as Black! Let's sum up the two-part film! There are three types of evaluation of a chess position: absolute, statistical and individual. It is very important to distinguish situations when one of them comes to the fore. All are important in their own way, and often they contradict each other. In general, there is no contradiction! The last capacious example is my favorite animal, which can be seen on the logo of the Crestbook website. I stubbornly continue to play with black some objectively difficult positions of the Hedgehog system, which, according to statistics, however, give good results. Absolute assessment of the position - bad for Black! Statistical assessment - the chances of the parties are mutual. And my individual assessment is as follows - Black has the advantage! I hope that this will continue in the future ... Here is such a paradox. One position has three different ratings! Sergei Shipov, November 16, 2006
Hello dear friends. With you dad Zhorik.
In today's article I will tell you about how we spend with Zhorik chess analysis played game online. At what the analysis passes very qualitatively.
The computer shows with arrows the moves (where it is better to go), where the error is. Shows “+” or “-” with numbers, immediately finds mate options in a certain number of moves, sacrifices, combinations and everything like that.
And everything is very convenient. Played - pressed the button - you analyze the game for each move. The computer is not a fool, it analyzes everything very well. Don't think that you are smarter than him. =)
In fact, now there are a lot of various free and paid programs in both Russian and English, where all sorts of engines are connected. There are services, etc. But personally, both me and Zhorik like to analyze everyone more at lichess.org.
If you play on a computer, then it looks like this:
And if on the phone (iPhone), then like this:
The scheme is simple if you play on the lichess.org site itself. Played, after the game you press - analysis:
And by clicking on each move in the table with the mouse, look at what the computer shows you. The chess game will be analyzed by the Stockfish 8.0 engine. In fact, a very cool engine, so you can be sure of its quality of analysis.
See an example of a game that I played with Zhorik. They tested him for knowledge of the trap in defending the pawn on e5, with the pawn on f6. The game was: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 3. Nxe5 fe:
You see, the computer shows with an arrow they say to move the next move, he advises the queen on h5. In terms of position, he also estimates it as +3.6 in favor of White.
In fact, you sit like this after the game, look at your mistakes and understand how easy it was to win, however.))) The opponent made mistakes here and there ... Eh ... I wish I could turn back time. I would arrange for him.)))
Thanks to chess analysis, your level of play increases. You start to find good moves, you start to see sacrifices, good combinations, etc.
Farther. If you don’t play on lichess, but for example somewhere on another site or even offline with a friend in a chess club in your city or at some competitions, you sit down and write down the game on the form and want to analyze it, then again, with lichess is not a problem.
If you have a pgn file, then you can import it into lichess and analyze it in the same way:
Also, if you don’t need analysis from the very beginning of the game, but you want to analyze some chess position and find out how you could have made a better move than you actually did, then everything is just as simple here.
Come in board editor and choose whose move:
Clearing the board:
Set the desired position by dragging the figures onto the board:
Click the "Analyze" button. As a result, this is what kopm shows me:
Checkmate in 4 moves. With a rook sacrifice.)) These are the pies.
Analyze, practice and improve your playing skills. In conclusion of the article, I suggest that you analyze the games of Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen.
Watch the games here, and make moves on lichess.org under stockfish analysis. I also advise you to analyze various.
That's all for me. Wait for new articles. We will further describe other possibilities of computer analysis. For example, there is such a mega cool program - Chessbase.
See you soon...
Position analysis - very important skill for chess players of all levels. Many players analyze positions almost spontaneously , without a clearly defined plan.
They do not have a scheme with which you can systematically approach the analysis of positions.
The result is an incomplete analysis and many missed opportunities. In this article, we are going to change that. We will offer a simple and easy to implement plan to analyze all your games.
The material on the board is one of the most important elements for position analysis. Other things being equal, the side with the most material always has the advantage. Therefore, I recommend that you start evaluating any position by checking the material from both sides. This is very easy to do.
You can either compare figures "by heads" (for example, 2 horses, elephant, 5 pawns and rook against 2 elephants, horse, 5 pawns and rooks) or by points ("pawns") (for example, 19 points against 19 points)
Even though material advantage is a very important factor to keep in mind when analyzing a position, it cannot tell us everything that happens on the board.
If you have an extra rook, but checkmate in a couple of moves, it would be foolish to say that you have an advantage.
Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the position of the king (or, more precisely, his security) taking into account all possible threats, mating attacks, etc.
You can quickly check the safety of the king by comparing the pawn structure and counting the number of defending pieces against the number of attackers.
Tip: In order to improve your game, you need to not only study the opening, but also focus on positional understanding and endgame play. If you want to play endings well, I suggest checking out where we go over a lot of common endings. After studying these materials, you no longer have to guess about the winning approach. You will simply apply the perfected technique:
Piece activity is the ability to create threats, control important squares on the chessboard (e.g. weak ones), and/or the ability to move freely around the board. This is a very important element to consider when analyzing a position, especially when other factors such as the material balance and the king's safety seem to be equal.
To compare the activity of the pieces for both sides, you need to take each white piece and compare it to the black copy. For example, the white knight can control 3 cells while black controls 4 .
This means that the black knight is more active. However, if the white knight controls 3 squares near the opponent's king, and the black knight controls 4 on the opposite side of the board, we will consider the white knight to be more active, because he is more useful.
The control diagonals(especially long ones) with bishops and queen often plays a decisive role in attacking the opponent's position.
The side that has this control definitely has some positional advantage, all other things being equal.
Center control (fields e4-d4-e5-d5) is another important element to consider when evaluating a position. The importance of the center comes from the fact that it provides more opportunities to attack, and also reduces the possibility of your opponent's counterattack.
The side that owns the center often has more active pieces as well as a safer king position.
Space control allows you to arrange your pieces for more effective offensive / defensive position and at the same time prevent your opponent from doing the same.
You can estimate how much space each side has by counting the number of squares controlled by pieces and pawns on the opponent's side.
Usually, the side with the space advantage should attack and put pressure on the enemy's position. Because it is difficult to coordinate the work of the figures due to lack of space.
Attack at once multiple targets often decides the game as your opponent is unable to reorganize his defense due to lack of space.
The pawn structure is closely related to space, control of the center and strong / weak fields. At the same time, you should also pay attention to weak pawns such as backward, isolated, doubled, etc.
You can also download this cheat sheet in pdf format to better remember the steps for scoring positions.
Note: If you are looking for a sharp increase in chess level, then it is necessary to systematically work on all elements of the game:
- Tactics
- Positional play
- Attacking Skills
- Endgame technique
- Analysis of classic games
- Psychological preparation
- And much more
At first glance, it looks like there is a lot of work to be done. But thanks to our training course Your learning will be easy, efficiently and with minimal time. Join the training program "", right now!
Good day, dear friend!
Computers have long played stronger than humans. The best chess programs and even more so, it is impossible for even the strongest chess players to compete directly with them on an equal footing.
However, the "iron monster" is not as big and powerful as you might think. Him there are weaknesses and shortcomings . Which a chess player of any level simply must take into account.
More on that at the end of the article, but for now let's look inside the computer for a second and review the best engines and user interfaces.
What's inside?
A computer program (engine) is a counting unit. He counts, operates with numbers and does not understand at all what chess is .
The program translates the chess language into mathematical operations. Adds, subtracts and compares numbers. At the end of each option, a numerical score is given.
This is how chess engines work.
Engines
Competitions are also held between engines, consisting of a large number of games, much larger than between people. Based on the results, rating lists are compiled.
Rating of engines 2016
Komodo
Komodo ranks first in most rankings. Interestingly, Komodo differs in its brains from most of its counterparts.
He has learned to evaluate a position better and relies on evaluation to a greater extent, and less on the depth of calculation.
Perhaps this is the secret. The engine combined the best qualities of man and machine. However, these are my assumptions, which, of course, are not the ultimate truth.
The latest commercial version of the engine - 11.2 . Komodo 9 and older versions are offered for free free distribution.
You can download at main publisher portal
stockfish
This is the logo. Stockfish means dried fish. Where such an allegory comes from - I do not presume to judge
Stokish has been competing lately with Komodo and Houdini and is ahead of its rivals in a number of indicators
The success of Stockfish owes much to its distribution policy. Having created a gain, the developers post a version for testing to all users. Perhaps for this reason, there are almost no serious bugs left.
The program is free. The most recent version is 8. You can download here: https://stockfishchess.org/download/
But that is not all. It is difficult to use an engine without an interface for practical purposes .
Shells and client programs
In order to use the capabilities of the engine, to see its work, you need a shell, an interface. A custom chess program (shell) plus an engine (or several) - this is a ready-made product suitable for human use.
I will give examples of the best, in my opinion, shells and client programs:
Arena
One of the most famous and powerful programs. Can be used as a user interface, shell for almost all the best engines
You can download/install on the official website of the Arena.
Chessbase
Perhaps the most advanced analytical program known to the author.
ChessBase provides all the necessary analytical tools and can:
- Work with databases of games – watch played games and analyze
- Search by certain parameters: openings, positions, balance of material, endgames and more.
- Upload your games, with comments and pictures
- Analyze by selecting different engines
- Create player dossiers based on databases
- Print games and charts in various configurations
And also much more.
The latest version of the program - ChessBase-13
Shredder Classic 3
One of the best Shredder chess engines complete with interface.
- The ability to play both with the engine at different levels, and over the network with real opponents
- The choice of time controls, the ability to create your own control.
- Analysis of both parties and positions
- Interface customization: design of the board and figures, etc. figures, etc. further.
The full version is not free. To get started, you can download the shareware version.
chess planet
A specialized program associated with the portal http://chessplanet.ru/, where you can play online, in tournaments, by correspondence, by correspondence. Competitions and a lot of interesting things are held.
The client program is installed on the user's computer and provides the ability to play, chat on the forum, view and analyze games, watch lessons, and more.
There is also a simplified version where you can play in a browser without installing a client program on your computer.
You can install the client and get acquainted with the portal in more detail.
BabasChess
Multilingual interface (I didn’t find Russian, though) for playing via the Internet.
Combines ease of use and a fairly wide range of functions. This is what captivates.
Works on Windows. Can also work on Linux
For learning
For beginner chess players and for learning, in my opinion, it is better to use multi-profile chess portals or an online school.
However, there are also standalone programs. For example, on a smartphone you can install:
Teaching chess - from simple to complex
Something like a navigator in the world of chess. The application will show the basic rules and give tips on how to improve the game.
The tutorial contains more hundreds topics. Including basic tricks and typical combinations. More 1000 various examples.
Learn more and install here
Don't believe your eyes
The best chess engines are already somewhat "humanized" and in terms of evaluating positions are similar to people. However, they are also wrong. And rude.
Just one example, the simplest:
The position "on the board" is a draw and this is known to most chess players, not only masters. And it’s not difficult to guess – the black king is sitting in the corner and it’s impossible to smoke him out of there. Neither checkmate nor promote a pawn. And pressed in the corner - stalemate.
So, most engines, even the most modern ones, evaluate this position as won for White. stockfish gives +7 . If you don't believe me, you can check for yourself.
In fact, I could give about a dozen such examples, when a machine makes a gross mistake in assessing a position. Why this happens, I do not know, but the fact is the fact.
Hence the conclusion: deifying the computer, it will not be superfluous to remember that “there is a hole in the old woman” . It turns out that not only we check our calculations using a computer. Sometimes the reverse process is also required. That's it.
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With a huge number of servers where you can play online with a "live" opponent - from playchess.com to chess.rc-mir.com or chesshotel.ru (yes, there are a legion of them), it's not easy to find a web interface to a decent chess "engine" offhand I was only able to find this:
1. Play chess online with the "engine" Shredder:
P.S. According to the professional, the online engine has little to do with the power of a real Shredder :)
2. Play chess online with Rybka engine:
Code for connection on your site:
P.S. It seems that the second script is buggy - it hangs stably after several moves.
Loading scripts, especially on slow connections, can take a while... In case of problems, press the F5 key in your browser to refresh the page. Applications require images and Javascript enabled in the browser, as well as support for the floating frame tag.