Tip the hats, bro actually took the time to write this. UR DA GOAT
My Own Method To Evaluate Basic Positions (In Testing)
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Apr 5, 2024
0
#4
ChessKy538 wrote:
I've decided to make my own way to evaluate positions without using Stockfish and I called it MASS! It's an acronym which stands for:
Material
Activity
Safety
Structure
Let's look at a position I had in a game and use MASS to evaluate it instead of Stockfish. I'm Black in this position.
1. MaterialCount the amount of points each side has. Remember each piece's value:
Pawn - 1
Knight - 3
Bishop - 3
Rook - 5
Queen - 9
As you can see, in this position, material is completely equal and if you don't believe me you can count for yourself! For every point up, add 0.4 to your imaginary EVAL bar depending on the colour.
2. ActivityCount the amount of squares your pieces control on the enemy's position, which are the 4 ranks of their territory, pawn captures count too! Do the same for the other side. In my position, we get the following results:
As you can see, White has a major space advantage! To calculate how much to add, subtract the amount of squares controlled and add to your imaginary EVAL bar +0.01 for every square difference. Here, White controls 13 squares and Black controls 6, so we add 0.07 to it.
3. SafetyThis means how safe your king. To do this, count the amount of weaknesses, where some could be lots of pieces aimed at the side, or restricted squares, open files towards him, etc. As you can see, there doesn't seem to be any weaknesses for the White king and he seems perfectly safe, but for the Black king, notice his escape square is controlled by the queen, and possible Back-Rank threats in the future could be trouble. For every weakness, add 0.2 to the respective side, so we add 0.2 to our imaginary EVAL bar.
4. StructureThe structure describes how the pawns are placed. To figure out how much to add, look for the following structures, and add the respected amount to each side:Pawn chain (3 or more): 0.05
Pawn islands: 0.02
Isolated Pawns: -0.04
Passed pawns: 0.07
Backwards pawns: -0.05
Doubled pawns: -0.02
Let's count how much each side has. White has 2 pawn islands, but nothing else special, so they get 0.04 points. On the other hand, Black has: 3 pawn islands and 1 backwards pawn, so they subtract a total of 0.01, making us have to add 0.03 in total.
ConclusionNow we have to add all the EVAL results through our tests. Let's do it!
0.00 + 0.07 + 0.20 + 0.03 = 0.30
Now use these rankings to figure out the conclusion. This applies for the other side as a negative too.
0.00 - 0.40 = Equal position, no-one is obviously better
0.41 - 0.90 = One side has a slight advantage, but it's hard to keep it and it will often return to equal
0.91 - 1.5 = One side is clearly better, usually by position. This may have been subtracted due to a slightly better position from the other side
1.5+ = The other side has pretty much lost and if you're playing an experienced player, you can't recover.
Obviously, this is a work in progress but let me know what you think in the comments? Would I always get close to Stockfish's EVAL bar? Feel free to use this method when you're evaluating positions! I hope this helps!
This is quite nice. But I will just say (for the beginners) it is also missing tactics. But for that I suggest solving puzzles. I say this because you have to ask whether there's a tactic for you or your opponent and figure out how to make the best response.
sammy9263 wrote:
This is quite nice. But I will just say (for the beginners) it is also missing tactics. But for that I suggest solving puzzles. I say this because you have to ask whether there's a tactic for you or your opponent and figure out how to make the best response.
I know but this method mainly relies on positions which have no tactics and isn't obvious who's winning
Apr 6, 2024
0
#10
I think that the +0.4 should be changed to +0.4 + 0.1n where n = the number of points white (or black) has already had calculated. For example, 9 points up would be about 8 in an eval bar in +0.4 + 0.1n, instead of 3.6 on the eval bar in +0.4.
I've decided to make my own way to evaluate positions without using Stockfish and I called it MASS! It's an acronym which stands for:
Material
Activity
Safety
Structure
Let's look at a position I had in a game and use MASS to evaluate it instead of Stockfish. I'm Black in this position.
1. Material
As you can see, White has a major space advantage! To calculate how much to add, subtract the amount of squares controlled and add to your imaginary EVAL bar +0.01 for every square difference. Here, White controls 13 squares and Black controls 6, so we add 0.07 to it.
Count the amount of points each side has. Remember each piece's value:
Pawn - 1
Knight - 3
Bishop - 3
Rook - 5
Queen - 9
As you can see, in this position, material is completely equal and if you don't believe me you can count for yourself! For every point up, add 0.4 to your imaginary EVAL bar depending on the colour.
2. Activity
Count the amount of squares your pieces control on the enemy's position, which are the 4 ranks of their territory, pawn captures count too! Do the same for the other side. In my position, we get the following results:
3. Safety
This means how safe your king. To do this, count the amount of weaknesses, where some could be lots of pieces aimed at the side, or restricted squares, open files towards him, etc. As you can see, there doesn't seem to be any weaknesses for the White king and he seems perfectly safe, but for the Black king, notice his escape square is controlled by the queen, and possible Back-Rank threats in the future could be trouble. For every weakness, add 0.2 to the respective side, so we add 0.2 to our imaginary EVAL bar.
4. Structure
The structure describes how the pawns are placed. To figure out how much to add, look for the following structures, and add the respected amount to each side:
Pawn chain (3 or more): 0.05
Pawn islands: 0.02
Isolated Pawns: -0.04
Passed pawns: 0.07
Backwards pawns: -0.05
Doubled pawns: -0.02
Let's count how much each side has. White has 2 pawn islands, but nothing else special, so they get 0.04 points. On the other hand, Black has: 3 pawn islands and 1 backwards pawn, so they subtract a total of 0.01, making us have to add 0.03 in total.
Conclusion
Now we have to add all the EVAL results through our tests. Let's do it!
0.00 + 0.07 + 0.20 + 0.03 = 0.30
Now use these rankings to figure out the conclusion. This applies for the other side as a negative too.
0.00 - 0.40 = Equal position, no-one is obviously better
0.41 - 0.90 = One side has a slight advantage, but it's hard to keep it and it will often return to equal
0.91 - 1.5 = One side is clearly better, usually by position. This may have been subtracted due to a slightly better position from the other side
1.5+ = The other side has pretty much lost and if you're playing an experienced player, you can't recover.
Obviously, this is a work in progress but let me know what you think in the comments? Would I always get close to Stockfish's EVAL bar? Feel free to use this method when you're evaluating positions! I hope this helps!