That is the evaluation of the position by the computer analysis. Anything + is an advantage for white, anything - is an advantage for black. It is based loosely on the estimated value of the pieces... Pawn = 1, Bishop & Knight = 3, Rook = 5, Queen = 9. So the - 0.72 indicates that the engine thinks that black has a small advantage at that moment in the game, equivalent to about 2/3rds of a pawn. This is not something to concern yourself with if you are a beginner player - when analysing look for the moments when the evaluation deviates in a big way, the big mistakes. Then try to understand the reasons by following the suggested line of the analysis.
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Jan 23, 2021
0
#3
The -number for black is showing an advantage for black if I’m playing white? I seem to be getting confused, why wouldn’t it show a negative number for me (white in this instance) when I’m down? Thank you for the explanation btw!
Jan 23, 2021
0
#4
Hm how to explain lol...it is just a neutral system. + always refers to white, - always refers to black. It's not from your perspective, it just is what it is.
Jan 23, 2021
0
#5
you are playing white, but black is winning by a small amount. Its the same scale as the normal pieces scale, so -1 is black winning by 1 pawn or a small positional advantage. Less than 1 is position, and just a slight advantage. When the advantage gets to +- 2.0 or more, it will start making sense: the bigger the numbers, the easier to spot the advantage. Anything over 10 means resign. It will also show +- M5 (any number from 1 to 20+ can be after the M) which means forced mate in that many moves or less. The engine sometimes goes kind of dumb and will say like +80 or something (white is absolutely going to win here) but can't find the mate (its beyond its depth, eg a full long pawn walk with king assist + 5 or 6 more moves).
Jan 23, 2021
0
#6
Strangemover wrote:
Hm how to explain lol...it is just a neutral system. + always refers to white, - always refers to black. It's not from your perspective, it just is what it is.
Thank you again! “It’s not from your perspective...” I think that helps me understand it better. I think.
Jan 23, 2021
0
#7
jonnin wrote:
you are playing white, but black is winning by a small amount. Its the same scale as the normal pieces scale, so -1 is black winning by 1 pawn or a small positional advantage. Less than 1 is position, and just a slight advantage. When the advantage gets to +- 2.0 or more, it will start making sense: the bigger the numbers, the easier to spot the advantage. Anything over 10 means resign. It will also show +- M5 (any number from 1 to 20+ can be after the M) which means forced mate in that many moves or less. The engine sometimes goes kind of dumb and will say like +80 or something (white is absolutely going to win here) but can't find the mate (its beyond its depth, eg a full long pawn walk with king assist + 5 or 6 more moves).
Thank you! I’m learning...
Sorry if this posted incorrectly. What does the -0.72 and similar numbers mean? I played as white in this game. Thank you for help.