I have Arena too.
If White to move, then +0.12 would mean that white has an advantage of 12/100 of a pawn.
If Black to move, then +0.12 would mean that Black has an advantage of 12/100 of a pawn.
If White to move, then -0.12 would mean that black has an advantage of 12/100 a pawn.
If Black to move, then - 0.12 would mean that White has an advantage of 12/100 a pawn.
Another quick question:
Im confused as to why I don't get a value of my move until after black has played his move. If there is a "best" (or close to it) move I can make, the computer should be able to tell me before my opponent makes his move. If it waits until after my opponent makes his move, then the value of the move I made would be in relation to the move my opponent made after. In other words there is a logical best move and I may not play it. However the value of my move may change based on what my opponent does next. For example if I make a pointless move of a pawn this would be seen as a poor move. But if my opponent then moves his queen right in the pawns attacking range my move now has a much higher value because I can capture the queen.
Am I not getting something? It seems to me the analysis of my move should be made after I make it. Then once black moves the analysis should be made again and a new evaluation of the board should be made and so on after every move...not every full turn...?
How can that be? Its the 4th move, Ive lost a pawn and a knight and black has lost nothing. It is now my move (white) and the computer gave me a value of +4.1 meaning I have the advantage by a decent amount. Im not understanding...
Obviously, it's doing the opposite of what you've been told it's supposed to do. Don't know why that is...but clearly that's what's happening.
Well I mean of course that's my assumption but I wanted to make sure there wasn't something wrong with how I had it set up and thus have it giving me wrong values or something. Thanks.
Hmm, maybe you're looking at the wrong plus or minus sign? Because black's winning there's probably the following notation:
-+
Which means big or decisive advantage for black. So are you sure it doesn't look like this:
-+ -4.1
And maybe you're missing the minus sign immediately in front of the 4?
And yes, engines should always be giving an evaluation (every half move). I don't have arena, so I can't be sure, but in other programs you can turn off "permanent brain" so that it only "thinks" on its turn... so on your turn the evaluation is either frozen or blank.
I'm just guessing. Hopefully someone with arena can be more specific for you.
You might just need to change a setting or two. Which version of Arena are you using, and which engine and version number are you using? (I could try to reproduce your problem.) I've noticed that problem for some engines during game play, but I'm not sure if I've seen it during analysis.
Changes in menu settings that might help:
1) Options -> Appearance -> Other settings -> Chess ->Values always from white's point of view
2) Engines -> Manage -> Details -> (here you have to pick which engine's settings you want to change) -> Special -> Values absolute (always from white's side). Note that for many UCI engines, this tick box is greyed out and can't be changed.
Edit - The best way to think of it is that if you don't have the "value absolute from white's side" set, the engine may give numbers from the engine's point of view. Since in this case the engine is playing Black, it's giving you analysis numbers from black's point of view. That is, if black is better, it will give you a positive number.
Thank you, the option setting worked. I tried finding that myself but had no luck. It is now analyzing with + for my advantage and - for blacks. However, it is still only doing an analysis after the computers move. So if I do 1) e4 the move shows up in the box on the right highlighted in yellow by itself. The computer starts thinking and eventually makes it's move. Then in that same box it now shows:
1) e4 e5 +0.25/12 30s e7-e5 Yf1-c4 og8-f6 og1-f3 of6xe4 d2-d3 (e5 is now highlighted in yellow and everything after 12 30s is in green.
Also there is another box where e4 shows up by itself. Then after the computer makes its move e5 this box then shows:
1) ...e5
value +0.26
depth:12
time: 00.30.007
How do I get it to start analyzing before it's move AND after? Im using arena 3.0 Thanks a lot everyone.
How do I get it to start analyzing before it's move AND after? Im using arena 3.0 Thanks a lot everyone.
The feature of having the engine also think during your time is called pondering. (It's also sometimes called permanent brain.) You'll have to set "pondering on" either from the engine menu or by right-clicking in the engine analysis window and clicking on "ponder".
Which engine and version number are you using?
Thanks for taking the time to help. I think pondering means the computer continues to analyze the position even when it's your turn (much like a human opponent does) ...What I meant was how can I make Arena tell me the value of my move BEFORE it makes its move. So if I play 1) a1 it gives me a +/- value based on how good the move was and then makes it's move and then gives a +/- value based on the overal position. Is this something that they normally do or am I misunderstanding?
What Im getting at is: if Im playing a game and I get into a certain position that always causes me trouble, I want to know the best move out of the one's im debating between. So I want to be able to make a move, see the value it gives that move, and then try my other ideas, and see which is best. It seems to me, that as of how it's working now, a move could be good or bad depending on the move the computer makes. Or does it even matter since you should assume the computer will make close to the best possible response to your move? In other words, does it analyze moves or positions?
oh and Im using "SOS 5.1 for Arena"
Well, the engine analyzes positions and calculates the best move based on that position. But you should be seeing the pondering analysis, even while you're thinking. Are you seeing the engine analysis window? It should look something like this:
A couple more comments.
If you're going to be playing games with pondering, you should change this setting: In the menu, Engines -> Configure Engine Analysis Output -> Design of the Info Boxes, in the Visible Elements list, check on "Pondermove".
Also, if you have a particular position that you're especially interested in, you should probably just go into straight analysis mode instead of the game playing mode.
Hey this is my first post here. I'm trying to understand the analysis given to me by Arena. I tried searching the forums before posting but everything I found says the opposite of what Im seeing so Im confused.
I read that in Arena a + analysis of a move means it favors white and if its - it favors black (Im playing white). However, it seems like Arena is doing the opposite:
1) e4 , d5 -.26
2) f4 , dxe4 +.81
3) Nf3 , exf3 +4.1
Clearly I made horrible moves yet the score went positive. Is mine switched for some reason? I dont see why it would be programed as - being your advantage...??
Thanks