Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 09:35:44 02/27/06
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On February 27, 2006 at 04:23:09, Alessandro Scotti wrote: >Hi all, >I would like to include outside and candidate passers in my engine evaluation, >but it seems I can't find a definition in plain English. >Can you explain those terms to me?!? Oh... and maybe a few test positions would >be helpful as well! :-) >Thanks! You have comments from others, here is what I use: "distant passer" (outside passer). Look at all pawns on the board. If one side has a passed pawn on an "edge" (this passed pawn is either the right-most or left-most pawn on the board) then that is an outside or distant passer. The useful characteristic is that you can push this pawn like crazy and your opponent _must_ use his king to stop it, leaving his king away from the rest of the pawns where your king should be able to wreck havoc. Of course if your opponent has a protected passed pawn, your outside passed pawn is not worth anything in a pure king-pawn ending since you can never take the pawn protecting his passer while he is free to take your distant passer and come back into the game... A candidate is just that. A pair (or more) of pawns that can be pushed to form a passer. For example, white pawns at g2/h2, black pawn at g7. White has a pawn majority that can be used to create a passed pawn, and in this case it would end up being a "distant passer" if your opponent doesn't have a passer on the other wing. The only disadvantage of a majority is time. An outside passer can move _now_. It takes far longer to mobilize a majority and turn it into a real outside passer, which might be enough to give your opponent time to do something beneficial to him. Hope that helps...
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