Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 13:35:29 02/27/06
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On February 27, 2006 at 15:32:49, Alessandro Scotti wrote: >Thanks Bob, that helps a lot! I did try to figure out this stuff from Crafty but >there were a lot of things I didn't understand before starting this thread! > >On February 27, 2006 at 12:35:44, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>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... one thing I should add, which is pretty obvious, but perhaps not at first glance. You _must_ have some code that recognizes that if your king is closer to your pawns than your opponent's king, then you are winning just the same as if you have that outside passer, or even better. Otherwise you will create an outside passer, but hang on to it for dear life giving your opponent time to either trade the other pawns away or lock them up favorably so you can no longer win when you finally give it away to avoid the 50 move rule. :)
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