Author: Jim Monaghan
Date: 22:23:54 11/14/00
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Hi, The evaluation question reminds me of a good book I read ages ago, "Point Count Chess" by I. Horowitz. The short answer is, that in general with other things being equal a positional factor is worth about 1/3 of a pawn. Horowitz developed a type of Mendeleyev table of positional themes: 32 of them, 20 plus points like: mobile pawn wing, passed pawn, rook on the 7th rank ... and 12 minus points like: isolated pawns, holes, bad bishops, ... The general idea is to add up your pluses and minuses, compare them to your opponent and the net number gives you the positional score and where you should focus your attention. This sounds rather mechanical, but you end up thinking dynamically, doing basic calculations along the schemes that the positional signposts show, rather than analyzing all over the board. A master generally needs a one pawn advantage to win or 3 positional factors in his favour, again ceterus parabus. There'a all kinds of exceptions ... sometimes an open diagonal is more important than a queen. But a 1/3 of a pawn is a good place to start. Cheers, Jim
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