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Subject: Just because the evaluation is 0.00 does not mean it's a drawn position!

Author: Laurence Chen

Date: 19:10:36 12/04/00

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On December 04, 2000 at 17:48:10, Uri Blass wrote:

>These positions are from games of shredder5 that Chris Taylor posted.
>
>[D]2rqrb2/3n1ppk/b2p3p/1ppPpN2/p3P1P1/P1P2QR1/1PB2PP1/R1B3K1 b - - 0 1
>
>In this position Shredder5 played f6 and evaluated the position as 0.00
>
>It is not the only case of 0.00 evaluations of lost positions of shredder.
>
>[D]2r2bk1/B6p/1p4p1/3Pp1q1/Q1n1P3/8/P3N1PP/R5K1 w - - 0 1
>
>Here Shredder5 also played Qd7 and evaluated the position as 0.00
>23.Qd7 0.00/11 Bc5+ 24.Kh1 0.00/12
>
>
>[D]2rrn1k1/pp1b1pp1/1n1q4/3p1PPN/3P3R/1PNB4/P1Q2K2/6R1 b - - 0 1
>
>Here shredder5 evaluated the position as 0.06 pawn against itself and played
>27...Qc6.
>
>The point of this post is not to attack Shredder that did very good result and
>won the matches against the tigers but only to show that all programs and not
>only Fritz have positions in the middle game that they are wrong when they
>evaluate the positions as a draw.
>
>Uri
Uri just because a chess engine gives an evaluation of 0.00 does not necessary
mean that it is a drawn position.  In an endgame, that can be evaluation can be
taken as true, however, in an opening or middle game position, 0.00 does not
mean draw, I never would interpret such score of 0.00 as a draw, because that is
incorrect.  Take for example the initial position of the chessboard, all the
White pieces and Black pieces are still in their original squares, how would one
evaluate this position then?
[D]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
Junior 6a gives this position a 0.10 after a depth of 16, Chess Tiger 13 gives
this position a 0.16 after a depth of 13, just as an illustration.  Now the
chess engines would evaluate this position as equal (=), then does it mean that
the position is really a draw?  It all depends, if White is a GM rated 2600 and
Black is an amateur rated 1800, then what would be the evaluation of this
position? I would give +5.00, not 0.00, not 0.10, not 0.16, not 0.18.  The point
is that evaluation done by chess engines must be interpreted, not taken as a
whole truth, especially in the opening and middle game because there is still a
lot of struggle going on.  The chess literature opening books is filled with
analysis done by IM's and GM's, and sometimes they also evaluate a position as
=, and does it mean that it is a drawn position?  However, it's different in an
endgame position, because in an endgame one can calculate precisely, and precise
moves can be found, therefore an assessment of the position is much more
accurate.  Take this example,
[D]6k1/8/6KP/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1
Let's assume that the White player is rated 3000, and Black is rated 1800, once
again this position can be accurate assessed as 0.00, because it really doesn't
matter if White is rated 5000, because White cannot win this position unless
Black on purpose play the worse moves, or he is an absolute beginner who doesn't
know how to play chess. My 2 cents worth.
Laurence





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