Author: Ricardo Gibert
Date: 14:02:00 10/28/99
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On October 27, 1999 at 02:59:52, James Robertson wrote: >I'm trying to write some code to evaluate passed pawns. Specifically, I want to >know how people score pawns as they advance toward the 8th rank. How much bonus >do you give each square the pawn advances? Does this increase with connected >passers? I think Bob mentioned that if the King is defending the pawn or it is >blocked by an enemy piece certian bonuses/penalties are given. What do other >people do about this? > >Any help is appreciated. If I can get my program's passed pawn code in before >Thursday when I leave for the Dutch Open, I will be very happy. :) > >James The more you learn about chess, the more you will realize how inadequate any scheme to value passed pawns this way is. I can show you positions where pawns are stronger further back! Some R+P vs N and R+P vs B endings are like this. A lot of K&P endings are like this too. Some endings passed rook Ps are stronger while in others passed center pawns are. In KQkrp endings, the pawn is better off near the edge, any edge, side, forward or back. A pawn getting stronger as it advances is just an assumption on your part. The truth is much more problematical. The value of passed pawns in the endgame is VERY quirky. Even when it holds true that a further advanced pawn is stronger, it is often the case that it's value is "all or nothing". That is, a particular rank represents a kind of threshold. You pass the threshold, success! You don't, failure!
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