What is the quality that for most people defines a good chessplayer? It is the ability to analyse deeply, the ability to transform, without physically moving the pieces, the position on the board into something wildly different, all in the mind’s eye. Yet what is often ignored is the more subtle, yet equally important skill- evaluation. In this and the next few articles, I will discuss some of the issues inolved in evaluation- how to evaluate a position, deciding when to analyse and when to evaluate, and finally what you can do to improve your evaluation skills.
A little thought makes it clear why evaluation is important. However well you can analyse, a point comes when you have to stop, when analysing further is fruitless. Usually this is when a 'quiet' position arises in your analysis, in which the next few moves are not likely to change the complexion of the game. How do you decide, then, whether the original move was good? The only way to do so is to evaluate or judge the resulting position and decide who is better, and this is where your evaluation skills come in. Good evaluation can easily mean the difference between a won and a lost game, which is why the lack of importance often attached to it is all the more baffling.
Just to set things off, here’s a position that might have arisen in a game of mine. It’s black to move.
1. … exd5 looks obvious, when the game is just about even. While White has pressure against the weak c-pawn, this is counterbalanced somewhat by white's k-side light-squared weaknesses as well as the fact that black’s bishop is better than white’s.
However Black also has the interesting choice of 1. … Qxd5!? 2. Qxc7 Bf6 3. e3 (3. Be3 Bxd4; 3. Rd1 Rfc8 4. Qf4 e5!) Rfc8 4. Qf4 Rc2, when black clearly has some compensation for the pawn- his pieces are very active and it isn't easy for white to develop his queenside pieces.
The question is, how does black decide whether to play 1. … exd5 or 1. … Qxd5? Obviously in order to do that black has to evaluate the positions after 1. … exd5 and 4. … Rc2, and decide which one is better. Here we see the importance of evaluation- a player with good calculation and visualization skills can easily find both variations, but without good evaluation skills he might well end up choosing the wrong option. ‘Seeing’ is not everything; you also have to understand what you see!
We will be coming back to the above position from time to time as we further explore the fascinating, if at times frustrating, process of evaluation. Until next time, adieu!
A little thought makes it clear why evaluation is important. However well you can analyse, a point comes when you have to stop, when analysing further is fruitless. Usually this is when a 'quiet' position arises in your analysis, in which the next few moves are not likely to change the complexion of the game. How do you decide, then, whether the original move was good? The only way to do so is to evaluate or judge the resulting position and decide who is better, and this is where your evaluation skills come in. Good evaluation can easily mean the difference between a won and a lost game, which is why the lack of importance often attached to it is all the more baffling.
Just to set things off, here’s a position that might have arisen in a game of mine. It’s black to move.
1. … exd5 looks obvious, when the game is just about even. While White has pressure against the weak c-pawn, this is counterbalanced somewhat by white's k-side light-squared weaknesses as well as the fact that black’s bishop is better than white’s.
However Black also has the interesting choice of 1. … Qxd5!? 2. Qxc7 Bf6 3. e3 (3. Be3 Bxd4; 3. Rd1 Rfc8 4. Qf4 e5!) Rfc8 4. Qf4 Rc2, when black clearly has some compensation for the pawn- his pieces are very active and it isn't easy for white to develop his queenside pieces.
The question is, how does black decide whether to play 1. … exd5 or 1. … Qxd5? Obviously in order to do that black has to evaluate the positions after 1. … exd5 and 4. … Rc2, and decide which one is better. Here we see the importance of evaluation- a player with good calculation and visualization skills can easily find both variations, but without good evaluation skills he might well end up choosing the wrong option. ‘Seeing’ is not everything; you also have to understand what you see!
We will be coming back to the above position from time to time as we further explore the fascinating, if at times frustrating, process of evaluation. Until next time, adieu!
