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Games where it is your turn to play
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Chess annotation symbols are a standard way of evaluating moves in chess. When using computer analysis, we compare 2 positions. The engine evaluation of a given position results in either a centi-pawns value (strength of a position in material equivalent, i.e. in 1/100 of pawns or centi-pawns), or a mate value (i.e. in how many plies a checkmate is possible).
When both positions evaluation contain a centi-pawn value, we calculate the delta. If this delta is above a certain value, we can classify the move as follows:
| Delta | Classification | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| ≥ +300 | Brilliant | !! |
| ≥ +100 | Good | ! |
| ≥ +50 | Interesting | !? |
| ≤ -50 | Inaccuracy | ?! |
| ≤ -100 | Mistake | ? |
| ≤ -300 | Blunder | ?? |
Those thresholds are a common standard (source). However, we had to make a few simplifications and workarounds to make this work:
Simplification 1: When a position doesn't contain a centi-pawn value but a mate value, we convert that mate value to a centi-pawn value following a heuristic: Since centi-pawn value of a position varies from [-7,706, +7,706] in the Pikafish engine, we assign to a "mate" evaluation a value above +7,706 (or below -7,706). We add a "bonus" (or subtract a "malus") on top of 7,706 — 312 for a mate in 1, 304 for a mate in 2, 296 for a mate in 3, etc. until a mate in 40 plies where we don't add anything. So 8 centi-pawns for each mate below 40.
Simplification 2: Usually, the delta are calculated comparing the position that results from the player's move against the position that would have resulted from the best engine move (what the engine would have played). In our case, we don't yet collect position evaluation resulting from what the engine would have played; so we simply compare to the previous position. We will add tickets to the roadmap to collect evaluation of engine best moves for more accurate comparisons. We will also have to update the existing 4,000 games analysis already in the system.
Due to those assumptions and workarounds, it's possible that those annotations don't always seem to make sense (for example that a move from the engine at depth 20 will be classified as a mistake). Once we add position evaluation resulting from the best engine moves, we expect those annotations to become more accurate.
In any case, computer analysis of games is just a tool, it is not perfect, and it can not replace an analysis made by master player or a teacher. But it can already help players identify blunders and mistakes.
Perpetual checking is a situation in which a player makes a series of moves giving check to the opponent General with one or several pieces. The series of checks is called perpetual depending on the applied rules. Currently, we apply the following rules set:
Our Perpetual checks indicator widget lists two labels for each color: