I want you guys to give me a list of general maxims, such as: "Doubled pawns are superior than paralel pawns", "knigth is superior than bishop in an end game", etc...
The reasons for this are:
1- I want to become a better chess player and scholar.
2- I want to make a Chess engine, so it would be helpful for the engine evaluation heuristics (in case you do not know what that word means, that basically means the act of seeking a solution that is most nearest the best one through some "tricks" when finding it is cumbersome and impossible for a machine of our days".
Thanks.
This is a cool idea! Maybe we can compile such a list of guidelines all together.
I'll start with those that first come to my head, without claim of completeness:
***Opening***
Achieve the following 3 things: development, castling, control of the center.
A move that achieves 2 of these 3 things is usually a good move.
Don't move a piece twice if you don't need to. Efficiency is key!
Develop knights before bishops.
When you have developed your minor pieces, connect your rooks and bring them to central/open files.
Don't move your queen too early.
***General strategy***
The first key to evaluating a position is king safety.
With pawns, capture towards the center.
If your opponent plays on the wing, open the center.
Open the position only when you are better developed and your king is safe.
Open the position especially when your opponent's king is still uncastled.
In closed positions, attack on the flank which your pawn chain points towards.
Exchanging pieces is good for the defender.
In positions of opposite castling, the one who first opens lines against the opponent's king has a big advantage.
Improve (or exchange) your weakest piece first.
If you have the advantage, create a second weakness in your opponent's position.
***Concerning pieces***
In open positions, bishops are stronger than knights. In closed positions, knights are stronger.
In open positions, the bishop pair is worth an extra pawn.
Knights are best on advanced outposts.
Knight on the rim is dim.
Rooks belong on open files (to invade into the opponent's camp).
Bishop+Rook and Queen+Knight are strong attacking duos.
***Endgame***
In the endgame, activity is key. Often it is more important than the number of pawns.
Activate your pieces in order of strength. A king is worth about 4 pawns in the endgame.
If you have a passed pawn, place a rook behind it.
In bishop endgames, place your pawns on the opposite color of your bishop.
Fix pawns on the color of your opponent's bishop.
There is not much to add to what
@Wittke said. Implement all of it and the engine or you is stronger than us already.
Very important are exceptions. For example capturing towards the center is not always the right choice. For example it is more important to capture in a way that it supports your pieces (free a bad bishop). Also doubled pawns are not always bad. They can control key squares or protect important pieces.
I made a excel sheet for evaluation once (which worked like an engine) having an output of what to do next when given all the data about the current situation. It is very important to have a priority list. For example king safety is more important than piece activity and piece activity is more important than pawn structure and so on.
@Wittke Nice list. I am reminded of a piece I saw in "The Fireside Book of Chess" called "Telling off the World Champion".
Many of your principles come from Lasker's 'Common Sense in Chess ' (1895). Some were formulated by Steinitz.
Anyhoo...Mr. Hecht analyzes one of Lasker's games from the Lasker Book - and finds that almost every one of Lasker's moves violates one or several of the solemn principles.
It's really quite amusing.
@Wittke Thanks. What is meant by "duos" and "a knight in a rim is dim"?
a connected passed pawn is worth like 2 points in most situations.
@AcabaComigoA duo in this case describes two pieces which harmonize well together.
'Knight on the rim is dim' is a saying meaning that knights on the edge of the board are bad.
By the way, the great mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing had the same idea of writing a chess engine on the basis of such guidelines. The evaluation tool called 'Turochamp' was written on paper in the 1940s and fortunately implemented some time ago; it can be embedded in a pgn viewer. Maybe you can access the code and find some inspiration ;)
You can take a look at Jeremy Silman's books on unbalances and endgames. In these, there are many advises as these as FM Wittke Said. They are putted in some little boards in some pages, so you don't need to read all the text. Even if it's very useful to read these to improve.
Another one that my past trainer tells us very often :
Better pawn structure = exchange pieces
Whorst pawn structure = exchange pawns
Space disadvantage : exchange pieces + look for pawn breaks + control weak squares
In closed structures, the one who have the more (or the last) pawn breaks has a big advantage
You can also use that :
fr.chesstempo.com/positional-motifs@Furo951 Chesstempo... Hmm I have the impression I have heard of it before. Anyways....
