The game of chess is not just a board game played for fun or for relaxation. While it is true that it is the best game suited to provide relaxation, fun as well as excitement to a player, the game of chess has much more to offer to the logical mind of a thinking man.
Chess is by far the most easiest games to learn but also the most tough and challenging one to master. If one were to gain expertise in this game and play like a grandmaster, he should not only play more and more games, learn good things from each game, rectify the mistakes and strive hard to ensure that no mistakes are committed from his end. He should also have a very good understanding of the value of the different pieces and a very calculative mind to effectively use the real and face values of the pieces.
Each player, at the start of the game, is provided with equal set of pieces, and there exists equilibrium in the beginning before any move is made and after the board is arranged with the pieces. The logical conclusion of the game is a draw and victory to one of the two players is possible only by an accident, an accident caused by the other player in the form of a mistake.
The most important and invaluable piece in the board is naturally the King. If the King loses its value, then there is no game at all. We were taught that the second most important piece in the board is the Queen and has been assigned a value of 9 points. The rooks were assigned a value of five each, and the minor pieces of Knights and Bishops were assigned a value of 3 points each. The least valued piece is none other than the eight pawns, each assigned a value of 1 point each.
These are the face values of the pieces, as were taught to us by our masters. The points assigned were not the actual values as has been propounded earlier in a relative manner, but were rounded off values to the nearest one.
There is something called relative value of a piece. We know that the value assigned to a pawn is the least at 1 point. The value assigned to a knight is 3 points. Now, the value of a knight can be interpreted as equivalent to three pawns. Since the bishop and the knight have been assigned the same value, a bishop can also be equivalent to three pawns. We know that the rook is assigned a value of 5 points. Thus, the notional value of rook in a relative sense is equal to one knight or bishop plus one and a half of pawn. In other words, the rook is stronger than a knight or a bishop by one and a half pawn. The most valuable piece in the board, the Queen, in relative terms, is equivalent to one rook, one bishop or knight and one and a half pawn. If assigned values in relative terms, you can appreciate the difference in rounding off to one.
As a chess player, be it in a novice stage or an expert, one should have a thorough understanding of the relative values of the pieces in the board. It is the material balance or the value of the pieces that determines whether the time is ripe for launching an attack on the opponent or not. Premature attacks with improper planning and poor positioning of pieces might not lead to victory or success of the mission.
Apart from these face values and notional or relative values, there is some thing called real value for a piece. This real value of a piece is not a static number but a dynamic one that keeps on changing after every move in the board. The positional influence of the pieces, irrespective of their face value, gains importance. One should have a thorough understanding of the values of these pieces and their positional advantage, and a correct mixture of the two is what differentiates a man in chess from a boy in the game.
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