Values: Early Attempts: Key to Table

In the following table, all values have been translated so that the Knight has the same value (5.25) in every column:

PIECE    STAND  SPIEL   PROG    MAX     AVERAGE     HANDBUCH
======   =====  =====   ====    =====   =======     ========
Pawn      1.75   1.75   1.59      ?        ?.?          1.49
Knight    5.25   5.25   5.25     5.25      5.25         5.25
Bishop    5.25   5.25   5.25     8.53      8.75         5.26
Rook      8.75   7.88   7.95     9.19     14.00         8.52
Queen    15.75  14.88  15.11    17.72     22.75        15.35
King      7.00   6.56            5.25      6.56
Ferz      3                      2.63      3.06
Alfil     2                      2.63      2.25
Wazir                            2.63      3.50
Dabbaba                          2.63      3.00
KnightRider                      7.88      9.50
Chancellor                      14.44     19.25
You will notice that several new pieces and new columns have been added to the list.


The King is a strong piece when he doesn't have to worry about check. Those who mention the King's value give it as "between a Knight and a Rook". For the STANDARD value and for the SPIELMANN value, I have taken a number exactly halfway between the value of the Rook and that of the Knight.

The "Spielmann" value, 6.5625, is EXACTLY the same as the "Average" value. This could be a coincidence, or it could be a hint that we're on the right track; actually, it's a coincidence. A non-royal King is actually less valuable than a Knight, and the standard advice about its value actually refers to its value in situations where it happens to occupy a good position in the late endgame.
Well, no; in 1991, when the above was written, I thought that a non-royal King was worth less than a Knight, but in 1994 I discovered that the King is worth more IF you know the right strategy to take advantage of its strengths!!! A very important lesson!


The Ferz and Alfil are pieces from the game of Shatranj, which was the standard game of Chess for 700 years -- until some people started playing around with crazy Chess Variants, and after a hundred years of chaos, the modern game of Chess became the standard ( and has been so for 600 years ).

The Ferz moves and captures one square diagonally, a short-range Bishop.

The Alfil leaps two squares diagonally; that is, an Alfil can go from f1 to d3 even if there is something on e2.

The Standard values for the Ferz and Alfil are taken from Al-Adli; of course, I got it from H.J.R. Murray's A History of Chesss, Oxford Press 1913, page 228:

I adopt as the unit of my scale the value of the RP in the Muslim game, and as the connecting link the value of the Knight, whose move is the same in both games.
Al-Adli felt that different Pawns had different values; if you add up the values given in the quote from his book on page 227, you get an average value of 1.4; the values Murray gave for the modern game of chess are reproduced in the "Handbuch" column above.


The Wazir and Dabbaba are pieces from Tamerlane's Great Chess, described on page 344 of Murray.

The Wazir moves or captures one square orthogonally -- that is, up, down, right, or left, like a short-range Rook.

The Dabbaba leaps two squares orthogonally; that is, from e4 it can jump to e2 even if there is something on e3; and from e4 it could go to e2, e6, c4, or g4.

It's supposed to be spelled Dabaaba, but I got it wrong so many times I gave up.
You can see that we want them in our collection of measurements in order to complete a set that began with the Ferz and Alfil. In addition, the King's move is just a combination of the moves of the Ferz and of the Wazir.


The KnightRider is to the Knight what the Bishop is to the Ferz, the Rook to the Wazir, the Queen to the King: a multi-step version of the product!


The Chancellor moves like Rook or Knight; obviously, its value must be very close to that of the Queen. (It also moves in 12 different directions.)


The STAND column gives the "standard" values.

The SPIEL column gives the values according to Spielmann.

The PROG column gives the values used by chessplaying computer programs.

The MAX column gives the value you get when you plunk the piece down in the center of an empty chessboard.

The AVERAGE column gives the average mobility, which is what you get by putting the piece on every square of an empty board and taking the average.

The HANDBUCH column gives the values from the Handbuch, as copied from Murray.


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