Chess Piece Relative Value - Standard Valuations

Standard Valuations

The following table is the most common assignment of point values (Capablanca & de Firmian 2006:24–25), (Soltis 2004:6), (Silman 1998:340), (Polgar & Truong 2005:11).

The oldest derivation of the standard values is due to the Modenese School (Ercole del Rio, Giambattista Lolli, and Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani) in the 18th century (Lolli 1763:255) and is partially based on the earlier work of Pietro Carrera (Carrera 1617:115–21). The value of the king is undefined as it cannot be captured, let alone traded, during the course of the game. Some computer chess programs give the king an arbitrary large value (such as 200 points or 1,000,000,000 points) to indicate that the inevitable loss of the king due to checkmate trumps all other considerations (Levy & Newborn 1991:45). In the endgame, where there is usually little danger of checkmate, the fighting value of the king is about four points (Lasker 1934:73). The king is good at attacking and defending nearby pieces and pawns. It is better at defending such pieces than the knight is, and it is better at attacking them than the bishop is (Ward 1996:13).

This system has some shortcomings. Combinations of pieces don't always equal the sum of their parts; for instance, two bishops are usually worth slightly more than a bishop plus a knight, and three minor pieces (nine points) are often slightly stronger than two rooks (ten points) or a queen (nine points) (Capablanca & de Firmian 2006:24), (Fine & Benko 2003:458, 582). The position of the pieces also makes a significant difference, e.g. pawns near the edges are worth less than than those near the centre, pawns close to promotion are worth far more, pieces controlling the centre are worth more than average, trapped pieces (such as bad bishops) are worth less, etc.