Millennium Europe Chess Champion M800, Руководство пользователя

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Europe Chess Champion - GB - Page 17
4.1.7 Pawn promotion
It is very unusual for a pawn to reach the opposite side of the board (normally it is captured
on the way); however, on reaching the other side, it changes into a different piece of the same
colour. It cannot become a king nor remain a pawn, so you have a choice between becoming
a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Usually, the preferred promotion choice is the queen as it is
the strongest piece, but in rare cases a knight promotion is preferable, as the knight has access
to different squares.
Promotion is effected by removing the pawn and placing the new piece on the
promotion
square . Replacing the pawn by a piece captured before is not required, ie a player can have
two queens or three knights on the board, even though it is not provided for in the original set-
up.
This rule contributes a great deal to the fascination of chess since, without promotion, a chess
game in its advanced phase could hardly be won with only the few pieces remaining.
4.1.8 Material value of the pieces
In chess, the material value of the pieces is not of ultimate importance, although the player
with the more valuable pieces will usually win the game. For the strategic evaluation, the
computer uses the following values:
Pawn
= 100 points
Knight = 300 points
Bishop = 300 points
Rook = 500 points
Queen = 900 points
The king has no material value as it cannot be captured.
Here are some important terms regularly used: the difference in value between a knight (or
bishop) and a rook is called
quality . If both sides capture pieces of equal value, the term
exchange is used. And it is not unusual for a player to lose a certain piece intentionally in
order to gain an advantage elsewhere; this is called sacrifice .