I know that pawns are rated at 1 point, but is that really accurate?
in the late-game 2 pawns Vs a bishop or a knight, one of the pawns would promote, meaning that the side with 2 pawns would win.
so how can I be sure that I shouldn't trade 2 pawns for a minor piece?
and how do you rate 1 point ? :)
basically we say taht pawns are used as a value unit
so Knight= 3 pawns
Rook= 5 pawns etc...
but these values are just a guideline
and while in most cases are correct they are not to be followed blindly
there are cases where 2 pawns are stronger than piece, a bishop stronger than rook and even a knight stronger than a queen
as you get better at the game you will learn to to judge these things for yourself
some more guidelines you may not know and find useful
the bishop is a bit stronger than the knight
two minor pieces are a bit strogner than a Rook and a pawn
two bishops are probably equal to a rook and two pawns
3 minor pieces are better than 2 rooks
the King in the ending(when there is no mate potential) has a value of 4 pawns, so if u have just a minor piece and u have to block a free pawn you do it with your worst piece aka the minor piece cause KING IS THE BOSS BABY, sorry i got excited
First of all, pieces mean power/control and a knight or bishop usually has more power/control than two pawns and equips the side who is a minor piece up with a good soldier.
Secondly, to adress another part of your question:
No, not all pawns are worth one point. If you are really strict about that, you could say that the pawns on the rim are worth say 0.8 and the ones in the centre 1.2.
Also, I wanna add that whenever there are material imbalances, it the evaluation of situation very much depends on the position.
And @#2 Morningcoffee: Alright, people say the bishop pair is worth more but does a material superiority in the simple relation between bishop and knight exist? I'm not so sure about that.
*leave out the "it" in my last post
It is accurate. Of course 1 pawn is worth 1 point. Obviously 1 knight is worth more that 1 pawn because of its strenght and so on. The king can be worth 0 or infinity.
BUT
1 pawn on a chess board - UNMEASURABLE.
let us also remember that pawns have different power depending on where they are in relation to each other. tripped isolated pawns are not much better then one pawn, but three connected passed pawns over halfway down the board can often beat a rook. so can a knight beat, or at least draw, two pawns? that is a very good question.