In chess notation, what do numbers in curly brackets mean?

Question

I was playing a game of chess in winBoard, and I noticed every couple moves, after the algebraic chess notation, it included numbers in curly brackets after the move. For example:

1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 c5 {+0.13/8} 3. Nf3 g6 4. c3 b6 {-0.07/8}

I thought I knew chess notation, but these numbers inside the curly brackets are new for me. What do they mean? I assume its an evaluation of how well the player is doing, but I don't know what the grading scale or anything else is. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Score and depth.



I first thought it was chess engine output,

then saw lots of pgn files with it.

So it is in pgn format with WinBoard adding the brackets.

The first part is easy to recognize as being score.



Positive numbers always good for White.

Negative numbers always good for Black.

In ChessBase and other engines,

it is hundred parts of a pawn.

So that +0.13 has White at an advantage of 0.13 of a pawn.



The second part, is to do with depth.



Engine scores saved in the PGN file

Winboard_x captures the scores and depth reported in engine thinking output,

for inclusion in the PGN file under control by the option -pgnExtendedInfo).



http://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/whats_new/4.4.0/Winboard_x.html

Answer 2

It's a estimate of who is in the lead. To understand this, you need to know that a pawn is assigned a value of 1, while:

bishop & knight = 3

Rook = 5

Queen = 9



The value in brackets is an expression of the positional strength: a positive number means it is in white's favour while negative goes to black.



If white is one pawn up, that would add 1 to the value in the brackets.



This, however, is not the whole story: the computer also analyses the position of the game, taking into account piece mobility, King exposure, and so on, to assign a final value. These all result in increases and decreases in the value.



A value of {0.13} therefore means that white has a marginal advantage over black, which is a typical analysis at the beginning of the game, as - mathematically - white enjoys an advantage in moving first, although it is VERY slight.

Answer 3

First you see 2 numbers. 0.13 in positive number meant better for white and 8 meant move depth.

next -0.07 meant 2 things better for white or better for black. Depending on how computer chess read. don't worry so much. here to help you.

Answer 4

Yes, they come from computer analysis. +1.0 means one side is the equivalent of a pawn up. The /8 part may refer to analysis depth.

Answer 5

this could be somewhat confusing to describe...thats why the gadget grow to get replaced Kt-Qb3 ....the knight strikes to the 0.33 sq. in front of the bishop on the queens section (N-c3 or N-f6) Q-K3...the queen strikes to the 0.33 sq. in front of the king (Q-e3 or Q-e6) Kt-B3....the knight strikes to the 0.33 sq. in front of the bishop (N-c3 or N-f3 or N-c6 or N-f6) solid success, i'm hoping this makes it greater common

Answer 6

you're basically right...it's NOT official chess notation



i guess it's how well each side is doing ??