5 
8/3k4/8/3K4/3P4/8/8/8 b - - 0 1

(Black to move)

This is a theoretical win since White has the opposition and the king is in front of the pawn.

I have downloaded the Windows version for Stockfish 9 and followed the UCI protocol.

Stockfish:

Stockfish 9 64 by T. Romstad, M. Costalba, J. Kiiski, G. Linscott

Input:

uci

Stockfish:

id name Stockfish 9 64
id author T. Romstad, M. Costalba, J. Kiiski, G. Linscott

option name Debug Log File type string default
option name Contempt type spin default 20 min -100 max 100
option name Threads type spin default 1 min 1 max 512
option name Hash type spin default 16 min 1 max 131072
option name Clear Hash type button
option name Ponder type check default false
option name MultiPV type spin default 1 min 1 max 500
option name Skill Level type spin default 20 min 0 max 20
option name Move Overhead type spin default 30 min 0 max 5000
option name Minimum Thinking Time type spin default 20 min 0 max 5000
option name Slow Mover type spin default 89 min 10 max 1000
option name nodestime type spin default 0 min 0 max 10000
option name UCI_Chess960 type check default false
option name SyzygyPath type string default <empty>
option name SyzygyProbeDepth type spin default 1 min 1 max 100
option name Syzygy50MoveRule type check default true
option name SyzygyProbeLimit type spin default 6 min 0 max 6
uciok

Input:

position fen 8/3k4/8/3K4/3P4/8/8/8 b - - 0 1
go depth 1

Stockfish:

info depth 1 seldepth 1 multipv 1 score cp -4276 nodes 5 nps 2500 tbhits 0 time 2 pv d7e8
bestmove d7e8

Why is the evaluation -4276?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    The opposition has nothing to do with it, seeing as the black king is completely out of play: 1. any e6 2. any e7 3. any e8Q. Oh wait — did you accidentally post the diagram upside down??
    – bof
    Jun 20, 2018 at 23:24

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

Because Black is to move, and for Black the position is evaluated as being 42.76 pawns behind.

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    Ho! So the evaluation is relative to the player and not to the position?
    – Michael Haddad
    Jun 20, 2018 at 20:27
  • 4
    Yep, that's what the UCI protocol specifies.
    – Glorfindel ♦
    Jun 20, 2018 at 20:29
  • 4
    Note that the normal Stockfish engine evaluates relative to the position, so this case is an exception due to the UCI protocol.
    – Inertial Ignorance
    Jun 21, 2018 at 0:59
  • @InertialIgnorance is this still the case, and could you please give an example?
    – Purefan
    Jan 18 at 9:25
  • 1
    @Purefan Yes, same thing still. I ran Stockfish 15 via the terminal and used the OP's position with 'go depth 1', and got an eval of -815. For my 2018 comment though, I probably could have phrased that better. The "normal" Stockfish engine is really Stockfish as its developers programmed it, and it evaluates relative to the player (as dictated by the UCI protocol). It's just that Stockfish via most well-known interfaces (chessbase, lichess, etc) shows the eval relative to the position, which is what I meant by 'normal' in 2018.
    – Inertial Ignorance
    Jan 19 at 7:17

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