Heat Map
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:34 am
Hello OpenChess Folk!
This is my first post here, so I won't include images or links which might make the system think I'm spamming : )
I have a background in front-end programming, but little experience yet in working with chess.
Is there any existing application that shows the "heat map" of a chess game? By this, I mean: a display where the squares that are safe to move to are shown in a "safe" colour (green for example), and the squares that are controlled by the opponent are shown in an aggressive colour (such as red). Neutral squares could be grey. I believe that this would be very useful for learners who want to see where the strengths and weaknesses of their current position are.
I can imagine also that the size of each piece could reflect the usefulness of that piece in its current position. For example, a knight in a corner would appear smaller than a knight in the centre, to indicate that it range of action is reduced. A piece that is pinned would be smaller than if it were not pinned. A piece that can be used in the current move to mate the opponent could appear larger.
As I understand it, chess engines tend to calculate a global score for the current position of the game. Are there any that do this by assigning a score to each square and each piece, and then create an aggregate score from that? If so, then it may be easy to adapt an existing engine to make these individual scores visible. If not, perhaps there are articles that you can recommend as a starting point for understanding the issues involved.
Thanks in advance for any insights,
James
This is my first post here, so I won't include images or links which might make the system think I'm spamming : )
I have a background in front-end programming, but little experience yet in working with chess.
Is there any existing application that shows the "heat map" of a chess game? By this, I mean: a display where the squares that are safe to move to are shown in a "safe" colour (green for example), and the squares that are controlled by the opponent are shown in an aggressive colour (such as red). Neutral squares could be grey. I believe that this would be very useful for learners who want to see where the strengths and weaknesses of their current position are.
I can imagine also that the size of each piece could reflect the usefulness of that piece in its current position. For example, a knight in a corner would appear smaller than a knight in the centre, to indicate that it range of action is reduced. A piece that is pinned would be smaller than if it were not pinned. A piece that can be used in the current move to mate the opponent could appear larger.
As I understand it, chess engines tend to calculate a global score for the current position of the game. Are there any that do this by assigning a score to each square and each piece, and then create an aggregate score from that? If so, then it may be easy to adapt an existing engine to make these individual scores visible. If not, perhaps there are articles that you can recommend as a starting point for understanding the issues involved.
Thanks in advance for any insights,
James