Hikaru Nakamura labels evaluation bars in chess engines as 'one of the worst things': 'People really don’t understand...'

American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has slammed evaluation bars in chess engines as "one of the worst things" in the sport. According to Nakamura, who is among the top-three players in the world across formats, an evaluation bar can give the "wrong impression" to those following the game.

Nakamura cites gulf between chess engines and humans

The 38-year-old argues that computers are far more advanced compared to humans when it comes to evaluating the best chess moves and the analysis of a move or a position is made from the perspective of a machine rather than the mind of a player.

"Computers are 3500. A computer looks at Magnus like: ‘He’s just a 2,800 guy. He’s a terrible chess player. He doesn’t understand anything about the game’. People really don’t understand how bad humans are compared to computers," Nakamura was quoted by RookReview as saying on a recent live stream on Twitch.

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"I think the evaluation bar is one of the worst things in chess. Because it gives off the wrong impression.

"There can be a position where it says ‘+1’. And then a player blunders, and people go: ‘Oh my god, this guy is terrible! How could he blunder in this position? It’s minus one!’. But in reality, that’s only for a computer that’s 3500…" the American GM added.

Evaluation bars are a visual indicator of real-time analysis of chess engines such as Stockfish, used on leading platforms such as Chess.com and Lichess.org.

The engines analyse moves in real time and shows which player is ahead based on the current position through units of pawns. The bar also starts with equal divisions of the colors white and black and gradually leans towards either side or remains level depending on the game situation.

As for the units of pawns, a score of +1.0 indicates that white is ahead by the equivalent of one pawn. Or a score of -1.5 means that black is ahead by the equivalent of a pawn-and-a-half.