King Centralization

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King Centralization,
an endgame evaluation feature as used in some engines to encourage the king to become a more active piece in the endgame, when due to appropriate reduced material king safety is less important. From the center, the king has more possibilities to reach upcoming critical areas of the board in time, i.e. to support own, or to attack or stop opponent passers.

Implementation

A common technique is to apply endgame piece-square tables based on center distance and/or center Manhattan-distance penalties, likely interpolated by a tapered eval with their opening/middlegame counterpart of antipodal center edge relationship. King centralization interacts with king pawn tropism, amplified the more central the gravity point of passers and possibly weak pawns is.

See also

• Center
• Center Control
• Center Distance
• Center Manhattan-Distance
• King Pawn Tropism
• Mop-up Evaluation
• Pawn Endgame
• Piece-Square Tables
• Tapered Eval

Forum Posts

• The king in the endgame by Lyudmil Tsvetkov, CCC, August 31, 2014
• Simple method for simple mates for programs without TBs by J. Wesley Cleveland, CCC, November 25, 2016 » KBNK Endgame, Mop-up Evaluation

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