3 ms·
I'm at work so I'm not going to try and do some experiments, but my guess at relative frequency of (under)promotion being the best move (Queen = 1) is something
by billforsternz 3y ago
I'm at work so I'm not going to try and do some experiments, but my guess at relative frequency of (under)promotion being the best move (Queen = 1) is something like;
Knight 1e-3
Rook 1e-5
Bishop 1e-7
A complicating factor in measuring this is that often a rook serves just as well as a queen, the opponent is going to capture immediately anyway, so players sometimes underpromote to a rook just for the fun factor. My number is more meant to represent cases where underpromotion really is the best move. Knight underpromotion is by far the most important, because a knight can do things a Queen can't, most typically give check to keep a combination going without giving the opponent an opportunity to play an active move. Rook and Bishop underpromotions can only be advantageous when they simultaneously avoid stalemate and keep a winning advantage. This is much more likely with a rook, for example in the famous Saavedra position, perhaps the most famous chess problem of all (it featured as decoration on our wedding cake :).