Stockfish- what do negative and positive numbers mean?

#1

And if there are multiple choices, which represents the best move when the numbers are positive? Negative?

#2
  • is good for black and positive is good for white. So plus 10 and white is crushing. -10 and black is crushing
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#3

I see, so if the numbers are negative when both white and black are moving then black is crushing, I get that.

But what about the order?

In a black crushing scenario (all numbers are negative), when black is moving, the numbers for the 4 results go from more negative to less negative (-27, -16, -11, -7). But when white is moving the numbers go from less negative to more negative (-10, -12, -15, 23).

I assume the top number is always the best option?

So black is trying to get the number more negative and white is trying to get the number less negative?

Different question, what does “mate-11” mean in the results?

Thanks in advance. I could not find a help file or a FAQ addressing this. I started a new post and thanks to your on the fly search algo, I found this existing thread.

#4

It shows the position of negative and positive white, mate -10 means white mate in 10 moves, mate +8 means black mate in 8 moves.