Idea: Show best move in GUI instead of evaluation

[ChristerNilsson]

I'm using this HAL 9000 game as an example.

At move 5, Qe2 has an evaluation loss of 0.2. Why not display the best move, 0-0, instead of showing a misleading 0.0?
The first four moves are excellent, so those cells can be left blank.

Also, the main variation line isn't necessary in the overview — it’s already visible in the local evaluation panel.

This change would make the table cleaner and more informative:

• More moves can fit on the screen

• One move per row simplifies scanning

• Grandmaster games would have near-empty columns, which visually emphasizes precision

Suggestion:

Introduce a centipawn (cp) loss threshold to decide when to show the best move.
For instance:

• If cp loss ≥ 20, display the best move

• At 50 cp, the move is already flagged as an inaccuracy

• No need to show “1. e4 d4” if the loss is negligible

Also consider augmenting the PGN with a new field:

• bestMove, alongside eval and clock

Example Table Output:

#	White	best	Black	best
1	e4		e5
2	Nf3		Nc6
3	Bb5		a6
4	Ba4		Nf6
5	Qe2	0-0	b5
6	Bb3		Ke7?!	Bc5

This would give a concise, performance-focused view — ideal for study and for identifying subtle inaccuracies without overwhelming the user with data.

[yafred]

Unless I missed something, this is the way it already works ... Look at the game 1 of your link

[ChristerNilsson]

You are missing the point.

My suggestion is: Replace the evaluations (cp) with the best moves, when it gives new information. This applies to blunders, mistakes, inaccuracies and moves giving a loss between 20 and 50 cp. Moves giving a loss between 0 and 20 cp are shown as blank.

[hb20007]

I believe this would be confusing. A lot of people will not understand why they are seeing extra moves. Even those who understand that they are some kind of "best move" will be confused about why some are shown while others are blank.

[ChristerNilsson]

A blank cell indicates that the move made already is the best move or very close. I think showing evaluations like -8.9 is more confusing. It's noisy. Today the best moves are already shown for losses >= 50 cp, embedded in a comment.

is reduced to:

12. Qa8?? (d4)  Qd3 ()
13. Bd1?! (Re1) Bh3 ()

without losing any information. "Blunder" and "was best" is redundant. The main variation (12. d4 to 17... Qe2) can be found in the local evaluation panel above.

I'm trying to find the zen mode, so it is possible to grasp the whole picture in a glance. Replace (d4) above with d4