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Subject: Re: Computer Correspondence Chess Challenge..... But

Author: Andrew Dados

Date: 23:46:15 04/02/00

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On April 02, 2000 at 22:39:06, Tina Long wrote:

>On April 02, 2000 at 11:03:56, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On April 01, 2000 at 23:17:11, Tina Long wrote:
>>
>>>Hi guys,
>>>This thread has been interesting & generally agreed with previous stuff I'd
>>>read.
>>>
>>>So.
>>>Analysing 3 best moves, over 24hours, slows the program by a factor of 3 - 6,
>>>losing 1 or 2 ply depth.
>>>
>>>Each extra Ply has a 15% of picking a different move, that the software
>>>calculates is better.
>>>
>>>But.
>>>What about the Actual ply depths searched on the 2nd & 3rd preffered moves?
>>>If only the best move is shown, no's 2 & 3 share with no's 4... about 50% of the
>>>search time.
>>>
>>>If best three is shown, no's 2 & 3 are receiving 6 - 10 X more thinking time.
>>>1st preferred move has gone from 50% to 25% of thinking time (25% for "rest")
>>>or 1st preferred move has gone from 50% to 17% of thinking time (50% for "rest")
>>>
>>>preferences 2 & 3 are being searched an extra 1 - 2 - 3 ply deeper over 24hrs.
>>>Their "score" is more acurate than if only 1 best is shown.
>>
>>I don't follow "being searched an extra ply and their score is more accurate
>>than if ..."
>
>By looking at 3-best instead of 1-best, the 2nd & 3rd best moves are examined
>about 6 X longer in time.  In 24 hours they are searched for about 4 hours each,
>instead of about 40 minutes each.  All I'm saying is that there must be more
>accuracy in the "score" for those moves.  If the 6X time doesn't result in an
>extra ply or 2 of depth, then the actual amount of computing at the reached
>depth must achieve something, or else be redundant.
>
>>
>>Here is the main point:  If the best move looks best thru 19 plies, but is
>>going to look horrible at depth 20, the 3-best display may ensure that you
>>only get to 19, where you would get to 20 normally.  So the normal search
>>will see that the best move is horrible and find an alternative if one is
>>available.  The 3-best search will only get to depth 19 and think that the
>>original best move is the one to play.
>
>Granted, something may be missed by not moving from the 19th to 20th ply.  But
>how much is being missed in the examination of 2nd & 3rd best moves when only
>1st best is shown.
>
>I am suggesting that "If the "score" of the best 3 moves is not too dissimilar"
>increasing the analysis time from about 40min to 4 hours for 2nd & 3rd best May
>find one of them to be actually Best.  This is the Benefit to weigh against the
>Cost of the 1st best move being analysed to 19 ply rather than 20 ply.
>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>So.
>>>If the "score" of the best 3 moves is not too dissimilar, then "forcing" the
>>>program to look at choices 2 & 3 for longer could be a good thing.
>>>
>>>Eg.
>>>guessed ply depths "well" searched for the first four choices over 24 hrs.
>>>
>>>Show 1 best:  1-19 2-15 3-15 4-15
>>>Show 3 best:  1-17 2-17 3-17 4-13
>>>
>>>Is the "danger" of reducing the favoured move ply from 19 to 17 greater than the
>>>"benefit" of increasing the 2nd & 3rd ply from 15 to 17?
>>
>>I don't follow how the second/third moves are increased.   They are _all_
>>searched to the same depth each iteration, even in normal mode where only the
>>best move and score is displayed.  But _all_ moves are searched to this depth.
>>
>When only the best move is displayed, 50% of the time is spent examining that
>best move.  All other moves share the other 50% of time.  If they are all
>examined to the same ply depth, then many more "somethings" must be being
>examined in the best move compared to the 2nd best move.
>
>Is there any benefit in examining more "somethings" (for 6X the amount of time)
>in the 2nd & 3rd best move, at the cost of an extra ply for the best & all other
>moves.
>
>I realise I'm not being clear, but all that extra time being spent on 2nd & 3rd
>best, must be doing something for the accuracy of their analysis.
>
>Thanks
>Tina Long
>
>
>
>
>>>Tina Long

This extra time is not spent in going deeper, but in calculating an exact score
and PV for second/third move. So it is 'wasted' for 'normal search'.

'Normally' only one (best) move gets accurate score. And it will have a PV.
Calculating that exact score and PV takes up to 50 % of time for each ply, yes.
All other moves are not getting a correct score - it's enough if I prove they
are worse then 'best move'. If you want an exact score, then program will waste
time to calculate that.
I am not sure this post clears things up, but anyway - I tried..:)

-Andrew-



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