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Subject: Re: Opening Books / Tablebases

Author: Mogens Larsen

Date: 13:09:48 05/09/00

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On May 09, 2000 at 15:05:58, KarinsDad wrote:

>Why? A human does not want to look up answers in a book during OTB. A human does
>not want more options when playing chess. Why not just restrict the computers
>and make the rules simple?

That was my point as well. Why increase the amount of clutter, when it should be
the other way around.

>Not so. In fact, teaching programs to think like humans may be the next
>evolutionary step in computer chess programming. Why would you of all people
>want to put down that idea?

That's my point in all its entirety. I'm not a programmer, but I just stated
what I thought would a good (and scientific) approach to making better chess
programs. If you don't continue pursuing new ideas, wrong or right, then you
don't develop anything worthwhile.

>To some degree. But I have observed that you are not open minded at all when it
>comes to computer chess. Anything that restricts a programmer or program is bad
>from your point of view (correct me if I am wrong, but that is my impression).
>
>Your entire goal seems to be to acquire "semi-perfect" games. You do realize of
>course that perfect games are currently an unattainable goal. Why would anyone
>want to play a computer and lose at the point that computers play nearly perfect
>games every time? Programmers are effectively coding themselves out of a job. If
>they want this "hobby" to continue, they may be forced to come up with
>alternatives, maybe to the rules, maybe to how they code, who knows?

That's why I didn't bother replying. It's a discussion about two separate issues
on the surface, but they're very closely related. If you don't try another
approach, how would you know what is stronger or better.

>Rather, the idea is for a computer to acquire the knowledge via calculation as
>opposed to table lookup. In this manner, a computer could still "make a
>mistake". As it is (with regard to egtbs), as long as an egtb was generated
>correctly, there is effectively no chance of mistake by the computer (unless it
>has a bug). Additionally, the time lag once within a tablebase is virtually
>non-existant.

I think it would be a fantastic scientific achievement if a computer chess
program was capable of good (GM level) opening-, middle- and endgameplay only
with the aid of calculation.

Thank you Karin's dad :o). I assume that you share some of my thoughts, and I
appreciate that you've decided to put it on print.

Sincerely,
Mogens



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