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Subject: Re: Knowledge again, but what is it?

Author: Don Dailey

Date: 08:29:06 02/25/98

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>I have wondered why programs evaluations are measured in pawns intead of
>probablilities of winning.  Has no one done this?  Has anyone ever taken
>the evaluations in Informant as probabilities of winning and regressed
>them against explanatory variables such as material, space, etc. to fit
>this function.
>
>George Essig

I'm actually working on this!   This is how I think of
evaluation and it would be natural to convert the program
to this system.  However I'm not sure it's any more useful
than simply finding the right function to convert a score
to a probability.   But most of it's usefulnes is just
thinking in these terms (whether you actually implement
it or not.)  For instance, I believe having an advanced
passed pawn should not affect your probability of winning
too much if you are already a piece up,  but should have
more impact on the score if you are down a piece.  A simple
linear bonus for this passed pawn might not be quite right.

In general, I believe many positional terms should change
in value when material is not close to zero.  Another way
of viewing this is to say "don't be as eager to hunt pawns
if you are already have extra material."   It's the same
concept.


- Don



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