Author: Graham Laight
Date: 02:20:48 09/16/01
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I agree - the computers should adapt to the game of chess - not the other way around. -g On September 14, 2001 at 18:26:24, Bruce Moreland wrote: >There have been a couple of times that people have shown that certain endings >must take longer than 50 moves to win. The first one was KP vs KNN, which was >the subject of some remarkable work by Troitsky, well before the advent of >computers. > >As a result of this work, there was a special exception to the 50-move rule for >this ending. This was all a long time ago. > >When Thompson did his 5-man table work, and someone else (one of the ICCA guys, >I think Jaap van den Herik) did work with KRP vs KBP with a pawn ram, it was >shown that these endings took longer than 50 moves, and exceptions were written >for them. > >I have a 1986 edition of the FIDE rules, and it mentions that three basic ending >classes are extended to 100 moves: > >1) KRB vs KR. > >2) KNN vs KP, if the pawn is blocked and not beyond a certain square, which >varies with the file of the pawn. > >3) KRP vs KBP, with an a2/a3 ram. > >It became obvious that there were more exceptions, for instance KBN vs KN. That >one can take over 50 moves, too. > >I think that at some point the chess players said enough. KRB vs KR, for >instance, has some pathological cases requiring more than 50 moves, which are >not likely to be encountered in actual play. The other exceptions were getting >hard to manage and there were getting to be more endings that would require >exceptions. > >So finally they just canned all of these exceptions. Now you get 50 moves, >period, so the data in KRB vs KR, for instance, is not in accord with FIDE >rules. > >I am in favor of the 50-move rule as it stands now. I think that if someone >wants to use tables, they should put up with this problem or fix it. > >This issue is a threat to come up at players' meetings at computer tournaments. >People who use the tables want the rules changed to accomodate them. I think >that is unfair to those whose programs play in accord with FIDE rules, meaning >everyone who doesn't use tables. > >bruce
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