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Subject: Re: A pondering idea... [a more clear {hopefully} example]

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 07:53:13 09/28/01

Go up one level in this thread


On September 28, 2001 at 02:09:11, Uri Blass wrote:

>On September 27, 2001 at 23:42:31, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On September 27, 2001 at 17:48:32, Peter Fendrich wrote:
>>
>>>On September 27, 2001 at 15:12:43, Roy Eassa wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 27, 2001 at 12:13:10, Peter Fendrich wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On September 26, 2001 at 21:45:46, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On September 26, 2001 at 20:32:58, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>-- snip --
>>>>>
>>>>>>If you correctly predict your opponent's move at least 50% of the time, or
>>>>>>more, then the way we currently ponder can _not_ be improved on.
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't agree if that's what you really mean. "can _not_ be..." is hard to prove
>>>>>in this case. In theory at least you can do better. The _average_ hit rate is
>>>>>>50%
>>>>>If you know that this hit rate vary with different circumstances you will find
>>>>>out different hit rates. If we could separate out cases with very low hit rate
>>>>>it might be succesful with another scheme for just these cases. I've never
>>>>>tested this but it would be interesting to see the hit rate for "consistent"
>>>>>FH's (survives several iterations) compared to the rest. The hit rate for
>>>>>pondermoves giving about the same evaluation as before is probably higher (much
>>>>>higher?).
>>>>>I can think of other types of cases as well.
>>>>>Has anyone computed the figures for different cases like this?
>>>>>
>>>>>I would like leave this "can _not_ be..." open until at least some test like
>>>>>this is done.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>The factor that causes the engine to be unsure of the move it selected to
>>>>ponder, is the SAME factor that makes pondering multiple moves less useful.
>>>>
>>>>If there are several moves that are all about equal, then there are, by
>>>>definition, also several moves among which you must divide your time pondering.
>>>>Thus even if you were only 20% sure of your opponent's move, it still does not
>>>>make sense to split your pondering time because each likely move would then get
>>>>no more than that same 20%.
>>>
>>>Yes, I buy all that. My intention was to oppose to the "it's impossible"
>>>statement. You are talking about some general case. There is no reason why each
>>>move has to be 20% because the first one is. That's why I'm talking about
>>>isolating cases where the other move might be better. Another question is what
>>>happens if the ponder move has only 10% or 5% probability.
>>>I have no proofs that these cases are possible to identify but I'm still open
>>>for it, until I know better...
>>>//Peter
>>
>>
>>
>>The question is, what would cause that 10%.  IE this is all speculation since
>>we won't know whether the opponent will match or not, until he makes a move...
>>
>>But based on collected statistics, Crafty _always_ predicts at well over 50%
>>accuracy.  And as long as that is possible, I don't see any way possible to
>>better utilize pondering time.  Because it will _always_ be right over 50% of
>>the time and save that time.
>>
>>Here is a test scenario:
>>
>>1.  Assume my opponent _never_ predicts my moves correctly.  IE crafty is the
>>only one that ever predicts a move.  In this case, crafty is the _only_ player
>>that will save any time pondering.
>>
>>2.  Assume Crafty predicts correctly 60% of the time, and the game being played
>>is such that it has one minute per move, fixed, to make it simple.  Then it
>>will average saving 36 seconds per move over the game, based on that 60%
>>prediction rate (.60 * 60 seconds).
>>
>>Now, given those two constraints, give me an algorithm that will save more
>>than 36 seconds per move, on average...  You can assume anything you want,
>>just so you don't violate the 60% prediction rate already given.
>
>No problem
>
>Suppose that you have an algorithm to tell you in 10% of the cases that the
>probability to ponder correctly is only 1%(I do not know about an algorithm to
>do it but it does not mean that there is no algorthm to do it)
>


That won't fly.  No "oracles" allowed here.  I want a _specific_ algorithm
that will beat that 60%.  If I have an oracle then I can predict right 100%
of the time.  That is a circular argument.



>It does not violate the 60% prediction rate because you may have probability of
>almost 70% to predict the corect move in the rest of the cases.
>In this case it may be better to ponder the root move in 10% of the cases.
>
>
>I think that you can evaluate the probability that you ponder correctly based
>on the move that you ponder better.
>
>For example I guess that the prediction rate when you predict waste tempo move
>is smaller than the normal probability but I do not think it is something near
>1%.
>
>If the last move was Ra1-b1 and crafty ponders on Rb1-a1 or Rb1-c1 then I guess
>that the prediction rate is lower than the normal prediction rate.


Not against computers, for one counter-example...


>
>I still believe that it is high enough in this case in order not to ponder on
>the root move but it is possible that with more complicated conditions you can
>find cases when the probability to ponder correctly is small enough so it is a
>bad idea to ponder on the opponent's move.
>
>Uri



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