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Subject: Re: To build a book or not?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 13:52:33 07/16/02

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On July 16, 2002 at 14:32:57, Russell Reagan wrote:

>On July 16, 2002 at 11:07:10, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>However, with _no_ book you leave yourself open for preparation of traps.  I
>>saw Ken Thompson do this to NuChess years ago at an ACM event.  You don't want
>>to leave that kind of "hole" for a major event...
>
>Was it a trap set specifically for that engine? Or was it just a general trap
>that many engines fall for when left on their own?
>
>Russell


Sort of both.

1.  Ken knew which opening Nuchess would play, as ken was white and they
had a pretty narrow book.  He simply added a line that made them go out of
book pretty early, with a classic trap where they gave up a piece to win
the rook at a1, and thought they were winning an exchange and losing a pawn.
In reality, they lost both pieces plus the pawn, and the game.

2.  From the resulting position, Ken tried it against Belle and it fell for it
as 8 plies was just not enough to see that the knight on a1 would eventually
be lost for nothing.

So it was a combination of both.  He knew their book line and he baited them
down that line until the "new move" he added was played, knowing that when they
left book they would find the "combination" that appeared to win but did not.
He won the game with little fanfare.



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