Author: Mark Young
Date: 19:11:04 08/28/98
Go up one level in this thread
On August 28, 1998 at 21:01:06, Bruce Moreland wrote: > >On August 28, 1998 at 12:55:57, Robert Henry Durrett wrote: > >>Why not obtain, and create a library of, the opening books of all of the current >>chess engines [maybe others not so current too - maybe] and test all engines >>with all of the books? >> >>This may be too big a project, so may not be practical for that reason alone. >> >>The thought behind this suggestion is that such a testing program would point >>out any dependences on books as well as to make comparisons of the "engines >>without their books" more informative relative to the true inherent strengths >>and weaknesses of the engines. It might also point out highly specific needs for >>improvements in some of the engines. > >I don't understand why people keep coming back to this. When someone builds a >system for playing chess, the opening book is part of the system. The author of >the system decides what lines to play and puts them in the book, and decides >what not to play and takes them out of the book. > >If you remove or replace the book, you give the system a kick in the head. You >test the system in positions that it is designed to avoid, and you don't let it >attempt to achieve positions it wants to achive. > >I don't see what purpose it serves to test crippled systems. Perhaps you can >say that you are trying to see how they would do at straight analysis, but >comparing computer vs computer results is a step in the wrong direction here as >well, in my opinion. > >bruce I could not agree more. Chess programs are made to play all three phases of chess. You do not start a chess game at an endgame position or a middle game position. A chess programs has to play all three phases well, and their own opening book is a huge part of a programs strength, that people want to dismiss. Testing with no opening book, testing from a set of fixed positions, or testing with different opening books is pointless in my opinion. So what if a program does not handle some positional setups well. As long as the opening systems that the program uses can get the chess program into setups the program can handle well most of the time. Thats what should count. I for one am not interested in comparing "chess engines" I want to compare chess programs.
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