Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: impact of early queen exchange on performance

Author: Otello Gnaramori

Date: 11:55:02 10/09/02

Go up one level in this thread


On October 09, 2002 at 14:23:03, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>I don't think it is too surprising.  It just highlights a weakness that programs
>fail to understand
>basic endgame ideas, and rely more on tactics than on knowledge to move along
>thru a game.
>
>If a program has some basic holes in its knowledge about endgames, then removing
>the queens
>is going to highlight those holes.  Or, the inverse, keeping queens on tends to
>cover up those holes,
>at least for a while.
>
>Programs that don't understand majorities, weak pawns, distant
>majorities/passers, which minor
>pieces work best with pawns in various configurations, the fact that pawns on
>both wings give
>better winning chances than pawns on one wing, etc, are going to have great
>trouble with GM
>players.
>
>I've given some examples of things I've had to fix after watching GMs pick on
>the same hole
>over and over.  Today I don't see those huge holes cause me a lot of trouble
>(yes I still have
>holes, to be sure, but not the building-sized holes some "tactical" programs
>possess..) and I
>don't particularly care if queens come off early or not.  If you hear someone
>complain about
>an early queen trade, you can rest assured they _know_ they have some serious
>endgame
>holes that need work...
>
>And you can also rest assured that after the kind of practice Kramnik has had
>with Fritz, that
>he _knows_ what kind of holes are there and he's going to park in them every
>day, since they
>can't be fixed due to match rules (stupid rules I might add).

Great answer Dr. Hyatt,
And I would add that if we are going to see a replicate game tomorrow, I mean a
queenless middlegame followed by an almost pieceless endgame where Vlady acts as
a "boa constrictor" snake we will have the confirmation of these flaws in the
Fritz program (...only in this program ??).
The positive aspect is that only a great champion as Vladimir Kramnik can really
help the Fritz programmer to improve this already very strong program, fixing
(...if possible) these major flaws.

w.b.r.
Otello





This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.