Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 10:49:07 09/06/98
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On September 06, 1998 at 13:15:47, Don Dailey wrote: > >Shall we try it on the group? What is a combination? Give an answer >that has no ambiguity whatsoever. I have never seen one in any book, >but I've seen many attempts. You may be able to come up with a strict >definition of what a combination is, but I'll be many will disagree >about what this definition should be. Your definition will probably >not match peoples perception of what they think a combination is. > > I'd hope there is no debate here. A combination is a sequence of moves that ends up either winning material, or winning some positional compen- sation that is worthwhile, such as an unstoppable passed pawn, or some such thing. I generally apply it only to material, such as the occasional "queen sacs" that happen on ICC. Only they aren't sacrifices when Crafty plays Qxg7 with a score of +9 or Mate. They are winning combinations. I include positional compensation because sometimes a sequence of captures ends with a positional killer rather than a direct win of material... > >Those are great observations. I thought I was the only one who felt >this way. I want to point out that I don't believe it is impossible >to have this behavior, (I can by construction create 3 programs with >intransitive behavior) I just don't think it's really happening very >strongly with modern programs. We often (as humans) see patterns that >do not exist. I've certainly seen it, watching enough games on ICC. I don't quite know what causes it, but it happens.. > > >- Don
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