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Subject: Re: an evaluation problem of chess programs

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 15:39:04 10/02/98

Go up one level in this thread


On October 02, 1998 at 15:06:17, blass uri wrote:

>
>On October 02, 1998 at 13:12:02, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>
>>>I understand that tablebases provide -MatNN,+MAtNN and draw scores
>>>but I do not understand how can you go to positions that you use tablebases
>>>at depth 12 from the initial position because tablebases are for KPP against K
>>>or KP against KP and not for positions with more pieces.
>>>You need to calculate more than 16 plies to go to positions that you can
>>>use tablebases if you do not do special extensions in pawn endings.
>>>
>>>I thought that If you can see by tablebases that the position is -MatNN because
>>>it is KPP against K then you can see without tablebases that the position is not
>>>-0.xx because the static evaluation function without tablebases is not -0.xx
>>>
>>>Uri
>>
>>
>>You are misunderstanding how I use them.  Imagine a position with KBN vs K.
>>You understand that in that position, crafty will play perfectly, and will win
>>with the KBN side, correct?
>>
>>IE in this position:
>>
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    8  | *K|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    7  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    6  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    5  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    4  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    3  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    2  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    1  | K | B | N |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>         a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h
>>
>>crafty promptly says Kb2 Mat25...  ok so far...
>>
>>now lets modify the position to this:
>>
>>
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    8  | *K| *R| *Q|   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    7  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    6  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    5  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    4  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    3  |   | R |   |   |   |   | B |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    2  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>    1  | K | B | N |   |   |   |   |   |
>>       +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>         a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h
>>
>>
>>In this position. crafty says Be4+ Mat34, with a 2 second search.  How did
>>it do that?  like this:
>>
>>                8     2.03  Mat34   1. Be4+ Ka7 2. Bxb8+ Ka6 3. Bb7+ Qxb7
>>                                    4. Rxb7 Kxb7
>>                8->   3.27  Mat34   1. Be4+ Ka7 2. Bxb8+ Ka6 3. Bb7+ Qxb7
>>                                    4. Rxb7 Kxb7
>>
>>What it did was to search deeply enough to see that it could trade bishop
>>and rook for the opponent's rook and queen, leaving it in a KBN vs K position.
>>And after searching the 8 plies into the future (as it did above) it then found
>>the endgame database position and said "aha, Mate in N from this point."
>>
>>This is why my current version (15.21) won't play Rxb2, because it can see
>>deeply enough into the future to see the white king eating the black pawns
>>and that gives "mate in N". Or in some variations it sees one black and one
>>white pawn being traded, and that also leads to mate in N.
>
>The difference is that in your example you have a line of 8 plies leading to the
>position that you use tablebases and
>you have not a line of 12 plies from the position before Rxb2 that can lead to
>KPP against K or KP against KP
>
>because the white king must do at least 9 moves to eat the black pawns
>Kxb2,Kc2,Kd3,Ke4,Ke5,Kf6,Kg7,Kxh7,Kxg6
>
>Uri


I'm not sure what your point is, however.  I do quite a few search
extensions, and the hash table has the effect of letting the search go
deeper than normal as well, in simple endings like this.  9 moves is
really 16 plies plus q-search, which means a 12 ply search only needs to
extend 4 plies to see that...  not difficult at all...



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