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Subject: Re: an evaluation problem of chess programs

Author: blass uri

Date: 16:35:26 10/02/98

Go up one level in this thread



On October 02, 1998 at 18:39:04, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>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...

my point is that I do not understand why crafty without tablebases does the move
Rxb2 at depth 12
If it can see the position of KPP against K then the evaluation without
tablebases should prevent it to play it
and if it cannot see the position of KPP against K then tablebases cannot help.

Uri






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