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Subject: Re: Status of Brutus?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 20:17:12 07/29/03

Go up one level in this thread


On July 29, 2003 at 16:12:40, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On July 29, 2003 at 00:31:17, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On July 28, 2003 at 20:59:24, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>
>>>On July 28, 2003 at 19:16:08, Keith Evans wrote:
>>>
>>>>On July 28, 2003 at 16:52:29, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On July 28, 2003 at 16:45:33, Keith Evans wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On July 28, 2003 at 13:36:09, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Just compare the design of the move generator of Hsu with chrilly. It is a
>>>>>>>*massive* difference already.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>There are other statements that you made that I could discuss, but this one
>>>>>>caught my eye...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>What are you talking about? What's the difference? How do you know? You seem to
>>>>>>be implying that Chrilly did a better job than Hsu which I don't believe.
>>>>>
>>>>>Yes massive better.
>>>>>
>>>>>Hsu has written many articles.
>>>>>
>>>>>here is a summary of what Chrilly has said in way more words (voice)
>>>>>when he was staying here for a few days:
>>>>>
>>>>>  Hsu was one of the first to make a move generator. He didn't write it in
>>>>>  verilog but in the direct logics of the chip. Very incompatible method.
>>>>>  Custom made by hand. It is incredible that he managed to write at such a
>>>>>  low level anyway. However, a bad result from writing at such a low level is
>>>>>  that the scale and size of the logics is so big that he must have
>>>>>  lost oversight. I write in a more compatible language called Verilog and
>>>>>  that is not comparable to C but way closer than the very 'assembly' way
>>>>>  in which Hsu has written his logics at. It means in short that Brutus
>>>>>  move generator therefore is very small. Note that i MUST make it small
>>>>>  because i am commercial and more gates is more money to pay for. In the
>>>>>  first chip i had just 50000 gates in total and that is very very little to
>>>>>  get a chessprogram working in.
>>>>>  From my viewpoint all the things i have seen so far is utmost beginners
>>>>>  level. This is logical, They are hardware designers, not chessprogrammers.
>>>>>  I focus upon the chess programming technical result. They had so much other
>>>>>  problems to deal with from hardware viewpoint that we can not even compare
>>>>>  it in that sense.
>>>>>
>>>>>Best regards,
>>>>>Vincent
>>>>
>>>>I only know of a few architectures that have been used for building hardware
>>>>move generators.
>>>>
>>>>1 - the Hitech style approach which is going to be very large. (Even with the
>>>>latest and largest FPGAs I don't think that you would get 64 Hitech chips into
>>>>one FPGA. It needs a ton of registers.)
>>>>
>>>>2 - the Belle style approach which returns moves in an MVV/LVA order and
>>>>potentially based on centrality - hardly random but not SEE. Despite what
>>>>Chrilly allegedly said, Hsu built an efficient move generator. You could fit a
>>>>lot of those on the latest chips at 0.18 micron or below - much more efficient
>>>>than anything going in an FPGA in terms of silicon area. It would also run quite
>>>>fast. Hsu suffered through doing a hand layout, but the result was a really
>>>>small move generator that would probably run insanely fast on today's
>>>>technology.
>>>>
>>>>3 - some obscure architectures which had basically random move ordering. (You
>>>>can find references in Ebeling's book.)
>>>>
>>>>Now from what you're saying I infer Chrilly came up with his own architecture.
>>>>Do you have any idea what makes it novel? From what you're saying he's not
>>>>planning on more than 2-3 plies of search in hardware so maybe he has a really
>>>>simple move generator that has basically random move ordering?
>>>>
>>>>-K
>>>
>>>ok here is facts
>>>  a) DBII was more advanced than other tries like belle and some studentish
>>>tries.
>>>
>>>What you find efficient perhaps in commercial terms is still terrible
>>>inefficient. Some people are happy for example with bitboard move generator in
>>>software. Well at 32 bits architecture i'm 2.2 times faster generating moves
>>>than crafty. In fact around 73 million a second after 1.e4,e5 2.d4,d5 at a
>>>2.127Ghz K7.
>>>
>>>That's including general code (so my move generator is not written out for white
>>>and black, it is general code) and of course storage of moves and ordering
>>>scores to the RAM.
>>>
>>>That's how you must compare brutus and deep blue with each other.
>>>
>>>both come from a different time zone.
>>>
>>>It is like comparing a sniper rifle from 2003 with a sniper rifle from world war
>>>1.
>>>
>>>Distances they shot at in world war 1 and 2 with sniper rifles must have been a
>>>few hundreds of meters.
>>
>>In WW1 my grandfather was a sniper.  He shot at ranges up to 1000 yards.
>>
>>In WW2 my father was a sniper.  He shot at ranges up to 1000 yards.
>>
>>Today, a neighbor down the street is a sniper.  He shoots at ranges up to 1000
>>yards.
>>
>>_nobody_ shoots a sniper rifle at ranges of "kilometers" today.  "kilometer"
>>perhaps.  With an occasional attempt at up to 2km with a big 50 cal "rifle".
>>
>>This is just another area where you know nothing, but write as though you are
>>an expert.
>>
>>BTW, Hsu's move generator is _not_ a lot better than Belle.  All you have to
>>do is read his paper to see what he did...
>
>Of course everyone can. It is described at several papers. What Brutus has is a
>*lot* better i can garantuee it.
>
>Hsu didn't program in verilog or some hardware language. because of that it is
>amazing he managed to get stuff bugfree to work. However you can't simply
>compare all that university stuff with what Donninger has!

Right.

I also notice your "sniper expert" comments went away.

Another "expert field" of yours down the drain...



>
>>
>>>
>>>Snipers now practice ranges of kilometers now with a single rifle.
>>>
>>>Deep Blue was created in a time that search efficiency was not important simply
>>>because search depths were very small. At 8 ply search depth it doesn't matter
>>>whether you have branching factor 6 or 8.
>>>
>>>What matters is tactics.
>>>
>>>In hardware advantage is brute force. Optimizing the thing for efficiency was
>>>simply not needed. Hashtables were considered new. Nullmove considered dubious
>>>if you used it anyway.
>>>
>>>A normal cpu's only a few had a big RAM.
>>>
>>>I remember Schach 3.0 from around 1997. That with hashtables up to 32 megabytes
>>>(really a lot in those days) and it had singular extensions and of course
>>>nullmove R=2.
>>
>>
>>I assume you mean 1987.  We played them in 1983.  In 1983 32 megabytes was
>>_not_ really a lot to _some_ of us...
>
>In 1997 the average hardware had 32MB ram.
>
>Note that Deep Blue had zero ram. It was in hardware. No hashtables.

Again, _wrong_.

DB only did hashing in the software search.  Which omitted the last _few_
plies only.

Can't you _ever_ get that straight???


>
>So *some* of us who used supercomputers of course had more. I don't know about
>crafty in those days. You always had a lot of RAM compared to the PC guys Bob!

You said "32mb was really a lot in those days.".

I said it wasn't.  At least not to us.  To chess 4.x.  To Belle.  To chaos.
To phoenix.  To lachex.  TO L'xentrique.  There are plenty of others...


>
>>>
>>>But despite all those toys it had a branching factor of 10.0.
>>>
>>>Who cared? it outsearched everyone single cpu. It got 10 ply easily with a
>>>quarter of a million nodes a second at a 133Mhz P5.
>>>
>>>Yes that's < 600 clocks a node.
>>>
>>>But if you can get 250k nps who cares for b.f. = 10 ?
>>>
>>>Now where everyone suffered from speed versus knowledge problems and only some
>>>commercial programmers started to slowly agree in one of the many discussions at
>>>the Aegon tournament 1997 that above 10 ply search depths the piece square table
>>>programs would get outdated as they simply didn't play better (of course
>>>assuming updating only in the root and only using those psq) it was trivial in
>>>those days that everyone suffered from tactical problems.
>>>
>>>I remember how i in BLITZ could trick them. Yes in 1997. In blitz if a trick
>>>looked to mee pretty deep, then i would gamble at it and win as they fell for
>>>it.
>>
>>I've offered you the chance to put up and prove that statement, more than
>>once.  I used a P6/200 in 1996.  I'll use a P6/200 today in a blitz match
>>against you to let you "show" your blitz skills.
>
>What's this for crap statement?

You keep claiming that a 1997 program could not beat you.  I claim that is
_crap_.  I watched Crafty clean up GM players at blitz in 1997.  I have a
1997 version of Crafty, and I still have my old quad P6-200 that I used in
1997.  I simply challenged you to prove your ridiculous statement.  Of course
you won't.  See below.


>
>My time is too expensive to waste. So unless you want to pay me for a match,
>remember i'm a titled player, then stop such nonsense.

You made the claim.  I challenged you on it.  As usual, you "run and hide".

I won't pay you a cent to play a game.  But anytime you want to demonstrate
your "superiority" over a 1997 program at blitz, I stand ready to show you
the error of that claim...

whenever you want.

I'd bet the "1997 program" will win 3/4 of the points played.




>
>You always want to see proof online.

Yep, that's a horrible habit of mine.  Wanting to see results rather than
hand-waving, hot-air and miles of crap.



>
>SHOW UP AT THE WORLD CHAMPS AT YOUR p6/200 Bob and you'll know how much software
>has progressed sincethen!

You said _you_.  Last time I looked _you_ are a human.

Can't you even keep your own boastful statements clear?


>
>>You hardly won a game back then.  You'll hardly win a game today.  Stop
>>stretching the truth so far that you look ridiculous.
>
>Get over here. Go sit in the tournament hall so that i can check you if needed
>some operator. We put the clock to 5 3 (so that you will not forfeit and me
>neither).
>
>I need to see you of course or some operator of yours. And i need money. Not
>that much in fact.

You need a lobotomy.  I doubt you will get that _either_.




>
>If i cannot see you i don't trust you for an inch of course when we play for
>money.

I trust you less, of course.



>
>Crafty nowadays is way more aggressive. Aggressive king safety. Deadly in blitz.
>in 1997 it didn't fear anything there.

That's nonsense.  And I'll be happy to put up a 1997 version on ICC for you
to beat your face bloody against.



>
>>>Only the best commercial programs in those days, with very very little
>>>chessknowledge inside could get through the tactical barrier just *a bit*.
>>>
>>>Remember fastest PC processor in 1997 was the not yet sold and very experimental
>>>PII-300Mhz.
>>
>>That's baloney.  I had a _dual_ PII/300 in 1997.
>
>October 1997 the PII300 was not yet on the market. Surprisingly several
>participants had it at the world champs.
>
>My PII300 i had because i was sponsored by intel. It was a hell to get the
>machine. They couldn't deliver it in france. Had to carry it by train to the
>tournament hall and back.

In had a PII/300 before you had seen one.  They were available in the stores
over here.  I had it playing on ICC while I was waiting for my P6/200 to be
delivered, if you recall.  Just because they are hard to find over _there_
doesn't mean the same over here.  You said the _same_ thing about my dual
xeon if you recall, yet dell was shipping them by the thousands when you said
"they don't exist."




>
>>
>>>
>>>Of course there were also alpha's 21164 at 633Mhz experimental (and overclocked
>>>with kryo to 767Mhz at -40C at world champs Paris 1997).
>>>
>>>So basically the programs which were not piece square table based were
>>>struggling incredible to play tactical a bit better. I remember how with a lot
>>>of effort i searched 8 ply in world champs 1997.
>>
>>Strange.  I searched 11-12 plies in 1996 in Jakarta.  And in 1997 in Paris.
>
>You lost in jakarta the same game like you lost in 1999 against rebel and the
>same game you lost in another world championship again (2000 or 2001 forgot
>which of the 2).
>
>Same line. Same opening. Same way to lose it.
>
>Also tactical strength of crafty in 2000 still was very poor despite 13 ply or
>something at an alpha.
>
>Take DIEP-crafty
>
>Crafty was out of book at a position where h5 is the best move. I was predicting
>the move in time of the opponent (but i was also in book) yet Crafty didn't even
>manage to find it. Simple tactical trick...
>
>So Crafty lost. Someone tried it at home when i posted it back then. Crafty
>didn't find it after 4 hours of search either. A simple tactical trick!
>
>To quote Donninger: "You have thin plies, and you have thick plies"
>
>In a black&white surrounding i sure know what color crafty has :)

I know by _example_ what kind your program has too.  Results speak louder
than hand-waving and excuses...


>
>>>I remember how happy i was that Fritz thought for a long period of time against
>>>DIEP at a critical moment when diep was predicting the correct move.
>>>
>>>Only because of that fritz thought for 12 minutes, diep could reach the
>>>INCREDIBLE DEPTH of 10 ply. So the losing move it had planned at 8 and 9 ply
>>>failed low at 10 and it played a move that saved the game there.
>>>
>>>Imagine my happyness reaching 10 ply back then in the ENDGAME after 12 minutes
>>>of search.
>>>
>>>Most programmers therefore were dubiously forward pruning. From which Rebel is
>>>best example. See how buggy all the forward pruning is as posted at the
>>>homepage. Brilliant for 1990 perhaps. But even in 1997 it was looking dubious.
>>>
>>>Nullmove by Hyatt & co was considered just another dubious form of forward
>>>pruning.
>>
>>Eh?  Everyone was using it in 1996.  Me.  Bruce (Ferret).  Fritz.  I don't know
>>of many that were not, in fact.
>
>Are you denying that you posted in 1997-1999 that when asked why Deep Blue
>searched only 10-12 ply and software was getting above that depth a lot that you
>said that all those programs are dubiously searching because they use nullmove
>and therefore they were a big crap and deep blue's 10-12 ply would destroy any
>search depth they dubiously got thanks to superb extensions of deep blue and not
>using nullmove?
>

I've said that many times.  It is _still_ true.  Given the choice of 12 plies
with null-move or 12 plies without, I'll take _without_ every last time and
beat your brains out with it.




>Note that at that time you didn't know that many programs were using in fact
>already SE.


Most were _not_.  IN fact, you don't know what a real SE implementation looks
like.


>
>>>
>>>Now comes deep blue which searches 10 ply fullwidth with a bunch of extensions.
>>>So that's called 12.2 ply then (extensions are simply added to the iteration
>>>depth). Let's be clear it did *not* search on average 12.2 ply. Its iteration
>>>depth was like 11 ply on average at most. More like 10.9 ply
>>>
>>>But it extended all checks. It extended loads of captures. Forced moves.
>>>
>>>So tactical it was equal to Schach at a 800Mhz PIII.
>>>
>>>However, there were no 800Mhz PIIIs at that time.
>>>
>>>So where 12 ply looks normal in 2003 as a depth which most programs get,
>>>in 1997 it was not a normal depth for programs doing a gnuchess a look like
>>>evaluation.
>>>
>>>Gnuchess was considered to be using a too heavy evaluation in fact. Mobility
>>>sucked ass because it slowed you down incredible. I remember at the time a
>>>statement of Frans about that.
>>>
>>>"only search depth counts, as you learn through search, not through evaluation".
>>>
>>>So deep blue chips not using killermoves in hardware is no problem. Inefficient
>>>search in hardware? no problem!
>>>
>>>Only the nodes a second counts!
>>>
>>>More nodes a seconds means more tactical strength!
>>>
>>>Gnuchess with singular extensions and checks in qsearch and more recapture
>>>extensions for sure will be finding the same type of tactics like deep blue and
>>>will agree with everything with deep blue positional spoken.
>>>
>>>But now we are in 2003.
>>>
>>>Search no longer can be done in a rude primitive way.
>>>
>>>Not even in hardware.
>>>
>>>Best regards,
>>>Vincent



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