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Subject: Re: Checkers Programs

Author: martin fierz

Date: 06:13:42 08/12/03

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On August 12, 2003 at 08:00:42, Lars Bremer wrote:

>
>>the chinook team has completed the 10pc endgame database early this year, and
>>with that, chinook will be the strongest program there is. but it's not public
>>of course.
>
>Hi Martin,
>
>this would mean a bigger endgame database is more important than a deep opening
>book. Or, in other words, the computed books of nemesis, cake and kingsrow are
>not perfect. Are there games with endgame mistakes to prove that?

i don't know. i doubt that any of the 3 programs above would lose a game against
a 10pc chinook if they were allowed to use their opening books and it was
regular 3-move-checkers. but that doesn't mean that a 10pc program isn't better:
see for example my page www.fierz.ch/cake.htm and take a look at test position
1. it is a nice example for how the 8pc database makes a program understand
something in a second which it doesn't understand for hours (or maybe ever)
without that database. it will be the same with the 10pc db: a program with that
db will be able to say that a position is a win or a draw in a second where the
8pc programs won't have a clue. perhaps they will play all the right moves, but
they won't understand.

it's a bit like with connect 4 programs: given enough time, any good connect 4
program will see that the player to start wins. but a program that sees that in
a few minutes is better than one that sees it in a few hours (of course, you
should take an average over many test positions...).

cheers
  martin



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