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Subject: Re: The Null Move Killer: what has recapture xtension got to do with it?

Author: Stuart Cracraft

Date: 12:59:19 09/30/04

Go up one level in this thread


On September 30, 2004 at 06:35:11, martin fierz wrote:

>On September 30, 2004 at 05:00:31, Uri Blass wrote:
>
>>On September 30, 2004 at 04:52:12, martin fierz wrote:
>>
>>>On September 30, 2004 at 00:46:26, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 29, 2004 at 23:52:15, Stuart Cracraft wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>[D] 4r1k1/p1qr1p2/2pb1Bp1/1p5p/3P1n1R/1B3P2/PP3PK1/2Q4R w - - bm Qxf4;
>>>>>
>>>>>In this position I had everything turned on and got the solution
>>>>>in a little more than 1 1/2 minutes:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1/11  g2f1  0.01 -953      945 g2f1 f4d5
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5
>>>>> 2/12  g2f1  0.01 -953     1644
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5
>>>>> 3/12  g2f1  0.02 -953     5064
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5 d5f6
>>>>> 4/20  g2f1  0.09 -953    20655
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5 b3d5 c6d5 c1c7 d6c7 f1g1
>>>>> 5/22  g2f1  0.65 -953   168943
>>>>>                                g2f1 b5b4 b3a4 f4d5 f6g5 d5e7
>>>>> 6/26  g2f1  2.59 -953   620310
>>>>>                                g2f1 b5b4 mtmt
>>>>> 7/32> g2f1 60.58 -552 14192153 g2f1 e8c8 c1b1 f4d5 b1e4 d6b4 f6e5 c7b6
>>>>>                                g2f1 e8c8 c1b1 f4d5 b1e4 d6b4
>>>>> 7/34  c1f4 99.42 5113 24537823 c1f4 e8e6 f4g5 d7e7 b3e6 e7e6 h1d1 d6e7 f6e7
>>>>>                                c1f4 e8e6 f4g5 d7e7 b3e6 e7e6 h1d1
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I turned off null move (R=2) and got the solution in about 11 seconds:
>>>>>
>>>>>Alpha=-1332 Beta=-531 Maxdepth=9999999 MaxTime=99999999
>>>>> 1/11 g2f1  0.01 -953      908 g2f1 f4d5
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5
>>>>> 2/12 g2f1  0.01 -953     1565
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5
>>>>> 3/14 g2f1  0.07 -953    20084
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5 d5f6
>>>>> 4/22 g2f1  0.60 -953   131543
>>>>>                                g2f1 f4d5 b3d5 c6d5 c1c7 d6c7 f1g1
>>>>> 5/26>g2f1  6.80 -552  1607444
>>>>>                                g2f1 b5b4 b3a4 f4d5 f6g5 d5e7
>>>>> 5/36 c1f4 10.70 2260  2466497 c1f4 d6f4 h4h5 g6h5 h1h5 f4h6 h5h6 c7g3 g2g3 d7d6
>>>>>
>>>>>                                c1f4 d6f4 h4h5 g6h5 h1h5 f4h6 h5h6 c7g3 g2g3 d7d
>>>>>
>>>>>So now my question is, would it make sense to consider an idea of
>>>>>disabling null move under additional circumstances if those
>>>>>circumstances can be identified.
>>>>>
>>>>>   endgame
>>>>>   side to move in check
>>>>>   inside principal variation
>>>>>   last move a null move
>>>>>
>>>>>These are the ones I disable for -- I don't disable null move for
>>>>>any material-related or alpha/beta related measures but perhaps
>>>>>I should. Are any in common use?
>>>>>
>>>>>Stuart
>>>>
>>>>It is better to disable your recapture extensions.
>>>>The problem here is not null move pruning and null move pruning willnot change
>>>>the depth that you solve the problem when you will implement correctly checks in
>>>>the qsearch.
>>>>
>>>>The target of chess programs is not to solve 141  faster but to play better.
>>>>I am almost sure that if only the recapture extension save you many plies in 141
>>>>then you implement it in a way that is counter productive for games.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I wonder how do you get depth 5 without null move pruning
>>>>
>>>>Can you post the remaining depth after every move in the line
>>>>1.Qxf4 Bxf4 2.Rxh5 gxh5 3.Rxh5 Bh6 4.Rxh6  Rd6 Rh8#
>>>>
>>>>There are no checks in this line except the mate and you do checks in the
>>>>qsearch so without recapture extensions you need at least 9 plies for it(after 8
>>>>plies you enter qsearch after Rd6 and do not find the move Rh8 mate.
>>>>
>>>>If recapture extensions lead to 4 plies extension then it seems clear that your
>>>>new program will be clearly weaker in games.
>>>>
>>>>I suspect that you extend 4 plies in  this line because you extend 1 ply every
>>>>time that the last 2 moves are captures.
>>>>
>>>>It is clearly a bad idea to do it and it is clear that even with more reasonable
>>>>restriction of the recapture extension it is not productive for a lot of
>>>>programs.
>>>>
>>>>I suggest that you test the version with the recapture extension in games
>>>>against the version without the recapture extension if you do not believe me
>>>>that your recapture extension is a bad idea.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Uri
>>>
>>>hi uri,
>>>
>>>where do you see recapture extensions influencing WAC.141? the main line has no
>>>single "recapture" if you define it as "capture of a piece of the same value, on
>>>the same square, on two successive plies". i think that is the normal definition
>>>of recapture.
>>>
>>>what am i missing?
>>>
>>>cheers
>>>  martin
>>
>>It seems that
>>Stuart Cracraft defines it as 2 consecutive captures.
>>
>>He probably extend the line that I showed by 4 plies for that reason:
>>
>>1.Qxf4 Bxf4 =>extension
>>1...Bxf4 2.Rxh5=>extension
>>2.Rxh5 gxh5=>extension
>>2...gxh5 3.Rxh5=>extension
>>
>>I tried to understand how can he get Wac141 at depth 5 without null move pruning
>>when he is using no checks in the qsearch and no mate threat extensions and this
>>was my conclusion and based on his response I understand that my conclusion was
>>correct.
>>
>>Uri
>
>hi uri,
>
>i see. now i also understand your recommendation to limit recaptures - i think
>it's rather obvious that this type of recapture extension is horrible!
>
>for me, using a normal recapture extension (as defined in my previous post) is
>doing ok - i don't really see a difference compared to not doing it in engine
>matches, it scored a tiny bit better but nothing significant. i left it in since
>it seems sensible to me "on general grounds" i.e. as a human player i also use
>this extension :-)
>
>cheers
>  martin

Yay to Martin! Are you sure you want to side with me on that point? Uri
and Bob are about to open our collective eyes I bet!




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