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Subject: Re: Interesting mate test for hashing

Author: jonathon smith

Date: 13:53:50 09/10/99

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On September 10, 1999 at 16:36:44, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On September 10, 1999 at 15:58:45, Ed Schröder wrote:
>
>>
>>For one moment forget about alpha and beta, you are on the wrong track as
>>alpha and beta are not a part at all of the code. You need an extra stack
>>that is set to -INF at each ply. Then before you do A/B you do the bestmove
>>calculation for that ply. Involved variables: SCORE and STACK, no alpha beta.
>>
>>Ed
>
>I understood that...  but alpha and beta play a roll in this.. because each
>time you call Search() and then do your test with "best" when the score comes
>back, you get a bound... and nothing says that you get the _best_ bound on the
>score for each move you search, you only get a bound that is <= alpha.  And they
>aren't directly comparable with each other, because the search stops as soon as
>any move at the next ply returns a score >= beta (which is <= alpha at the
>current ply).  Even though there could be even _better_ moves were the search
>at the next ply to be completed.  IE, we learn this:
>
>value for move1 <= 200
>value for move2 <= 150
>
>no way to say that the first is better than the second.  We simply don't know
>that.

Oh God. It's so pitiful.

Immersed in bean-counter quiescent paradigm and unable to see the bleeding
obvious.

Non-understanding of thread concept = no semi-accurate static evaluation
function.

Understanding of thread concept = evaluation function with which able to make
some sensible decisions. Hint: with semi-accurate evaluation, able to order all
moves on basis of evaluation function carried out on each (remember, you already
searched them all - non-bean-counter programs also evaluate them at each node).


Large space left here for reams of bluster and goal-post shifting ....

















Above space deliberately left blank.




>It might be. Or it might not be, because the alpha/beta search done
>below this node doesn't supply that information.
>
>in any case, trying this was certainly slower for me, as the tree always got
>bigger, because I try the hash table move before _all_ other moves.  And with
>this approach, for me, it was wrong far more than it was right, and the tree
>grew as a result.



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