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Subject: Re: "The Tale of a Small Tree" by M.M.Botvinnik [fragment]

Author: José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba

Date: 15:01:42 03/10/00

Go up one level in this thread


On March 10, 2000 at 09:00:26, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On March 10, 2000 at 08:59:18, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On March 10, 2000 at 04:57:42, Torstein Hall wrote:
>>
>>>On March 09, 2000 at 20:58:09, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On March 09, 2000 at 16:58:07, José Antônio Fabiano Mendes wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>[....]Three Studies
>>>>>Eleven studies had long since been prepared for testing
>>>>>the program---several years earlier I had written in an
>>>>>introduction to a collection of studies by G.Nadareishvili
>>>>>that it was with studies that one should begin experiments.
>>>>>My reasoning was simple---in studies there is forcing tactical
>>>>>play,positionnal evaluation is not needed,and since positional
>>>>>"understanding" was to be the last thing to be put into the program,
>>>>>one should therefore begin with studies...
>>>>>We began with a famous study by Réti.
>>>>>7K/8/k1P5/7p/8/8/8/8 w - -
>>>>>    White to play and draw
>>>>>What could be simpler,and at the same time cleverer than this
>>>>>composition?[....]
>>>>>And so,during December 1976 to January 1977,"Pioneer" solved
>>>>>Réti´s study.We thought that it would all be very simple,but
>>>>>it proved to be highly complicated.Without any positional
>>>>>evaluation,and without the attachment of the endgame library,
>>>>>the tree "disintegrated".The computer had little other work,
>>>>>but hours went by,and still no result.It became clear that
>>>>>"Pioneer" needed help!
>>>>>We took the rule of the square,programmed it in three modifications,
>>>>>put it into the library,and at each node of the tree "Pioneer"
>>>>>received from the library the necessary information.The effect
>>>>>was staggering:the study was solved within 70 minutes,and in the
>>>>>search tree there were only 54 moves.This small "human" tree was
>>>>>first obtained on 28th January 1977---without doubt a significant
>>>>>date in cybernetics.[...]
>>>>>Source:"Selected Games 1967-1970",M.M.Botvinnik,Pergamon Press,1981,
>>>>>pages 299 and 300
>>>>>So it seems that,contrary to widespread belief,Botvinnik thought his
>>>>>computer-chess work to be very important.  JAFM
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>He thought it very important...  most of the rest of us didn't...  as it
>>>>seems that most of the results were faked...
>>>
>>>What do base your conclusion that the relults where faked on?
>>>
>>>Torstein
>>
>>
>>Some PVs he published in the JICCA that were obviously 'faked'...  he would
>>make a comment that pioneer decided "this variation can be stopped as obviously
>>white is winning" but in another almost identical position, pioneer would keep
>>searching.  Hans Berliner had a very good (if very abrasive) rebuttal article
>>that he published in the JICCA in response to Berliner's article.  His analysis
>>was concise, accurate, and devastating to Berliner's statements...
>
>
>That last "Berliner" should have been Botvinnik of course...

The last two, actually.



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