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Subject: Re: Disappointment:results/comments/+naive conclusions on Bf8!please comment

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 10:30:40 05/10/00

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On May 10, 2000 at 10:52:19, Mark Andreoli wrote:
[snip]
>   1.I have heard time after time that "there is only one best move in any given
>position"(It makes sense /the one that wins the fastest) . In this case most of
>us agreed it was 19.Bf8! Ok my question is why
>didn't My Fritz 5 ,6 or Hiarcs find this move especially given the fact that F6
>is in the top 5 on the SSDF list?Are they weak analyzers?

It is clearly not a true statement.  From one position there may be ten distinct
moves, all of which mate in 5 and no other move mates faster.  Therefore, even
by the criteria you have established, the assumption that there can only be one
best move is clearly false.  Further (in my opinion) any move which leads to a
large advantage is a "best move" in the sense that it is used with chess
programs.  Unless a chess program searches the tree clear to the end (nearly
impossible from almost all board positions) there is always some doubt left as
to what is the best move.

>  2.How can it be that the above mentioned engines (F5/6/Hiarcs)manage to "Kick
>Butt" time and time again on other engines who found Bf8 but _they_ were unable
>to find it? So What engine is _really _ the strongest?

Nobody knows which engine is the strongest.  Of the top ten, all of them have
tactical ability (at least) which is on the GM level.  I suspect also that even
with GM's, some of them will pick e5.  It turns out (after long analysis) that
e5 also leads to a decisive advantage.  It is true that it will probably take
longer to get to checkmate, but it is still a winning position.  No computer
plays perfect chess -- far from it!  But as for tactical ability, they are truly
excellent and also tireless.  If you have a position which is particularly
compelling, you can have five different engines think about it all night and you
may see some excellent results that way.

>  3. Given the fact that I do play a lot of tournament chess what _computer
>chess program_ (Will the truly best analyzing engine please _stand up_!) do I
>have to buy now to get a "second opinion" on my game positions. I still can't
>express how disappointed I am  in F5/F6 and Hiarcs for not finding 19.Bf8!
>(remember Nenad Aleksic found it in only about 20 seconds over the board!)

Computers will sometimes make brilliancies that GM's will not see.  On the other
hand, if a benefit is too deep, they often won't see it at all.  If you read a
lot of messages from this forum, you will come to understand why.



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