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Subject: Re: A New Self-Play Experiment -- Diminishing Returns Shown with 95% Conf.

Author: Ernst A. Heinz

Date: 17:09:09 05/25/00

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Hi Will,

>Probably more defensive than aggressive.

Different cultural background, I assume.

>I'm more interested in your thinking on the control question.
>Is a single control using equal depths sufficient?

Sufficient for _what_?

For the "proof of existence" purpose it is certainly sufficient.

>Could the results be skewed by positional/tactical factors
>present at 8-ply, which would be different at 9 or 10 ply (for the equal-depth
>control)?

Yes, they _could_ ... but how likely is the existence of
such factors in a program as proven and thoroughly tested
in practice at various depths and time controls as "Fritz 6"?

The calibration match was mostly meant as a control setting
for the _opening book_. Without the underlying assumption
that the chess engine behaves "reasonably" with progressing
search depths, the whole experimental setup does not work
at all. (BTW, all previous self-play research did not even
bother to do _any_ control matches of the form "X <=> X".)

>I assume you were looking for such feedback?

I basically wanted to share my new insights and results.

The pros and cons of self-play matches are well-known already.
They have been discussed extensively in the literature (please
everybody, read all the related work referenced in my paper!)
and in personal discussions with others. I briefly refer to the
lingering doubts regarding the validity of self-play in the
introduction.

=Ernst=




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