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Subject: Re: _Wandering_ square of the _pawns_ rule

Author: blass uri

Date: 14:36:48 06/13/00

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On June 13, 2000 at 16:40:54, blass uri wrote:

>On June 13, 2000 at 15:45:28, Christophe Theron wrote:
>
>>On June 13, 2000 at 08:36:24, Oliver Roese wrote:
>>
>>>On June 12, 2000 at 05:46:59, Rémi Coulom wrote:
>>>
>>>>On June 10, 2000 at 13:44:35, blass uri wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On June 10, 2000 at 11:54:17, Ed Schröder wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>[...]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Maybe the opposite is true. It depends per program how the programmer
>>>>>>looks at things. For this position I would say that having 2 outside
>>>>>>passers usually is a great advantage and as such is rewarded by a chess
>>>>>>program. If so then this position is an exception to the rule. And the
>>>>>>end-game is full of exceptions much more than the mid-game.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Ed
>>>>>
>>>>>Having 2 outsides passed pawns is an advantage but having 2 advanced passed pawn
>>>>>is also an advantage.
>>>>>
>>>>>The problem is to know which advantage is bigger.
>>>>>
>>>>>I agree that it is not a simple problem and I understand the fact that
>>>>>programmers prefer to waste more time about other problems.
>>>>>
>>>>>I still believe that it is possible to see it at evaluation time by an array
>>>>>64*64*64 of distance to promotion.
>>>>
>>>>You are perfectly right about this idea. I do it in TCB. I have a table for
>>>>distance to promotion for KPK and PPK. In fact, it is not really a table of
>>>>distance to promotion, but a table that gives the maximum number of "not a King
>>>>move by the opponent" before the pawn is promoted. I call it "extended square of
>>>>the King". It is not in the latest version of TCB. I will make it available in
>>>>the next version. If programmers are interested in the code to generate the
>>>>table, I will send it to them.
>>>>
>>>>PPK is nice, but KPK is probably much more useful. TCB can solve WAC #100 in 25
>>>>seconds or so on a celeron 400 thanks to it. It saves 3 or 4 plies as compared
>>>>to the standard "square of the Pawn" rule (or is it "square of the King"?). It
>>>>is also very good at detecting that a pawn can win a tempo by checking the
>>>>opponent on its way to promotion.
>>>>
>>>>I do not think it would solve this position though. I am not a good chess
>>>>player, but the position after the Queen exchange seems unclear to me. Black can
>>>>promote first, but White will promote on the next half move. Is it a winning
>>>>advantage? Or I might be missing something. I will try it on TCB when I am back
>>>>home.
>>>>
>>>>Greetings,
>>>>Remi
>>>
>>>Here is a human-like approach:
>>>Apply the rule of the "wandering square". I got it from Awerbachs book about
>>>pawnendings:
>>>
>>>[D]8/8/1k6/8/P2P4/8/8/K7 w - - 0 1
>>>
>>>In the above diagram the two white pawns are on the corners of a square
>>>(a4-d4-a7-d7). The rule say, that the two pawns are unstoppable by the opposite
>>>king, if their common square has reached the edge of the board.
>>>Since this is not the case, here black has hope to stop the pawns. (He will hold
>>>the draw with 1..Ka5).
>>>
>>>[D]Q3q3/4k3/8/5p2/2p5/8/P6P/4K3 w - - 0 1
>>>This position is from blass uri.
>>>According to the rule the white pawns are unstoppable.
>>>But the blacks pawns are unstoppable to, after the unavoidable ...f4.
>>>Since we have no dumb advice here, a search is required. It reveals, that black
>>>wins after 1.Qxe8+ but he is only up a tempo.
>>>
>>>Oliver Roese
>>
>>
>>Your rule is interesting, but I have a hard time believing that it holds when
>>the pawns are on their original square. A pawn on its original square can move
>>two squares up (or down), and that should imply a special case for your rule,
>>isn't it?
>>
>>
>>
>>    Christophe
>
>The rule is not correct in another case
>[D]8/8/PkP5/8/8/8/8/7K w - - 0 1
>
>The rule is that white wins but it is a draw.
>
>Uri

[D]8/8/8/8/P1k1P3/6p1/7p/7K w - - 0 1

Here is another example that I invented when the rule fails.

The rule is correct here that white pawns are unstoppable but cannot see that
black pawns+king  also cannot be stopped.

Uri



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