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Subject: Re: _Wandering_ square of the _pawns_ rule

Author: Oliver Roese

Date: 23:35:19 06/13/00

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On June 13, 2000 at 17:36:48, blass uri wrote:

>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

Good work!
I was not aware of this exception.
Is there more?

>
>[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.
>

Sure, but that was not intended.
It says not more and not less that the pawns are "unstoppable".

>Uri



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