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Subject: Re: Blocked pieces

Author: Ed Schröder

Date: 04:26:29 06/22/00

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On June 22, 2000 at 05:41:52, Enrique Irazoqui wrote:

>On June 22, 2000 at 00:43:00, Ed Schröder wrote:
>
>>On June 21, 2000 at 15:14:54, Enrique Irazoqui wrote:
>>
>>>On June 21, 2000 at 13:53:13, Christophe Theron wrote:
>>>
>>>>On June 21, 2000 at 08:30:59, Enrique Irazoqui wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>[D]1r6/1pb1k1p1/4p2p/1p1p4/3Pp2P/1R2P1PB/1P2P1K1/8 b - - 0 1
>>>>>
>>>>>Yesterday I looked at this position that reveals once again how much trouble
>>>>>programs have in recognizing the importance of blocked pieces. Some programs
>>>>>pick and drop 1...b4, but none of them realize that the blocked rook is out of
>>>>>the game until the search makes them see the consequences many hours later. The
>>>>>evaluation at the initial position or after 1...b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.Rb3 b4 is almost
>>>>>the same. It takes 61 minutes for F6a and 335 minutes for Tiger to pick b4, and
>>>>>much, much longer to fail high.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Well, life is unfair. I do have something for this kind of positions in Tiger.
>>>>Normally Tiger is able to suspect that the rook is in trouble.
>>>
>>>Do you have to treat differently the cases of blocked rooks or blocked knights
>>>and bishops? So many times I hear programmers looking for patterns. Well, this
>>>is one, isn't it? In the first position, the rook can't move or a pawn will take
>>>it. In the second and third, the bishop is statically trapped by a chain of
>>>pawns in a small corner of the board. Technical question from an illiterate:
>>>wouldn't it make sense to heavily penalize such positions?
>>>
>>>For instance, Junior 6a is the program that does best with the first position.
>>>It picks b4 in 51 seconds and sticks to it forever, but the difference between
>>>b4 and the next best is only 8/100 of a pawn after 4 hours. So it doesn't quite
>>>get it, and in the other 3 positions it fails.
>>>
>>>>However, for an unknown reason, it looks like it does not work in this here...
>>>
>>>Tiger doesn't get the other positions either (no program does). Pattern?
>>>
>>>>Sometimes I wonder if adding this kind of knowledge is worth the trouble, as
>>>>there are so many exceptions, and even cases where the knowledge is counter
>>>>productive, or is not triggered at the right time!
>>>
>>>These positions come from real games, one of them from a computer game, so I
>>>guess it must be productive to teach them this kind of things. I may be
>>>exaggerating, but looking at some human-computer games, like the ones lost by
>>>Fritz in the Dutch championship, it seems clear that blocking positions is an
>>>efficient anti-computer strategy. But how can a program recognize a general
>>>blockade if it's incapable of realizing that one piece is trapped?
>>>
>>>In my opinion, this also has to do with a more general issue of aesthetics, of
>>>programs being able to produce some sort of beauty other than announcing mate in
>>>128.
>>
>>I don't have much trapped piece code in Rebel. But 1..b4 is quickly found
>>with a score difference of 1/4 of a pawn in comparison with the previous
>>best move. I don't know why Rebel picks 1..b4 but in any case trapped piece
>>code isn't an issue here so there are other positional aspects valid for
>>this position too.
>>
>>Ed
>
>But at ply 16 Century 1.2 drops b4 in favor of h5 (+0.66), and then at ply 17 it
>picks again b4 (also +0.66), so the difference in evaluation between b4 and h5
>is less than 1/100 of a pawn.

I used the latest version. If I don't forget I will run the position
overnight and see if it does the same.

Ed


>Enrique
>
>
>>_____________________________________________________________
>>
>>00:00:00  8.07  0.36   1..Kd6 2.Rxb5 e5 3.Rb3 Ba5 4.Bg4
>>                       g5 5.hxg5 hxg5  (0)
>>
>>00:00:01  9.00  0.38   1..Kd6 2.Rxb5 e5 3.Bg4 b6 4.Rb3
>>                       Rf8 5.Ra3 Bd8  (1)
>>
>>00:00:03 10.00  0.39   1..Kd6 2.Rxb5 e5 3.Bg4 b6 4.Rb3
>>                       Rf8 5.Ra3 Bd8 6.Ra1  (2)
>>
>>00:00:05 10.16  0.39   1..b4
>>00:00:06 10.16  0.56   1..b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.Bg4 Bd6 4.Rb3
>>                       b4 5.h5 Rf8  (5)
>>
>>00:00:07 11.00  0.58   1..b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.g4 Bd6 4.Rb3 b4
>>                       5.g5 Rf8 6.gxh6 gxh6 7.Bg4  (6)
>>
>>00:00:18 12.00  0.61   1..b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.g4 Bd6 4.Rb3 b4
>>                       5.g5 hxg5 6.hxg5 Rh8 7.g6 Kf6  (13)
>>
>>00:00:45 13.00  0.61   1..b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.Bg4 Bd6 4.Rb3
>>                       b4 5.h5 Kf6  (32)
>>
>>00:02:06 14.00  0.64   1..b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.Bg4 Bd6 4.Rb3
>>00:06:30 15.00  0.63   1..b4 2.Rxb4 b5 3.Kf2 Bd6 4.Rb3
>>                       b4 5.Kg2 Ra8 6.Bg4  (237)
>>
>>
>>
>>>Enrique
>>>
>>>>    Christophe



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