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Subject: Re: More information + a couple of diagrams

Author: Dave Gomboc

Date: 07:43:37 10/08/00

Go up one level in this thread


On October 08, 2000 at 04:09:00, Ricardo Gibert wrote:

>On October 08, 2000 at 02:57:15, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>
>>On October 08, 2000 at 02:07:37, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>
>>>On October 08, 2000 at 02:00:25, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>
>>>>On October 08, 2000 at 01:37:20, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On October 08, 2000 at 01:27:15, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On October 07, 2000 at 22:29:44, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On October 07, 2000 at 19:32:18, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On October 07, 2000 at 15:16:17, Peter McKenzie wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>The position where the solution is most in doubt:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>[D]2k2K2/8/pp6/2p5/2P5/PP6/8/8 w - -
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>The authors say that after 1.Ke8 Kc7 2.Ke7, black draws by 2...b5 with a
>>>>>>>>>stalemate motif after 3.Ke6 b4 4.a4 Kb6.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>nice motif for humans. peanut for the computer to see.
>>>>>>>>however, after 1.a4 i get a 0.00 score from diep initially,
>>>>>>>>now there are sure some bugs in this version, as i'm busy rewriting
>>>>>>>>its hashing to 64 bits (which asks for bugs of course), but 0.00 is
>>>>>>>>pretty hard. it is basically doubting between 0.50 and 0.00 on most
>>>>>>>>plies. where the stalemate position is 50 moves of shuffling around
>>>>>>>>with king and score +1.31. this version not showing +3.x scores weirdly.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>what is the win with a4 which i'm missing? and 20 plies of search too,
>>>>>>>>which is hard to believe in this position. with all 3 vs 2 egtb attached
>>>>>>>>and 20 plies of search with the white king already penetrated i either
>>>>>>>>expect to see +mateXX or see many pawns go or see draw score if it's
>>>>>>>>a draw. Now i get a slight draw score depending upon depth it is 0.00 or
>>>>>>>>+0.50 for white. That's not very convincing.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Of course white can vary, and they quote: 4.axb4 cxb4 5.Kd5 a5 6.Kc5 a4=
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Or: 2.a4 b5 which is supposed to be drawn too.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I haven't checked these lines thoroughly, but quickly playing some of them vs my
>>>>>>>>>program suggests they are probably correct.  Certainly its possible there is a
>>>>>>>>>mistake though.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>The other controversial positon:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>[D]8/1k6/p4p2/2p2P2/p1P2P2/2P5/P1K5/8 w - -
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Kc1 is analysed using the 'theory of corresponding squares', something I don't
>>>>>>>>>really understand :-)  I haven't analysed this one at all, I will just quote the
>>>>>>>>>main variation:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>i have wasted a full evening to go to a meeting where the writers
>>>>>>>>about the 'corresponding square' theory were there.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>it's all big nonsense. the problem is to figure out what the corresponding
>>>>>>>>squares are. it's like saying: "find best move M and play perfect
>>>>>>>>chess". Now the problem is to find move M. So is the problem to
>>>>>>>>find the corresponding squares. There is no algorithm for it at all.
>>>>>>>>After wasting hours of talk to the authors who themselves aren't strong
>>>>>>>>chessplayers at all, they couldn't give any algorithm for it, and it
>>>>>>>>all appeared to come down to how well you can define squares as being
>>>>>>>>the corresponding square!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>1.Kc1! Kc7 2.Kd1! Kd7 3.Ke1 Kc7 4.Kf2 Kd8 5.Ke2 Ke8 6.Kd3 Kd7 7.Ke3 Kd6 8.Ke4
>>>>>>>>>"(forcing the pawn to advance)" a3 9.Kd3 a5 10.Kc2! a4 "The posiiton on the
>>>>>>>>>Q-side is blocked; a quadratic system with non-ambiguous rear (711) now
>>>>>>>>>operates."  Go figure!  11.Kc2! Ke7 12.Kd3 Kc6 13.Ke2 Kd6 14.Kf2 Kd7 15.Ke3 Ke7
>>>>>>>>>16.Kf3 and wins
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>that's 16 moves. I'm searching 40 plies. that's 20 moves. So i see
>>>>>>>>4 moves deeper as this. Also i have made  afew moves and then also searched
>>>>>>>>40 plies. that's like 23 ply in the diagram position. So obviously this
>>>>>>>>trick isn't the problem here!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I didn't play thru. that variation, but clearly its at least 31ply and white
>>>>>>>>>hasn't even captured a pawn yet!  Let me see, finished with white K on f3, so it
>>>>>>>>>needs another 3 moves at the very least to capture c5 so this problem looks like
>>>>>>>>>it is at the VERY least 34ply deep and probably more.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I searched if i count the moves made first with it 44 plies or something
>>>>>>>>and don't see a win at all.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>cheers,
>>>>>>>>>Peter
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>If you are really interested in the theory of corresponding squares, you may
>>>>>>>want to have a look at the book, "The Final Countdown" by Willem Hajenius &
>>>>>>>Herman van Riemsdijk.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>As for translating it into a computer comprehensible algorithm, I don't think it
>>>>>>>is practical.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Your opinion notwithstanding, Murray Campbell did it over ten years ago. :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Dave
>>>>>
>>>>>Very interesting. Is there a download article on this? I'm curious if this a
>>>>>practical algorithm, why it is not being used in programs. Does it include
>>>>>positions where pawns can move forward? Or only positions where they are
>>>>>blocked?
>>>>
>>>>In fact, there's an entire Ph.D. thesis on it. :-)  I imagine it isn't being
>>>>used in (at least most) programs because it's not perfect either, and the
>>>>brute-force method worked somewhat better overall than it did.  However, it did
>>>>handle some positions much better than a brute forcer.  The pawns didn't have to
>>>>be blocked, but of course that makes it easier (mind you, that makes it easier
>>>>for a brute force program too!)
>>>>
>>>>Dave
>>>
>>>Then I seem to have guessed right about its practicality.
>>
>>I don't think so... after all, ten years is a long time.  The technique might be
>>effective now, or it might not.  I think it's probably worth checking out,
>>though.
>>
>>Dave
>
>Brute-force has certainly gotten more effective with the speed up of cpus, but
>whether the technique you refer to has kept pace (or outpaced) is an open
>question I suppose. Worth looking into as you said.

And of course, you may well have guessed correctly in the end! :-)

Dave



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