Author: Rafael Andrist
Date: 10:06:26 11/20/00
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On November 20, 2000 at 12:26:24, Bob Durrett wrote: >On November 20, 2000 at 12:13:04, Severi Salminen wrote: > >> >>>Maybe a computer chess programmer would be willing to modify his program to add >>>the capability to measure the amount of time the program uses to find the >>>solution. That would not give a direct measurement of how difficult the >>>position would be for a human player, but might give some indication at least. >>> >>>Incidentally, you could try using a stopwatch. >> >>I don't think that is a good idea. Computers can find very deep combinations >>very fast and the same position might be allmost impossible for a human. I think >> better approach would be to check out the types of moves that lead to solution. >>If there are many non_captures, non_checks and non_promotions, it is probably >>more difficult for a human. Captures, checks and promotions are easier to find. >>Also the depth is an issue, mate in 10 is harder than mate in 2. And mate with 5 >> sequential captures is easier than a mate in 4 with "silent" moves. >> >>Severi > >The above hi-lights the issue of "What Makes a Position Difficult for a Human to >Solve?". This should be of great interest to computer chess programmers because >it would give an indication as to how to program chess-playing programs to put >up the greatest resistance to human opponents. > >In human vs human chess, one very successful strategy is to keep on posing very >difficult problems for the opponent to solve. Eventually, the opponent may >crack under the pressure! [Of course, if the opponent is following this same >strategy, then problems posed by the opponent must be solved also.] I see no >reason why this would not apply in human vs computer [or visa versa] games. >After all, the top GMs whip the chess programs by playing anti-machine >strategies. Why not let the engines turn the tables on the GMs and play >anti-human chess against humans? I would be nice to have algorithm that detect that. But: It's more difficult to find the silent moves for the computer than the human (at GM level). So, first the program need to find the silent moves in normal search and then detect that these are silent moves. I case of finding a mate this would be not very difficult to program, but if the gain is some positional advantage or a silent attack, a human can easier find the silent moves.
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