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Subject: Re: Extensions?!

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 11:43:16 01/13/98

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On January 13, 1998 at 09:08:49, Dan Homan wrote:

>On January 12, 1998 at 14:49:17, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On January 12, 1998 at 14:23:02, Dan Homan wrote:
>>
>>>Test Position: WAC 003
>>>
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>8 |   |   |   |   |   | *R| *K|   |    White to move
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>7 |   | *P| *P| *B|   |   |   | *P|    castle: -
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>6 | *P|   | *P| *B|   |   |   |   |
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>5 |   |   |   |   |   |   | *Q|   |
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>4 |   |   |   | P |   | *P|   | *R|    fifty: 0
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>3 |   |   | P |   | R |   |   | P |
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>2 | P | P |   | B | Q |   | P |   |
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>1 |   |   |   |   |   | R | K | N |
>>>  +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
>>>    a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h
>>>
>>>
>>>White to Move  Book Move: Rg3;
>>>
>>>Press 's' to search, 'n' for the next position, 'q' to exit: s
>>>Please enter a search time (in seconds): 30
>>>  3.    154     0     1300   e3g3 g5g3 h1g3
>>>  4.    313     0     5297   e3g3 d7g4 g3g4
>>>  5.    313     0    10408   e3g3 d7g4 g3g4
>>>  6.    313     2    53982   e3g3 d7g4 g3g4
>>>  7.    313     5   174534   e3g3 d7g4 g3g4
>>>  8.    313    20   735301   e3g3 d7g4 g3g4 h4g4 e2e6 g8h8
>>>                              h3g4 g5f6 f1e1 f4f3
>>>
>>>node_count = 885911 quiescent nodes = 82048 eval_count = 183571
>>>hash hits = 74864 hash moves = 9095 pawn hash hits = 173696
>>>node_rate = 36912 null cutoffs = 167276 extensions = 15099
>>>
>>
>>I tried this to a depth of 8 plies (which I assume the above means
>>you reached?)  Total time was 2 seconds, with a hash hit rate of 99%.
>>I re-ran it to 30 seconds and was able to search 11 plies deep this
>>time, and the pawn hash hit rate was still 99%.  I used 5mb for the
>>pawn hash, where one entry is 20 bytes.
>>
>
>I was just looking at these numbers and noticed that you are reaching
>depth 8 in just 2 seconds!  It takes me 20 to reach depth 8 (time to
>complete the first PV on depth 8, the rest of the moves at depth 8
>take still more time).  This is a factor of 10!  Even assmuning a
>generous factor of 3 in nps advantage, crafty is searching about a
>factor of 3 fewer nodes!
>
>I can think of a few reasons that my search would have more nodes, but
>none of them should be a factor of 3.  One thing that did occur to me
>is extensions.  I turned off all extensions and researched this
>position.  In doing so, I found that I searched only about 30% of the
>nodes to reach the same depth as the above example.  Should my
>extensions really be tripling the size of my search tree?
>
>I like the extensions a lot, just adding them in has increased my
>program's blitz rating on FICS by 200 points (now about 2030).  I am
>wondering, however, if I have overdone it.  What do you typically
>expect the increase in tree size to be with reasonable extensions?
>
> - Dan
>
>p.s. My program does
>
>capture extensions    (4/10 of a ply)

dangerous one there.  Ken Thompson used 1/2 ply in 1983, and probably
lost the 1983 World Championship as a result of doing this.  He reported
it helped his WAC results quite a bit, but it costs about 1/2 to 1 ply.
He later discarded it totally.


>re-capture extensions (1 ply)
>check extensions      (1 ply)
>pawn push extensions  (1/2 ply or 1/3 ply)  (endgame and late
>middle-game)
>bruce's mate ext.     (1 ply)

All reasonable.  I am now using 3/4 ply for *everything* in Crafty, but
do allow multiple extensions to add together, with a limit of 1 ply.
This
actually improved the WAC results and seems to be running a good bit
faster
to reach the same depth...



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