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Subject: Re: Another WAC bust

Author: Alexander Davies

Date: 00:53:47 11/22/00

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On November 21, 2000 at 03:38:39, Dann Corbit wrote:

>On November 21, 2000 at 03:36:38, Jeremiah Penery wrote:
>
>>On November 21, 2000 at 03:21:54, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>
>>>I have a machine with lots of memory and lots of tablebase files.  Running
>>>ExChess 4.01 on that machine with 100 megs hash and all 5 + some 6 piece
>>>tablebase files gave this:
>>>
>>>[D]1k6/5RP1/1P6/1K6/6r1/8/8/8 w - - bm Ka5 Kc5; id "WAC.041";
>>
>>It appears that b7 is a mate in 18.
>>
>>19->    1:34  Mat18   1. b7 Rg5+ 2. Kc6 Rg6+ 3. Kd5 Rg5+
>>                      4. Ke6 Rg6+ 5. Kf5 Rg1 6. Rf8+ Kxb7
>>                      <HT>
>>
>>It first found mate in 23, then 21, 20, and 18.  So it could go down again, but
>>I doubt it.
>>
>>However, Ka5 seems to be a mate in 15, and Kc5 a mate in 17.
>>
>>15->    1:14  Mat15   1. Ka5 Rg1 2. Rf8+ Kb7 3. g8=Q Ra1+
>>                      4. Kb4 Rb1+ 5. Qb3 Rxb3+ <HT>
>>
>>15->    1:06  Mat17   1. Kc5 Rg5+ 2. Kb4 Rg4+ 3. Ka5 Rg1
>>                      4. Rf8+ Kb7 5. g8=Q <HT>
>
>In any case, b7 must be added.  Any move that provably leads to checkmate is
>just as good or better than any other choice.
>
>The EPD test suite must be amended.  If your program chooses b7, that is a
>correct choice.

Reinfeld: "White can win with 1.b7 and then moving his King to the
King-side in reply to repeated checks; or he can win by moving his
King at once. He must beware of 1.Rf8+ Kb7 2.g8=Q? Rxg8 3.Rxg8 and
Black is stalemated."

In other words, Reinfeld gives the solution as 1.b7, 1.Ka5 or 1.Kc5.
From a human point of view, they're all good - WAC was designed for
players below about 1400. Reinfeld's original intention here does
not apply; only a program with a bug is going to fall for the
stalemate. For computers, only 1.Ka5 should be considered the
correct solution, assuming it is the quickest mate.

Alex Davies



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