Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 17:12:32 12/11/00
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On December 11, 2000 at 16:30:11, eric guttenberg wrote:
>I don't know what the "draw score" option is under advanced engine options
>in the Tiger programs of Rebel 11.0. Because I don't have a clue as to what
>it means, I was just going to leave it at zero and ignore it.
That's the best you can do. Just leave it at 0, and you get the best playing
strength.
>But then I came across something real confusing. I found that when I set up
>the famous critical position in Morphy's queen-sacrifice win against
>Paulsen that with "draw score" set at 500 (whatever the heck THAT means)
>Gambit-Tiger finds the winning ...Qd3xBf3 in 20 seconds. With "draw score"
>set at 0, Gambit-Tiger simply does not find the move at any playing level.
>
>So, does anyone know what "draw score" means and how it (apparently)
>affects the programs playing strength?
The "draw score" is the score (in centipawns) the program gives to a draw by
repetition or a draw by 50 moves rule.
If you set it at 500, then the program believes that finding a draw by
repetition is as good as leading by a rook. So it will try very hard to find a
draw.
If you set it at -500, it thinks that getting a draw (by repetition) is the same
as being a rook behind. So it will avoid to get a draw, even at the cost of
losing the game (indirectly, by giving away material).
This setting is provided for tournament operators. Sometimes in tournaments you
know that drawing is the same as losing (because for example your goal is to win
the tournament, which is going to be possible only if you win your last game and
your best competitor loses). In this case you can tell the program to go for the
win at any cost by setting a negative "draw score".
As far as I know, setting this parameter to a value other than 0 will weaken the
program.
I would advice to leave the "draw score" as it is: draw score = 0.
Christophe
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