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Subject: Re: Null Moves at the Root?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 18:47:48 12/21/00

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On December 21, 2000 at 16:40:26, Brian Richardson wrote:

>What are the pro's and con's of doing null moves "at the root", e.g. after a ply
>1 move and then another null move by the same side.  It seems to help
>dramatically in some tactical situiations, but not others.  Thus far, Tinker has
>only used null moves starting at ply 2 (actually ply 3) moves, e.g, Tinker makes
>a move, then opponent replies, then another null move reply.
>
>Thanks
>Brian
>
>PS  One example of it helping is BT2630.03
>5r1k/p1q2pp1/1pb4p/n3R1NQ/7P/3B1P2/2P3P1/7K w - - bm e5e6


That isn't "at the root".  Ply=1 is the root.  and trying a null-move
there is useless...  it can't cause any cutoffs since you are not searching
anything before the null-move, and since you can't legally play a null-move,
searching it gives you no information.  At ply=2, trying a null-move is
perfectly normal.

This means that you make two consecutive moves by the same side...  which is
what null-move is all about.



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