Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Changing alpha / beta based upon hash?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 07:08:52 01/01/01

Go up one level in this thread


On December 31, 2000 at 19:36:05, Steve Maughan wrote:

>Heiner,
>
>>OTOH, a general assumption underlying all this searching business is
>>that deeper searches generally produce better (more accurate) results.
>>I.e. if we alrady have an even more correct result than the one the normal
>>search would yield, we tend to to happily accept that, and we do expect
>>to improve by this.  Right?
>
>Yes.  This is why when one raises alpha one must also cut the PV.  What is
>really happening is the deeper search info is being graphted onto the search.
>

This statement is still simply incorrect.  You don't _touch_ the PV.  The issue
is that you are searching, and someone whispers in your ear "Hey, your alpha
value is -1.2...  I actually have searched this position before and I proved
that the score is actually no worse than -1.0...  so change your alpha and
keep searching."  You don't affect the PV, or anything else, other than make
the search more efficient.  If the new alpha value is >= your old beta value,
you should have _already_ bailed out with a fail high.  If your new beta value
is lower than your current alpha value, you should have already bailed out with
a fail low.  I don't understand the concept of "cutting off the PV"...  The PV
is backed up from below, not built as you search downward...


>>Of course you could restrict TT hits to only occur if the draft exactly
>>matches the depth.  I suspect that would reduce the benefit from the TT
>>in most cases, and quite drastically so in some cases (like the famous Fine >70).
>
>Yes I'm sure there's scope for fiddling when Depth = Hash Depth.
>
>>Do you really exclude TT entries with a larger draft?
>
>I'm not sure what you mean.
>
>I think I'm finally started to get my head rpound this issue - it's being vexing
>me for days!!
>
>Regards,
>
>Steve



This page took 0.01 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.