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Subject: Re: couple of endgame positions

Author: Tom King

Date: 14:43:31 01/02/01

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On January 01, 2001 at 23:02:44, Jon Dart wrote:

>I've recenty been looking at a couple of endgame positions. The first
>one is from a game Arasan played against GM Karen Asrian:
>
>[D] 8/8/r1B2k2/4p3/4K2p/5N2/8/8 w - -
>
>Arasan played Nxe5, which Crafty seems to think is losing. It goes to a
>large - score right away:
>
>              Searching only the move played in game.--------------------
>              time surplus   0.00  time limit 45:00 (45:00)
>         nss  depth   time  score   variation (1)
>                9     0.22     --   59. Nxe5
>                9     0.43  -2.35   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra2
>                                    62. Kd3 h2 63. Nxh2 Rxh2 64. Kc4
>                9->   0.43  -2.35   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra2
>                                    62. Kd3 h2 63. Nxh2 Rxh2 64. Kc4
>               10     0.66  -2.50   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra2
>                                    62. Kd3 h2 63. Nxh2 Rxh2 64. Kc4 Kf4
>               10->   0.66  -2.50   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra2
>                                    62. Kd3 h2 63. Nxh2 Rxh2 64. Kc4 Kf4
>               11     2.12  -2.55   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra7
>                                    62. Nf2 Rxd7 63. Nxh3+ Kg4 64. Nf2+
>                                    Kg3 65. Nd3 Rd6
>               11->   2.12  -2.55   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra7
>                                    62. Nf2 Rxd7 63. Nxh3+ Kg4 64. Nf2+
>                                    Kg3 65. Nd3 Rd6
>               12     2.86  -2.55   59. Nxe5 h3 60. Ng4+ Kg5 61. Bd7 Ra7
>                                    62. Nf2 Rxd7 63. Nxh3+ Kg4 64. Nf2+
>                                    Kg3 65. Nd3 Rd6 66. Nf4
>
>Some versions of Arasan will switch off Nxe5 here eventually and play Bd7 or
>Bb5, but the latest version selects Nxe5 after 10 minutes of search, with a
>score of about -1. It could be a bug, but Hiarcs also seems to prefer Nxe5.
>The game was eventually drawn, by the way.

Latest, experimental, version of my program chooses Bd7 after 2 seconds, and
sticks with it.

>
>The other position is from a game against another program (ChesterX on
>ICC):
>
>[D] 2n5/8/1p6/pK5p/2N2k1P/8/PP6/8 w - h6
>
>Here Chester played a4, but the sac Nxb6 seems to be winning. It is not
>easy to find. Crafty fails high at ply 17, after almost 5 minutes of search
>(on a PIII/733):
>
>               17     4:53     ++   48. Nxb6!!
>               17     5:20   1.49   48. Nxb6 Nxb6 49. Kxb6 a4 50. Kb5 Kg3
>                                    51. Kxa4 Kxh4 52. b4 Kg4 53. b5 h4
>                                    54. Kb4 h3 55. b6 h2 56. b7 h1=Q 57.
>                                    b8=Q Qd5
>         (2)   17->   5:24   1.49   48. Nxb6 Nxb6 49. Kxb6 a4 50. Kb5 Kg3
>                                    51. Kxa4 Kxh4 52. b4 Kg4 53. b5 h4
>                                    54. Kb4 h3 55. b6 h2 56. b7 h1=Q 57.
>                                    b8=Q Qd5
>               18     6:34   1.55   48. Nxb6 Nxb6 49. Kxb6 Kg3 50. Kxa5
>                                    Kxh4 51. b4 Kg4 52. b5 h4 53. b6 h3
>                                    54. b7 h2 55. b8=Q h1=Q 56. Qc8+ Kf4
>                                    57. Qc7+ Kf5 58. Qc5+ Ke6 59. Kb5
>               18->   9:01   1.55   48. Nxb6 Nxb6 49. Kxb6 Kg3 50. Kxa5
>                                    Kxh4 51. b4 Kg4 52. b5 h4 53. b6 h3
>                                    54. b7 h2 55. b8=Q h1=Q 56. Qc8+ Kf4
>                                    57. Qc7+ Kf5 58. Qc5+ Ke6 59. Kb5
>               19    11:39   1.55   48. Nxb6 Nxb6 49. Kxb6 Kg3 50. Kxa5
>                                    Kxh4 51. b4 Kg4 52. b5 h4 53. b6 h3
>                                    54. b7 h2 55. b8=Q h1=Q 56. a4 Qc6
>                                    57. Qb5 Qc7+ 58. Kb4 Kf3
>
>I'd be interested in any analysis or comments on these positions from other
>players or programs.
>
>--Jon

Mine chooses a4 immediately. It needs just under 290 secs, and an 18 ply search
(on a celeron 500) to see than Nxb6 is good. Ugh.

Tablebases would be useful for both positions, methinks.

Rgds,
Tom



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