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Subject: Re: The end of the opening books ?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 09:12:20 05/21/01

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On May 21, 2001 at 11:48:32, Georg v. Zimmermann wrote:

>Hi,
>
>what started as an attemp to get my program ( crazyhouse chess ) to play a
>reasonable opening when its opponent tries to kick it out of book (1.g3 or so)
>made me think about opening books in general.
>IMHO every program can get stronger when the author tries to make it play good
>openings even without opening book, that will help in the middle game as well.
>
>I believe that the ammount of memory taken up by "perfect knowledge" (Endgame
>Tablebases) will ever increase while the ammount of memory taken up by "human
>knowledge" (Opening books created by humans) will decrease.
>
>- Programs have become so strong that often times humans do not know better
>which move is best in a certain position.
>- Programs often get out of book in a losing line.
>- Programs often get out of book in a line they do not understand.
>- Learning features become better and better, so programs will "learn" openings
>over time anyway.
>- A single program plays many more games than a GM in a given time period, so to
>learn from its own games which are far more predicatble and contain far less
>blunders which change the outcome of the game completely makes more sense.
>
>This might not be true for very small expert written opening books, but I think
>it holds true for the Crafty style books.
>What do you think ?
>
>Georg


Crafty can play just fine without a book.  But the problem is that it will
play the same opening over and over, and that will give humans a real chance
to beat it easily after they lose a few games but find a mistake it makes and
repeats.

I don't use a book to find tactical traps.  I use a book to provide randomness
which is absolutely essential on a chess server where I might play a GM or IM
50+ games in a row, non-stop.  If you don't vary, look out...



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