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Subject: Re: Consistently decreasing/increasing evaluations

Author: Gordon Rattray

Date: 07:19:53 10/23/01

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On October 23, 2001 at 09:58:52, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On October 23, 2001 at 08:56:18, Gordon Rattray wrote:
>
>>Suppose that during the analysis of a position, a chess engine shows evaluations
>>similar to this:
>>
>>depth 7:   Qe1   eval:   0.58
>>depth 8:   Qe1   eval:   0.42
>>depth 9:   Qe1   eval:   0.39
>>depth 10:  Qe1   eval:   0.33
>>
>>i.e. as the depth increases, the move choice stays the same, and the evaluation
>>is slowly but consistently decreasing.
>>
>>I release that in general the next evaluation could be anything, but I am right
>>in thinking that the probability of it decreasing further is higher than normal?
>> Or to take it to extremes, I think the above is more likely to decrease further
>>than the following:
>>
>>depth 7:   Qe1   eval:   0.33
>>depth 8:   Qe1   eval:   0.39
>>depth 9:   Qe1   eval:   0.42
>>depth 10:  Qe1   eval:   0.58
>>
>>Did each line involve a "fail low"?  Or am I getting my terms mixed up?
>>
>>Do chess programs take account of the above and, e.g., are more likely to search
>>further before moving?
>>
>>Gordon
>
>
>That generally suggests that there is a horizon-effect happening, and that
>eventually the best move will be bad enough that a new best move will be
>found.

Thanks, that confirms my thinking.  One position in which I seen the effect
involed White grabbing a pawn at the expense of uncoordinated pieces.  So, the
term "horizon effect" seems applicable.

>
>But searchng until you find it is not possible in a timed game, for obvious
>reasons...

Sure, but can't the timing code take this into some consideration?  For example,
if the next iteration is estimated to take too much time, but only just over the
allowable period, would it be worthwhile paying that bit extra?  Alternatively,
can increasing evaluations be used as a factor for moving quicker?  I'm not
suggesting that there wouldn't be other factors in either case.


Gordon



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