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Subject: Re: QSearch and captures

Author: Andrew Williams

Date: 06:12:11 11/20/01

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On November 20, 2001 at 08:52:03, José Carlos wrote:

>On November 20, 2001 at 05:24:24, Andrew Williams wrote:
>
>>On November 20, 2001 at 05:04:42, Michel Langeveld wrote:
>>
>>>Hello all,
>>>
>>>I implemented qsearch in my program nullmover, but got a problem for it back.
>>>
>>>When I search with a depth 1 (just testing at the moment) my program thinks that
>>>after the openingmove 1. d4, ... h6! is the best move.
>>>
>>>After h6 the qsearch starts.
>>>
>>>[D]rnbqkbnr/ppppppp1/7p/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
>>>
>>>The qsearch evaluates _only_ captures now. The program thinks white HAS to take
>>>on h6 then (is only capture in that position) and black can win a bishop after
>>>gxh6 or Rxh6. So score is about +2 for black then. This is incorrect of
>>>course....
>>>
>>>I'm thinking about ways to solve this. One way is to implement a null move so
>>>that beside capturing there's always a doing nothing option. But I was curious
>>>how you guys solve this thing.
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>
>>>Michel Langeveld
>>
>>That's exactly how it is done. On entry to your quiesce() function, do an
>>evaluation and store the result. If the result is >= beta, you can return
>>beta as your result immediately (it's a great position from whoseTurn's
>>point of view so there's no need to do more work).
>
>  Then, if the static eval is > Alpha, do Alpha = eval, which will save some
>nodes.
>
>  José C.
>

Good point. I forgot about that because I'm using mtd(f) and that situation
doesn't occur.

Andrew


>>Otherwise, try the
>>captures. If none of them gives a score greater than the stored evaluation
>>you did at the top, return that because you assume that there is at least
>>one non-capturing move that is "neutral".
>>
>>Andrew



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