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Subject: Re: Some Philosophical questions on the limits of Computer chess

Author: Sune Fischer

Date: 07:00:44 01/26/02

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On January 26, 2002 at 09:50:17, Uri Blass wrote:

>On January 26, 2002 at 09:32:43, Albert Silver wrote:
>
>>On January 26, 2002 at 09:27:03, Sune Fischer wrote:
>>
>>>On January 26, 2002 at 09:07:51, Albert Silver wrote:
>>>
>>>>>>>Realisticly a 2800 player probably has a branchfactor of no more than 2, ie. he
>>>>>>>is able to always choose the best or second best move (on average).
>>>>>>>If the average game lasts 100 moves, then that is still 10^30 plausible games of
>>>>>>>which only a handfull will be good enough against *perfect* play.
>>>>>>>Poor odds I agree with you :)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You're presuming that anything other than one move, the best move, will lose
>>>>>>forcibly to best play. I believe that more than one move is available to a
>>>>>>non-loss thus perfect play would be often a flip of the coin between a few
>>>>>>(perhaps three as I hypothesized in another post in the thread) moves. I have
>>>>>>seen no evidence to suggest there is only one path to a non-loss and that a
>>>>>>single path of perfect play is needed to avoid it. Everything we know whether
>>>>>>from personal research or from the current tablebases suggests there are several
>>>>>>paths. If this were accepted to be true, the question would be whether the 2800
>>>>>>player is incapable of hitting on _one_ of these non-losing moves (according to
>>>>>>perfect play).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                                      Albert
>>>>>
>>>>>You could interpet in an similar way; there is a 50% chance of the 2800 chooses
>>>>>a move that is *good enough*.
>>>>>It was just an estimate, probably way off :)
>>>>>
>>>>>Suppose that a *correct* move is done with 95% certainty (on average) and that
>>>>>the average game length is only 60 moves, then he has a 0.95^60 = 4.6% chance of
>>>>>a draw!
>>>>>
>>>>>This is perhaps more realistic?
>>>>>
>>>>>-S.
>>>>
>>>>Well, a few things come to mind. One is that there would be more than one
>>>>correct move to hit on.
>>>
>>>Yes, and that why I rephrased it to be a *correct* move rather than *the best*
>>>move, by *correct* I mean a move that isn't losing.
>>>
>>>
>>>>Second that I wasn't aware that his chances changed with
>>>>each move, so I don't think that the longer the game the worse his chances. Give
>>>>a 2800 player a dead equal dry game and I don't think he will suddenly be in
>>>>danger of losing just because it can take 40 moves to trade off the pieces and
>>>>pawns and play the endgame to the end. There is more to chess than probability.
>>>>
>>>>                                     Albert
>>>
>>>What I meant was, that at every move he has a 5% chance of _not choosing the
>>>correct move_, ie. he "blunders" by playing inaccurate.
>>>That is an average percentile taken out of the blue of cause, but the tablebase
>>>test could give us a hint whether we are talking 95% or 50%, it would allow us
>>>to calculate the rating of a perfect player, which was the goal I believe.
>>>
>>>-S.
>>
>>I was addressing two things: Dann's statement that against perfect play,
>>Kasparov (or any other 2800 player) would lose 1000 games in 1000. And your
>>statement that against perfect play in a game of say 60 moves he only had a 4.6%
>>chance of surviving. I think both statements are completely unreal and show
>>little understanding of certain realities of both chess and their ability. You
>>could also take a dead equal rook endgame where there is no chance for the
>>mighty player to calculate a line to the very end and I would still adamantly
>>state that his chances of losing are _zero_ and not some percentage that grows
>>exponentially with each move played.
>>
>>                                          Albert
>
>I agree

Well I don't, I don't see what there is to object to, I specificly said they
where estimates and averages.
Albert talks about a dead drawn endgame with rooks that is easy to hold, then
yes in _that case_ the factor goes to 1.00. But that is only one single case and
why would the perfect player choose to end up in such a position?

>The probabilities are not independent numbers.

True, I also never said that, I only said average.

>The probability can go down from 5% to 0% and can go up from 5% to 20%.

I agree, they most probably will, some endgames are dead draw and in some
tactical middelgame positions it is very easy to blunder, even for a super GM.

>The probability may be 95% to be right for every move but more than 0.95^n to be
>right in n moves when the events are not independent.

I'm not sure what you mean?

-S.

>Uri
>
>Uri



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