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Subject: Re: Hardware advantages

Author: Vincent Diepeveen

Date: 17:34:25 06/25/98

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On June 25, 1998 at 13:31:30, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>
>On June 25, 1998 at 12:15:09, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>I pointed out to Vincent last week here that he was not doing well playing
>>against Crafty.  He pointed out (factually, by the way) that Crafty has a
>>hardware advantage with the 4 processor ALR.  But he's going to have to take
>>a stand on one side of the fence or the other.  Either speed is important, and
>>his note about me having faster hardware does explain why crafty wins most of
>>the games played on ICC, or speed is not important and doesn't explain crafty's
>>win/lose ratio vs the various DiepX programs on ICC.
>
>This is a fascinating point.

>Some people might argue that speed doesn't matter, but I've yet to see one of
>them show up at a WMCCC on a crusty old 486 because they don't think it's worth
>the bother of copying their software to a faster machine.

>I'll take faster hardware any time, on ICC it's like a shot of adrenaline.  I
>get the idea that it matters less as the time controls slow down, but my
>experience is based upon pretty small hardware advantages.

>bruce

Relax, hardware doesn't matter that much anymore when getting 11/12 ply.
At icc however diep searches between 6 ply and 8 ply, then
hardware simply kills. Especially for a program which hasn't been adjusted
to blitz (meaning that at low depths its preferences are a little odd sometimes,
as parameters aren't adjusted at all).

6 ply simply means 3 moves. Then there is this selectivity thing of mine
which takes care that at 6 ply it still misses some simple things in order
to get that huge depth.

So if you give Diep's selective 12 ply search in opening/middlegame
Bob, or bruce, then i give you 14 ply fullwidth for free. S.E. you get for
free too.

Most human plans are btw around 6 moves, so this also indicates that
with 12 ply the search is not the problem anymore. Things like evaluation
become way way more important at those depths.

Of course there ARE things you miss with a 12 ply search which you DO
find with 14 ply search. No doubt that 14 ply is more relaxed than 12,
but it is so rare that a deeper search brings new tactics.

Greetings,
Vincent




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