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Subject: Re: TB's & Castling (Opps, I did post the wrong FEN)

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 11:54:10 03/07/02

Go up one level in this thread


On March 07, 2002 at 13:42:33, Slater Wold wrote:

>On March 07, 2002 at 10:40:19, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On March 07, 2002 at 08:30:02, Slater Wold wrote:
>>
>>>On March 07, 2002 at 03:43:00, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>
>>>>On March 07, 2002 at 00:42:56, Slater Wold wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On March 06, 2002 at 23:40:28, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On March 06, 2002 at 22:49:38, Slater Wold wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On March 06, 2002 at 22:27:17, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On March 06, 2002 at 19:18:16, Slater Wold wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Hyatt said in an earlier post that TB's don't take into account the ability to
>>>>>>>>>castle because it would be a waste.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>However, when I feed this position into any engine, it solves it in 0.00 as a TB
>>>>>>>>>win.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>[D]5Q1Q/5Q1Q/5Q1Q/5Q1Q/8/6P1/6k1/4KR1R w K -
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Your FEN is wrong and we need to imagine that all the white queens that you
>>>>>>>>copied from dann corbit's post are missing.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>You're right.  But obviously this is not the position I am talking about,
>>>>>>>because I don't have the 13 man TB's.  :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>It shows 20 possible moves, all from TB's I am guessing.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I cannot cut and paste the eval, because there isn't one, but I have:
>>>>>>>><snipped>
>>>>>>>>>1.+ - (#4) Rf4
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>This is not correct and the program that you use has bugs.
>>>>>>>>It should not call tablebases in a position that is not in the
>>>>>>>>tablebases(castling is legal)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> >_Several_ of these moves take castling into accout.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>After Rf4 Kxg3 my TB's show 28 moves.  The first move is 1. + - (#2) O-O, the
>>>>>>>>>last is 28. + - (#15) Rh8.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I am 100% sure TB's do indeed take castling into consideration.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>No
>>>>>>>>You do not understand how tablebases work.
>>>>>>>>There are no moves in tablebases.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>The engine generates all the legal moves and looks in the tablebases after these
>>>>>>>>moves to see distance to mate.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Um, well, according to Hyatt, it would tell the TB "o-o" and it wouldn't return
>>>>>>>anything.  I am very well aware how TB's work.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Not quite.  First I _never_ said anything like that.  With EGTB's you don't
>>>>>>give them a move, and get back a score, you give them a _position_ and you get
>>>>>>back a score.  And the score says "mate in N from the given position,
>>>>>>assuming castling is impossible."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>If castling is legal then the engine looks at the tablebases to see the distance
>>>>>>>>to mate after castling in order to see the mate in 2 score.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>According to Hyatt, no it doesn't.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You are greatly twisting things around.  Re-read what Uri wrote...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>"if castling is legal then the engine only checks the TB _after_ castling
>>>>>>has been done."  Because after castling has been done, it can't be done again
>>>>>>and the resulting EGTB score will be correct.  Prior to castling, the score
>>>>>>will be wrong because castling is possible but the EGTB scores don't include
>>>>>>castling.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Uri
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>The correct position is:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>[D]8/8/8/8/8/6P1/6k1/4KR1R w K -
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Sorry.
>>>>>
>>>>>I am not trying to "twist" anything around.  You said TB's don't take into
>>>>>account castling.  Ok, fine.  I believe you.  I open a chess engine, and it's
>>>>>returning o-o as a TB move.  NO EVAL NEEDED.  I am asking a simple question.
>>>>>Why?!  How is an engine returning a mate, without TB's, without an eval?
>>>>>
>>>>>If it's a stupid question, I apologize.  I just don't understand, obviously.
>>>>
>>>>Very simple answer
>>>>
>>>>0-0 is not a tablebase move because the tablebases have no moves but
>>>>only positions and evaluations.
>>>>
>>>>The position after 0-0 is a tablebase position.
>>>>The engine tries every legal move and look at the tablebases
>>>>to get a score for the position after the move.
>>>>
>>>>I can add that the way the engine is using tablebases is wrong
>>>>and it can cause mistakes
>>>>on positions when the only win is based on the idea to castle in the second move
>>>>and not in the first move.
>>>>
>>>>In this case the engine may return draw score for every move because it is going
>>>>to look at the tablebases that are based on the assumption that
>>>>castling is illegal in the future.
>>>>
>>>>It is of course not important for practical games because castling is not
>>>>allowed in practical games so I understand programmers who choose not to fix the
>>>>problem.
>>>>
>>>>Uri
>>>
>>>Thanks Uri.  But I am still not convinced.
>>>
>>>When I put this position into a CB engine, I can monitor CPU usage, and I know,
>>>it _never_ uses the CPU.  o-o doesn't not have an eval.
>>>
>>>Last time I checked, when an engine "evaluates" a problem, it gives an eval.  It
>>>also usually uses some CPU time.
>>
>>Evaluating a single position takes what?  a millisecond?  You think you
>>could see that on the CPU meter?  If the position at the root of the tree
>>(the position after o-o) is a tb position, the computer makes every possible
>>move, one at a time, and then probes the TB.  It chooses the move that has the
>>best possible TB score.  It is _definitely_ doing some work.  But the work is
>>a few milliseconds at most, a few microseconds at best.  You can't see that on
>>a "cpu meter"...
>
>
>Windows 2000 Advanced Server will "meter" CPU time in microseconds.  And that is
>system based, or program based.
>
>K.  Thanks.
>



Then you should _never_ see "no cpu usage".  It takes cpu time to simply
parse the input move you type...




>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>Not so in either case here.  I am not sure what's going on.  But thanks for
>>>trying to explain.  :)



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