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Subject: Re: A Tough Endgame For Computers!

Author: Terry McCracken

Date: 23:02:24 04/07/02

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On April 07, 2002 at 23:59:14, Terry McCracken wrote:

>On April 07, 2002 at 17:51:40, martin fierz wrote:
>
>>On April 07, 2002 at 17:22:03, Dieter Buerssner wrote:
>>
>>>On April 07, 2002 at 15:48:22, Terry McCracken wrote:
>>>
>>>>Here's an Endgame that should make _all_ chess engines really work!
>>>
>>>[3n2k1/p2P2p1/1p6/7Q/5q1P/8/PP6/1K6 w - -]
>>>
>>>
>>>>Fritz 7 sees the draw but doesn't understand the loss after 1.Qe8+..Qf8??
>>>>
>>>>Played by Mieses-NN 1903. Mieses won after Qf8??, I'll give the main line.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>1.Qe8+ Qf8 2.h5 Nf7 3.Kc2 Nd8 4.Kc3 Nf7 5.a4 Nd8 6.Kc4 Nf7 7.Kd5 Nd8 8.b4 Nf7
>>>>9.Kc6 Nd8+ 10.Kc7 Line
>>>
>>>Which would be the winning line after 2...b5. My engine unfortunately fails to
>>>see it ...
>>>
>>>You give Qf8 a "??". Should it be really obvious, that tis is a bad move?
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Dieter
>>
>>hi dieter,
>>
>>yes, it is obvious that this is a bad move. the point is something which
>>computers are worst at, an "eternal bind". after 1. ...Qf8 2.h5, no black piece
>>can move any more: if the king moves, black loses the queen, the queen cannot
>>move, because it's illegal, and so the only thing to do is to shuffle the knight
>>back and forth, because if you move it away, you lose to d8Q. so all you have to
>>see is that after 2.h5 black can only move the knight, and white can move the
>>king right down to c7. ...g6 at any time is met by h6-h7-h8 winning. for a
>>human, this is really easy - we recognize the fact that black is reduced to
>>shuffling and can ask ourselves: where would i like my king to be - i don't have
>>to calculate anything! a computer would have to see through the whole line until
>>the knight is lost. which is quite deep...
>>this type of bind is causing me headaches in my checkers program, and it is a
>>very general class of positions where chess programs are weak at too.
>>
>>aloha
>>  martin
>
>You described it best Martin, with "Eternal Bind", and your quite correct this
>position is fairly easy for experienced players, not computers and a true
>"Nightmare" for chess programmers!
>
>It would be interesting how Deeper Blue would have tackled this position! It may
>have been able to search far enough.
>
>
>As for your checker programme maybe http://games.cs.ualberta.ca/~chinook/book/
>could help?
>
>I have a friend near Ottawa, Martin Devenport who knows Jonathan Schaeffer, and
>have been friends since 1971. Both are chessmasters as well. However I don't
>know Jonathan Schaeffer.
>
>Maybe when I catch Martin online if I remember...I'll ask him about Jonathan and
>Chinook, maybe he can ask him about specific programming techniques, that could
>help you.
>
>I can't promise anything, but I'll ask anyways. If I remember?:o)
>
>Regards,
> Terry

Opps! I just checked your website and you're very familar with Jonathan's
work!:)



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