Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: static evaluation: alpha-beta-Evaluation Functions

Author: Vincent Diepeveen

Date: 05:03:46 04/15/02

Go up one level in this thread


On April 15, 2002 at 08:02:40, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On April 15, 2002 at 02:22:07, Tony Werten wrote:
>
>>On April 14, 2002 at 16:24:44, Alessandro Damiani wrote:
>>
>>>On April 14, 2002 at 13:57:38, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>
>>>>On April 14, 2002 at 13:37:19, Alessandro Damiani wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Hi Vincent,
>>>>>
>>>>>You too much concentrated on the game Mawari. I think they choose Mawari to have
>>>>>a simple framework to experiment with. I guess a Mawari engine is far simpler
>>>>>than a Chess one. So, forget Mawari. :)
>>>>>
>>>>>You are right, alpha-beta evaluation functions are like lazy evaluation. But,
>>>>>the big difference is that an alpha-beta evaluation function is an algorithm
>>>>>that traverses a classification tree. I have in mind the picture of an ordered
>>>>>hierarchical structure of position features (a tree of features). At first sight
>>>>>it seemed to me like that (right, I didn't take the time to read the whole text
>>>>>:).
>>>>>
>>>>>We both agree on the bad effect of lazy evaluation on positional play, but an
>>>>>alpha-beta evaluation function seems to be different: the bounds on a feature's
>>>>>value range are not estimated.
>>>>>
>>>>>But maybe I am wrong.
>>>>
>>>>Yes you are wrong.
>>>>
>>>>Let them show pseudo code.
>>>>
>>>>Then you see what they describe is 100% the same and completely
>>>>not working.
>>>>
>>>>What they do is kind of:
>>>>
>>>> "we have a great new feature and we call it X"
>>>>
>>>>In reality they invented old feature F which was already proven
>>>>to be not working.
>>>>
>>>>So in fact 2 mistakes are made by them
>>>>  a) not checking out existing literature and experiments done
>>>>  b) committing scientific fraude by describing something
>>>>     existing.
>>>>
>>
>>Impressive. Here is the pseudo code for the skip-search heuristic.
>
>>function perfect_evaluation(p:position):value:int
>>begin
>>   for i:=1 to all_possible_features(p) do
>>   begin
>>      add(value,score_of(i);
>>   end;
>>   return(value);
>>end;
>>
>>( I have some pseudo-code for the meaning of life as well)
>>
>>Tony
>
>evaluating just one half of the evaluation, right or left (or in chess
>black or white) is already known for half a century. It is not possible
>in todays programs. If i evaluate half of the position i get
>for example for white a score of +50 pawns. For black -50 pawns.

I need to add that around 1999 or so we had this discussion in CCC too.

>So you see the problem is simple.
>
>Evaluating just a part of the evaluation has been tried from right
>to left to just doing rude scores or any other part of the evaluation.
>
>Giving it a new name and calling it 'features' instead of 'patterns'
>already says something how little computer game theory they know.
>
>>>
>>>I understand what you mean, but it is better if you first have got more
>>>information before you judge. Here is the pseudo code taken from the text:
>>>
>>>function static_evaluation(p: position;
>>>                           alpha, beta: real;
>>>                           k: evaluation node): real;
>>>begin
>>>  for i:= 1 to D do unknown[i]:= true;
>>>
>>>  while true do begin
>>>    if k.beta <= alpha then return alpha;
>>>    if k.alpha >= beta then return beta;
>>>    if leaf(k) then return k.alpha;
>>>
>>>    if unknown[k.feature] then begin
>>>      vector[k.feature]:= get_feature(p, k.feature);
>>>      unknown[k.feature]:= false
>>>    end;
>>>
>>>    if vector[k.feature] <= k.split_value then
>>>      k:= k.left
>>>    else
>>>      k:= k.right
>>>  end
>>>end
>>>
>>>where D is the number of features in a position.
>>>
>>>Here is the link where I took the text from:
>>>
>>>   http://satirist.org/learn-game/lists/papers.html
>>>
>>>Look for "Bootstrap learning of alpha-beta-evaluation functions (1993, 5
>>>pages)".
>>>
>>>Alessandro
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>On April 14, 2002 at 11:42:34, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On April 14, 2002 at 04:26:52, Alessandro Damiani wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Seems to me that these idiots never have figured out what already
>>>>>>has been tried in computerchess world.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Of course i'm not using their 'concept' which already exists
>>>>>>by the way. These guys are beginners everywhere of course.
>>>>>>Mawari, every idiot who programs for that game can get
>>>>>>world champ there of course, or pay levy to get a gold medal...
>>>>>>...if i may ask...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>What works for a 2000 rated chessprogram to experiment
>>>>>>with doesn't work for todays strong chessprograms simply.
>>>>>>Mawari programs when compared to chess programs are at 2000
>>>>>>level of course, relatively seen to how much time and
>>>>>>effort has been invested in mawari programs.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>If i read their abstract well then in fact they define a
>>>>>>'partial' evaluation, already known under the name
>>>>>>lazy evaluation using a quick evaluation.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>That's a complete nonsense approach. It's pretty much the same like
>>>>>>lazy evaluation based upon a quick evaluation, it's most likely
>>>>>>exactly the same, if not 100% similar.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>If i would describe here how much time i invested in making
>>>>>>a quick evaluation which evaluates some rude scores, and which
>>>>>>with some tuning when to use it and when to not use it, that
>>>>>>it always scores when used within 3 pawns in 99% of the positions,
>>>>>>then people would not get happy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I invested *loads* of time there in the past.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>More important, i generated big testcomparisions here to see
>>>>>>when the quick eval worked and when not. That's why i could
>>>>>>conclude it didn't work.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Even more unhappy i was when i tested with this concept. Disaster.
>>>>>>Yes it was faster concept, but here the amazing results
>>>>>>  - positional weaker
>>>>>>  - tactical weaker
>>>>>>
>>>>>>the first i wasn't amazed about of course, but the second i was.
>>>>>>i was pretty amazed to find out that these 1% of the evaluations
>>>>>>where the quick evaluation gave a score but evaluated it wrong,
>>>>>>really amazing that these evaluations cause a tactical way better
>>>>>>engine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Simply majority of tactical testset positions get solved by evaluation
>>>>>>and NOT by seeing a bit more tactics.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>In short it's not working simply to use a lazy evaluation in a program with
>>>>>>a good evaluation which also has high scores for things like king
>>>>>>safety.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Hi all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I am wondering if someone uses "alpha-beta-Evaluation Functions" by Alois P.
>>>>>>>Heinz and Christophe Hense. Below is the abstract of the text.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Alessandro
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Bootstrap Learning of alpha-beta-­Evaluation Functions
>>>>>>>Alois P. Heinz Christoph Hense
>>>>>>>Institut für Informatik, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
>>>>>>>heinz@informatik.uni­freiburg.de
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Abstract
>>>>>>>We propose alpha-beta-­evaluation functions that can be used
>>>>>>>in game­playing programs as a substitute for the traditional
>>>>>>>static evaluation functions without loss of functionality.
>>>>>>>The main advantage of an alpha-beta-­evaluation function is that
>>>>>>>it can be implemented with a much lower time complexity
>>>>>>>than the traditional counterpart and so provides a signifi­
>>>>>>>cant speedup for the evaluation of any game position which
>>>>>>>eventually results in better play. We describe an implemen­
>>>>>>>tation of the alpha-beta-evaluation function using a modification
>>>>>>>of the classical classification and regression trees and show
>>>>>>>that a typical call to this function involves the computation
>>>>>>>of only a small subset of all features that may be used to
>>>>>>>describe a game position. We show that an iterative boot­
>>>>>>>strap process can be used to learn alpha-beta-­evaluation functions
>>>>>>>efficiently and describe some of the experience we made
>>>>>>>with this new approach applied to a game called malawi.



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.