Author: Scott Gasch
Date: 12:52:32 04/29/02
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On April 29, 2002 at 14:01:23, Joe McCarro wrote: >If I were playing someone over the board and they seemed to give me a >possibility to play Bxa1 snatching the rook I would think long and hard before >doing that. I'd figure as long as this isn't a trap I will win the game. Let me >take my time to just make sure its not a trap. I wonder if this couldn't be >programmed in. Anytime the other player makes what on the surface appears to be >a blunder (e.g., drops over a pawn) the computer could spend extra time working >out the position before moving. If it ended up it was in fact just a blunder >presumably the computer should still be able to win despite the extra time spent >looking for the tactical shot. If it found it wan't a blunder the computer >might avoid taking the poison. Do the programmers do anything like this? Would >this in fact be helpful or would it have disadvantages as well? This idea could certainly be programmed. But there's a problem. Let's assume the engine is playing a blitz game and has allocated itself 10 seconds to think about a move. In 10 seconds it gets to depth d and realizes that the move it wants to make seems to "win". To get to depth d+1 will a long time, maybe 10 more seconds or so. To get to depth d+2 may take 10 + 20 more seconds (sometimes more). So my point is, to say "this position is important, I should think about it a bit more" is fine... but to think about it even just a little bit more may take a really long time. The question is whether its a good use of the engine's allotted time. Maybe. Personally, I do some tricks with time allocation but nothing as direct as the idea you suggest. I consider it just too expensive, especially at fast time controls. Scott
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