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Subject: Re: Ponder on/off

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 14:59:43 06/19/02

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On June 19, 2002 at 13:11:27, Peter Berger wrote:

>On June 19, 2002 at 13:03:13, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>b)  ponder=on can cause problems.  Most of the time both engines will compute
>>100% of the time.  And get 50% of the cpu.  But suppose one engine is not so
>>sophisticated and fails (on occasion) to have anything to "ponder"?  It will
>>sit idle, giving the other program 100% of the cpu and a 2:1 time advantage
>>for that search.
>>
>
>This is the _major_ problem with ponder=on matches on single CPU IMHO . There
>are several very strong engines that will have no ponder move quite regularly in
>critical phases of the game (after fail-highs for example) - this looks like a
>design decision. It looks like a rather principal problem for Ponder=On-matches
>on a single CPU to me.
>
>
>With time management and ponder=off - this looks like a lesser issue in
>comparison IMHO ( for example for Crafty it was tested by Volker Pittlik and the
>difference in strength wasn't measurable). This might be different for other
>engines though.
>
>Peter
>
>Peter


That is the problem.  Crafty _always_ has something to ponder until it reaches
a tablebase or forced mate.  I don't suffer from that problem but I do suffer
from poor time usage with ponder=off however...



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