Author: Mike S.
Date: 01:22:06 06/30/02
Go up one level in this thread
On June 30, 2002 at 01:11:01, Roger D Davis wrote: >As is well known, Fritz and some of the other programs often play ugly looking >moves in comparison to Hiarcs and other "knowledge-based" programs. Yet, Fritz >is at the top of the SSDF. My question: Do these moves look ugly simply because >human beings come to the game with a set of heuristic principles, which suits >our neural networking hardware? Do human beings attempt to "overimpose" order >and/or symmetry on the game, simply because of our own cognitive limitations? Sounds reasonable. Also, sometimes a move will be called "ugly" just because it's unusual. I see no conection between the strength of a move, and such an aesthetic judgement. This depends very much on personal taste, too. Another thing are the "typical computer moves" (not necessarily ugly, but unsually very surprising). An example: Nimzo35 P90 - Kallisto183 486/50 [C40] SSDF / Bertil Eklund, 1997 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Nxg6 Nf6 6.Qh3 Nd4 7.Nxh8 Nxc2+ 8.Kd1 Nxa1 9.e5 Bg7 10.exf6 Qxf6 11.Nc3 Bxh8 12.Nd5 Qe5 13.Bc4 c6 14.Qh5+ Kd8 15.Qh4+ Ke8 [D]r1b1k2b/pp1p3p/2p5/3Nqp2/2B4Q/8/PP1P1PPP/n1BK3R w q - 0 16 16.Nc7+!! A typical computer move. 16...Qxc7 17.Qh5+ Kd8 18.Qg5+ Ke8 19.Qg8+ Ke7 20.Qf7+ Kd6 21.Qf8+ Ke5 22.Qe7+ Kd4 23.d3 Nc2 24.Be3+ Nxe3+ 25.Qxe3# 1-0 >Maybe so, because Fritz is clearly comeing up with 2600-2700 rated moves, >on the average. Are these ugly moves also rated 2600-2700? Moves themselves aren't elo-rated, but since they are a part of the program's play and success, I'd say yes. >Do these moves point to >holes in human cognition that will eventually allow computers to eclipse human >beings in strength? Obviusly very "unusual" moves are easier to miss by a human. OTOH, any combination will start with an unusual move, by definition. So I think the problem isn't too big. But it may partially explain why computers are so strong in blitz, when the human must rely more on known patterns. I think, especially under blitz conditions typical and/or ugly computer moves have an anti-human effect (i.e. force you to calculate much more than the "beautiful" move...). Regards, M.Scheidl
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