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Subject: Re: Mate in 12(!) and the aesthetics of EGTBs

Author: John Merlino

Date: 18:56:48 08/10/02

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On August 10, 2002 at 21:53:49, John Merlino wrote:

>Here is a position from a game that Slater and I discussed in a different
>thread:
>
>[D]3R4/8/8/8/2K5/6p1/3p1rk1/8 b - - 0 78
>
>In that game, Black was obviously using EGTBs and played 78...d1=Q, leading to
>an EGTB mate in 22 moves (including the promotion). However, the more natural
>looking move, Kf1, leads to a mate in 14, as Chessmaster 9000 shows on a
>PIII-733:
>
>Time	Depth	Score	Positions	Moves
>0:00	1/5	-8.88	14450		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 g2 80.Rd4 g1=Q
>					81.Rxd2 Rxd2 82.Kxd2
>0:00	2/6	-9.00	26438		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 g2 80.Rxd2 Rxd2
>					81.Kxd2 g1=Q 82.Kd3 Qc5 83.Ke4 Ke2
>0:00	3/7	-9.00	74581		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 g2 80.Rxd2 Rxd2
>					81.Kxd2 g1=Q 82.Kd3 Qc5 83.Ke4 Ke2
>0:02	4/8	-11.19	264563		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
>					Re2 82.Rg8 d1=Q 83.Kc5 Kf1
>0:05	5/9	-13.17	520117		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
>					Re2 82.Rd8 g1=Q 83.Rxd2 Kxd2 84.Kd5
>0:15	6/10	-13.30	1610302		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
>					Re2 82.Rd8 g1=Q 83.Rd5 Qg4+ 84.Kc5
>					Qc8+ 85.Kb5 d1=Q 86.Rxd1+ Kxd1
>0:46	7/11	-13.35	4752680		78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
>					Re2 82.Rd8 g1=Q 83.Rd5 Qg4+ 84.Kc5
>					Qc8+ 85.Kb5 Qb7+ 86.Kc5 Qc7+ 87.Kb5
>					d1=Q 88.Rxd1+ Kxd1
>3:06	8/12	-15.25	19391217	78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
>					Kf1 82.Rd8 g1=Q 83.Rd4 Qg8+ 84.Kc5
>					Qg5+ 85.Kc4 Rf4 86.Kb3 Rxd4
>9:45	9/13	-Mate14	62576834	78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
>					Re2 82.Rd8 g1=Q 83.Rd6 Qg8+ 84.Kb4
>					Qb8+ 85.Kc4 Qc7+ 86.Kb5 Re5+ 87.Kb4
>					Qc5+ 88.Kb3 Re3+ 89.Rd3 Rxd3+ 90.Kb2
>					Qc1+ 91.Ka2 Ra3#
>
>Note that the first capture is 23 ply away, making it very difficult
>(impossible?) to find it via tablebases. Can anybody else find the mate faster?
>
>So, SPEAKING STRICTLY AESTHETICALLY, what do you think of EGTBs when used in
>game play? When we decided to implement them for Chessmaster 9000, our Producer
>(who was a class A player before he gave up taking the game "seriously") stated
>that he was, aesthetically speaking, strongly against them. He even went so far
>as to say that it was grossly unfair to use them in matches against humans, for
>obvious reasons. He also stated that something to the equivalent of "chess
>engines and opening books are an art form, but endgame databases are just plain
>boring -- and chess should be artistic and exciting". What say all of you?
>
>As for me, adding support for them was very useful in giving the user more ways
>to improve his/her game, and that meant much more to me (as a game designer)
>than just waiting for the game to get down to enough pieces for the EGTBs to
>kick in and quickly decide the game. But, then again, the first time I saw "mate
>in 35", I thought it was pretty cool.... :-)
>
>For reference, the other thread (with an interesting sacrifice) can be seen
>here:
>
>http://www.talkchess.com/forums/1/message.html?244901
>
>jm

Correction. As I was typing the above, I was leaving the analysis running, and
CM9000 just improved to Mate in 12, with the first capture 15 ply away:

23:47	10/14	-Mate12	159363014	78...Kf1 79.Kc3 Ke1 80.Kc4 g2 81.Re8+
					Re2 82.Rd8 g1=Q 83.Rd6 Qg8+ 84.Kb4
					Qb8+ 85.Kc5 Qxd6+ 86.Kxd6 d1=Q+
					87.Kc5 Rc2+ 88.Kb4 Qb1+ 89.Ka4 Ra2#

Makes little to no difference to the discussion, though....

jm



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