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Subject: Re: so what ?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 05:29:26 08/27/98

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On August 26, 1998 at 13:19:01, Thorsten Czub wrote:

>On August 26, 1998 at 12:31:13, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>Here I disagree.  I have versions of Crafty that won't touch Qxg7...  the ones
>>playing in Paris are good examples...  but they don't play that well either,
>>because they get over-concerned about king safety...
>>
>>My interest in such positions would be for programs that don't play Qg7 when
>>the attack on the g-file will work, but which do play it when the attack won't
>>work.  I'd bet that you can move a piece or two around, so that the g-file ends
>>up being useless, and these same programs will still avoid taking the pawn.  Now
>>for the *wrong* reasons...
>
>In CSTal e.g. part of the evaluation-functions are connected to other parts.
>It does not play a move BECAUSE THE G-FILE IS OPEN alone. The evaluation parts
>are connected with each other. There must be few more criteria to be
>fullfilled... and in this position THESE criteria are realized.
>
>1.The g-file is open
>2.white is developed weak
>3.black has bishop pair
>4.white has (after g3) a finachetto king-position without having a
>fianchetto-bishop, meanwhile BLACK has the bishop AND the queen !!
>5.both bishops x-ray on the king.
>6.the more pawns black would eat (f7/g7/h7), the more would this
>  HELP black. CSTal knows this.
>
>I am sure chris could tell you better how many of those criteria are fullfilled.
>It is not ONE alone.
>
>
>>So it isn't a breakthrough to not take such pawns, *unless* it is not taken for
>>the right reasons.
>
>How do you know that cstal is taking it for wrong reason ?! Do you want to see
>the main-line and evaluation of cstal win95 after Qxg7 to be sure ?!
>


I didn't mean to imply that CSTal avoids this move for the wrong reason.  My
point was that it is *very likely* that any program that avoids this move *is*
avoiding it for the wrong reasons, however.  IE it is easy to pick a single
position where something works well.  An example (for me) is win at chess
position 2.  I solve that instantly because I have specific code to evaluate
a pair of connected passed pawns on the 6th rank.  This code considers material,
how far away the king is, blockading, etc.  It took quite a while to get this
tuned to an acceptable level, where it worked in nearly all situations, rather
than just in one or two.

My question would be if we move a bishop, or add a pawn, so that one of the
bishops can *never* attack the king field, what happens?  IE if you find 10
such positions, and in 9 of then Qxg2 wins, while in only one Qxg2 loses,
what then?  I'd question the evaluation if it says that in most cases Qxg2
loses due to king safety.


>
>> Here, I bet that is not the case...  And I'm not saying the
>>reasons for not taking are all wrong...  but when such "intuition" is embedded
>>into a program, it often leads to problems...
>
>Ah. thats what we are working on. We are trying to implement complex evaluation
>terms that are related to each other. Like experience in the mind of a human.
>And these connections make sure not ONE reason will cause ONE reaction. Only if
>some reasons appear, cstal begins to sac or to increase tal or whatever.
>But not ONE g-file. I can show you many positions where cstal eats this pawn,
>because in those positions it is ok.
>In this position it is NOT ok.


that's the way it should work, of course...


>
>>  because for every case it is
>>wrong, another opponent will push you into such situations and let the error
>>lead to a loss...
>
>Zugzwang lost with such a stupid queen move in paderborn against tiger. I have
>quoted the game. Rainer Feldmann told me they have thrown out the queen-malus
>for early opening-takes-on b7/g7 pawns.
>So - at least for zugzwang a knowledge lack caused it...
>
>>If anyone is interested, we could take the position, and start subtly changing
>>it and see how the programs fare then...
>
>Ok. If you want i am ready.
>
>Please PGN (with FEN)... that i can easily test with fritz... :-))



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