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Subject: Re: Q&A with Feng-Hsiung Hsu

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 21:00:17 10/17/02

Go up one level in this thread


On October 17, 2002 at 20:50:55, Uri Blass wrote:

>On October 17, 2002 at 18:21:06, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On October 17, 2002 at 11:34:35, Uri Blass wrote:
>>
>>>On October 17, 2002 at 10:41:20, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On October 17, 2002 at 06:13:26, Johan Melin wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On October 16, 2002 at 23:35:10, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On October 15, 2002 at 14:01:35, Johan Melin wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On October 14, 2002 at 07:34:16, Bas Hamstra wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Bob, did you read the Hsu transcript posted here? It is pretty clear to me that
>>>>>>>>Hsu himself says 12 ply fullwidth *total*. Case closed. Please read the complete
>>>>>>>>transcript.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Best regards,
>>>>>>>>Bas.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I agree. The transcript with Hsu is clear. But it would be out of character for
>>>>>>>CCC if everybody just agreed with each other, there still has to be a fight ...
>>>>>>>;)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>/Johan Melin
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Here is the relevant part of the transcript:
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>There are other relevant parts? How about:
>>>>>
>>>>>----------------------------------
>>>>>EeEk(* DM) kibitzes: kib question from ardee: Does "12(6)" mean 12
>>>>>total ply or 12+6=18 total ply?  This has the been source of huge
>>>>>arguments for years!
>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: 12 total in terms of brute force. 6 is just
>>>>>the max partition in hardware.
>>>>>----------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>He sais 12 _total_. He also refers to 6 as "just", implying that it is less
>>>>>important than the 12.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>No he clearly did _not_ say "12 total".  He said "12 plies of brute force".  He
>>>>also
>>>>said elsewhere that the _hardware_ does forward pruning.  So "12 plies of brute
>>>>force"
>>>>implies that is non-hardware...
>>>
>>>It is not clear from it.
>>>
>>>suppose the hardware never pruned in the first 3 plies in the hardware when the
>>>hardware get depth 6.
>>
>>I don't disagree, although I know how the hardware was implemented, and it isn't
>>nearly
>>so clean to try to be asymmetric based on search depth.  This is basically a
>>finite state machine
>>and it makes far more sense for everything to be done the same way, from ply 1
>>to ply N,
>>inside the hardware...
>>
>>
>>>Suppose also that the software sent the hardware only lines of at least 9 moves.
>>>You can have 12 plies of brute force when 6 is the maximal depth in the
>>>hardware.
>>
>>Sure.  That is why the question needs to be posed properly rather than the vague
>>questions
>>that were asked the last time...
>>
>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>If somebody tells you that "the storage capacity of this harddrive is 20 GB, 5
>>>>>GB is just the linux partition", then what is the storage capacity? 25 GB?
>>>>
>>>>No.  But nobody has said that.  they have said "20 gigabytes of space".
>>>>The hardware has 5 gigabytes of buffer."  Does the thing have 20 gigs or
>>>>25 gigs _now_???  From a speed perspective, it matters how that is done.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>----------------------------------
>>>>>EeEk(* DM) kibitzes: question from parabola444:  You mentioned Deep
>>>>>Blue searched about 12 plies brute force + extensions, which is
>>>>>similar to what pc programs these days get on a fast pc - since Deep
>>>>>Blue hardware was much faster, how come it didn't search significantly
>>>>>deeper ?
>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: to all the book readers, if you do like the
>>>>>book, please tell your friends would might be interested. thanks.
>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: replace would with who:).
>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: we were using fairly extensive search
>>>>>extensions, and the decision not to use null move pruning was an
>>>>>deliberate one.
>>>>>----------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>The interesting part here is not just what he says, but what he doesn't say. If
>>>>>they search 18 plies nominal, he would have said so. Why would he hold back such
>>>>>a statement? He indirectly agrees to searching only 12 plies.
>>>>
>>>>Again, Hsu tries to answer what he is asked, as briefly as possible.  The
>>>>hardware does
>>>>forward pruning.  They have _always_ given the "software depth" when they
>>>>discuss
>>>>this kind of number.  Whether he still is is up for debate, but I doubt he would
>>>>suddenly
>>>>change his terminology after using it for 15 years...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: 12(6) means 12 plies of brute force (not
>>>>>>counting the search extensions & quiescence).
>>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: 6 means the maximum hardware search depth
>>>>>>allowed.
>>>>>>CrazyBird(DM) kibitzes: this means that the PV could be up to 6 plies
>>>>>>deeper before quiescence.
>>>>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>Note that in the first line he states "not counting ..." but does not mention
>>>>>any extra plies from hardware. Wouldn't 6 plies be more significant than
>>>>>quiescence? So why doesn't he mention that it isn't included in the 12 plies?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>What about the last sentence.  It seems to say exactly what you say is missing.
>>>>
>>>>"up to 6 plies deeper".
>>>
>>>up to 6 plies deeper relative to the logfile.
>>>I do not know if they did extensions in the hardware but even if I assume that
>>>they did ply can include also extensions.
>>>
>>>When people says that the program search 6 plies it includes extensions so it is
>>>possible that when 6 plies are missing it includes extensions.
>>
>>But "up to 6" then means "no more than 6 plies of extensions."  I _know_ that
>>they
>>allowed two plies of extensions for every 2 plies of search, which means that a
>>2
>>ply search could go to 40+ plies if needed...
>>
>>The "up to 6" doesn't fit there at all...
>
>
>My guess is that Hsu meant that the pv could be 6 plies deeper before quiescence
>and extensions but forgot to say the word extensions
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>OK, some questions:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>1.  If 12(6) means 12 plies total, with 6 done in hardware, how do you reconcile
>>>>>>that
>>>>>>_last_ sentence above (the PV could be up to 6 plies _deeper_ before
>>>>>>quiescence).
>>>>>>Deeper than what?  Only possible answer is deeper than 12 plies.
>>>>>
>>>>>He is talking about the PV. Their hardware return a score, but no PV. So
>>>>>sometimes they didn't get a complete PV, and say "the pv COULD BE UP TO ...".
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>That makes no sense.  They don't limit the 12 ply search to 6 plies of
>>>>extensions
>>>>total.    So he is not talking about search extensions.   Saying "the PV could
>>>>be up
>>>>to 6 plies deeper" is _obviously_ not a reference to the missing pv from the
>>>>hardware
>>>>for many reasons.  First, if the hardware is searching 6 plies, the PV would not
>>>>be
>>>>"up to 6 plies more" it would be "at _least_ 6 plies more because of the
>>>>hardware search
>>>>extensions + qsearch".
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>2.  If 12(6) means 12 plies total, with 6 in hardware, what does 4(5) mean?  4
>>>>>>plies total
>>>>>
>>>>>Uri Blass suggests aggresive extensions that increase the remaining depth.
>>>>
>>>>Again, that makes no sense in this context.  It would _instantly_ have to resort
>>>>to a
>>>>hardware-chip only search if the above means 4 plies brute force, 5 plies of
>>>>that done
>>>>by hardware.
>>>
>>>I do not see the problem.
>>>
>>>It is possible that deeper blue extended 4 plies for the first 3 plies so the
>>>first 3 plies were done in the software and the last 5 plies were done in the
>>>hardware.
>>
>>Then vincent's 4(5) can't possibly be right either.  Hsu _clearly_ said 4 means
>>4
>>plies of "brute-force" search.  Whatever the hardware does, it does at _every_
>>ply,
>>so the 4(5) explanation you are proposing just doesn't fit...
>
>I do not try to defend vincent explanation but to explain how it is possible to
>get 4 plies by normal definition when 5 is the maximal depth of the hardware.
>
>Suppose that the software searches in some line 3 plies and the remaining depth
>after the 3 plies is 5 thanks to extension.
>
>It means that the normal depth of the search was 4 and the maximal depth of the
>hardware was 5.
>
>Uri

We know some specifics.  We know that the hardware didn't do 1-2 ply searches.
It couldn't
because it finished so quickly the SP2 couldn't keep up.  Therefore, this still
doesn't work...



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