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

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 00:11:41 10/18/02

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On October 18, 2002 at 00:00:17, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>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...

In the example that I give the hardware did 5 plies search
and not 1-2 ply search so I still do not see the problem.

It is possible that 5 plies is the maximal depth and
there were also cases
when the software asked the hardware to do 4 ply search
but not 1-2 ply search.

Uri



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