Author: Andreas Guettinger
Date: 05:21:01 11/11/02
Go up one level in this thread
I would think that engine moves are easier to predict than human moves. I don't have the statistics to support this, it is simply based on experience following engine-human matches. So what may be a good strategy for one must not be so for the other. Predict engine moves in 1/2 of all the cases might be possible, but for humans moves I would suspect that it is less than 1/4 of all the cases. So possibly: Strategy A) in engine tournaments. Strategy B) in human tournaments. Andreas On November 10, 2002 at 21:29:43, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On November 10, 2002 at 21:15:07, Jim Bumgardner wrote: > >>Which of these strategies for "think on opponent's time" makes more sense? >> >>A) To only search the top-move from the principle variation. If >>the opponent makes that move, continue searching, otherwise reset and >>search again. > >This is the _only_ way to do it. I've explained this many times, but it >is probably time to go it again... > >Suppose you predict your opponent's move correctly only 50% of the time. >And it should be pointed out that this is a _low_ estimate from thousands >of observed games (via log files). This means that 1/2 of the time, you will >predict correctly and when your opponent moves, you have an instant response >ready. 1/2 of the time you get to think for free. > >Suppose you choose to search the top three moves instead of just the first one. >When your opponent has moved, you have spent 1/3 of the total time on each move. >You save 1/3 of the time. And that is worse than saving 1/2. If you only >search the top 2 moves, you will save 1/2 of the time, _if_ the move played is >one of those two, but occasionally it won't. > >It is really simple to see why searching only the best move is the right >idea. I could think of a few cases where I might vary this, such as where >my target time is 3 minutes and my opponent searches for 12 minutes. Do I >want to search one move for 12 minutes, or do I want to take a chance and >use 1/2 of that time (say) to search for an alternative best move? Tough to >say, and although I have tried such ideas many times, I have always come back >to searching what I consider the best move only. And since 50% is a low >prediction percentage, searching one move actually is even better than the >above pessimistic analysis. > >> >>B) To search all possible moves the opponent might make. When the opponent >>moves, reset and search again (but faster, since the hash tables have been >>seeded). > >see above why this is not so good... > > >> >>C) Some other strategy? For example, to use A) only if the top move is >>'singular' (has a significantly better score). >> >>What strategy does your chess engine use? To date, I have been using "A", >>but I am beginning to think that "B" or "C" might be better. >> >>- Jim
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.