Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 09:15:47 11/17/02
The best way for a human to evaluate a tactical position is, presumably, to look at lines (beginning with forced move sequences) emanating from that position. But I wonder . . . Is it possible to just look for "indicators" in the position which would indicate the likelihood of a combination being present? I have read some writings of GMs in hardcopy chess books about this. They seem to suggest that positions containing combinations "smell" like a combination. In other words, the GM is alerted to the possibility of a combination even though he has not yet found it. Assume, for the sake of discussion, that this is true. i.e. that it is POSSIBLE to detect the likely presence of a combination, without looking at any move sequences. It would be sufficient if it worked most of the time. If true, then it might be possible to use this to improve evaluation of positions, especially leaf node positions. Maybe it would take a GM to specify what the chess engine's position evaluator would have to look for. But is it doable? Better yet, do the present-day top chess engines already do this during position evaluation? At least to some extent? Just a thought. Bob D.
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