Author: Bo Persson
Date: 09:40:03 11/26/02
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On November 26, 2002 at 00:36:39, Russell Reagan wrote: >On November 25, 2002 at 21:28:32, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>The concept of a "captures only" q-search is so flawed that tossing out a >>few extra captures, or keeping a few unnecessary captures is basically >>unimportant... There are so many positions where a capture is not the best >>move that to hope for much from the q-search is mostly wishful thinking... > >Exactly. Let's remember, q-search stands for "quiescence search", which means >"searching for a quite or peaceful position." So we're looking for a position >that is peaceful and unlikely to change drastically so we can evaluate it more >accurately. Or rather evaluate it at all! Naturally, you cannot trust your material evaluation in the middle of a capture sequence. :-) So, you have to play it out, or find a position where one side will pass. *Then* you can evaluate the material balance. Forking the queen is something you should do in the regular search. Extend on "forking potential" or something, and stay out of the qsearch! >Most of the "violent" captures (captures that will change the >score of the position drastically) are bad ones anyway, so as Bob says, a >capture only q-search has some pretty big holes in it. Yes, but... The idea is to figure out if the captures *are* bad. > >Instead of thinking "generate captures", think "generate forcing moves". >Captures, checks, some attacks...whatever forces the opponent or yourself to >have to do something (or suffer the consequences). But "generate captures" is easy, and will find a lot of moves that are known to change the evaluation drastically. These you *have* to try. The real killer might be a "silent" pawn move that opens up a diagonal for a piece that blocks the opponent king's only escape route... Don't look for that in the qsearch! Bo Person bop2@telia.com
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