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Subject: Re: Space, Time, Pawn Structure, Material & Initiative

Author: Bob Durrett

Date: 08:46:33 12/08/02

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On December 08, 2002 at 11:28:09, Uri Blass wrote:

>On December 08, 2002 at 08:34:16, Bob Durrett wrote:
>
>>
>>I am interested in knowing whether or not modern chess engines recognize
>>advantages of these types.
>>
>>(1) If the White side has a substantial space advantage, but nothing else, will
>>the chess engine evaluate the positions with that advantage and give it a high
>>score?
>>
>>(2) If the White side has a substantial time (or development) advantage, but
>>nothing else, will the chess engine evaluate the positions with that advantage
>>and give it a high score?
>>
>>(3) If the White side has a substantial pawn structure advantage, but nothing
>>else, will the chess engine evaluate the positions with that advantage and give
>>it a high score?
>>
>>(4) If the White side has a substantial material advantage, but nothing else,
>>will the chess engine evaluate the positions with that advantage and give it a
>>high score?
>>
>>(5) If the White side has a substantial initiative advantage, but nothing else,
>>will the chess engine evaluate the positions with that advantage and give it a
>>high score?
>>
>>Bob D.
>
>You ask a lot of questions but you do not give positions to demonsrate what you
>mean.
>
>It may be better if for every question you give a position so people can check
>how programs do.

Yes, that's a good suggestion.  I will try to do that in the future.  There are
many examples I can find in the chess literature.  It is simply a matter of time
to dig them out and post them here.

There is one potential problem with doing that, however.  As a chess amateur, I
may do a poor job of selecting a suitable example.  If the position I select has
a simple tactical solution, then everybody will show how their engines produced
that tactical solution quickly.  That would be a complete waste of everybody's
time.

>things like initiative advantage are too abstract and maybe position when this
>is the only advantage may explain better what you mean and what is the
>difference between it and space or developement advantage.

I am sorry, but since you have excelled in chess in the past, I naturally
assumed you knew the differences between these things.

How could someone create a good chess engine otherwise?

>I do not think that there is a known definition for all the term(a good
>definition means that you have an algorithm to calculate if one side has the
>advantage

My one resource is the chess literature.  Unfortunately, the "algorithms"
discussed there are for implementation in human brains.  That which makes sense
as an "algorithm" for the human brain [viewed as a non-sequential computer] may
be totally inappropriate for sequential machines such as PCs.

>(material or pawn structure are simple to calculate but
>I have no idea what exactly you mean in the other things).
>
>Uri



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