Author: Mike S.
Date: 15:53:21 12/10/02
Maybe it should be called "The Mig Fortress" better, because it'S Mig's comprehensive analysis of game no. 6 of the Bahrain match which ends with this position: [D]8/5k1p/5q2/8/1R6/6P1/5P2/6K1 b - - 0 45 White's rook can go to f4 or h4, and "Black has no way through the fortress." http://www.chessbase.com/images2/2002/bahrain/games/mig6.htm (see after the last move on the bottom of the page) I think the fortress idea is something especially difficult for chess programs, because it's very "general", IOW not related to a special pattern or material balance. I wonder if an idea from the incomplete tbs. problem could be used to detect fortresses: With the pawn just before the promotion, but the tablebases for the resulting material missing, the idea was like: "If it's # in 14, but one move later *not* # in 13 or less, then there must be something wrong and I have to promote the pawn (even if the eval is less than mate then, at first)." The situation is somewhat similar in a fortress position, when one side has a more or less huge material advantage (which would normally be capable of winning), but can't make any significant progress for a long series of moves. Testing such a detection would probably require to have the engine actually play some f moves, so the engine could recognise that there is no progress... Although, with usual search depths of ~12 or more plies (+ extensions), maybe that is sufficient for the idea too. Are there engines known to have a fortress detection? Regards, M.Scheidl
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