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Subject: Re: Mr.Hyatt, why cant you fix that?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 16:03:26 01/11/03

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On January 11, 2003 at 15:24:24, Kolss wrote:

>On January 11, 2003 at 14:01:28, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On January 11, 2003 at 12:46:35, Kolss wrote:
>>
>>>On January 11, 2003 at 11:14:10, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On January 11, 2003 at 07:43:24, Drexel,Michael wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>[D] 4nnk1/8/6b1/4BP2/2N1B1K1/8/8/8 b - - 0 1
>>>>>
>>>>>I just came over this endgame position with Crafty 19.01 as analysis engine in
>>>>>CB-GUI. Crafty suggested 1...Bxf5+ with a score of 0.01.
>>>>>1...Bf7 seems to be a simple draw.
>>>>>you probably told him 3 pieces against 2 pieces without pawns is draw, but I
>>>>>doubt this is a good idea in the endgame BBNK vs. NNK. You might be better
>>>>>informed but I would think this endgame is almost always a win and would even
>>>>>assume that it is almost always a win within 50 moves.
>>>>>If I were a tablebase-expert like you, I would fix it immediatly, whether it is
>>>>>important or not.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>In games against Fritz 8 Crafty will resign in not more than 8 moves:
>>>>>
>>>>>[Event "ATHLONXP"]
>>>>>[Site "ATHLONXP"]
>>>>>[Date "2003.01.5"]
>>>>>[Round "1"]
>>>>>[White "Fritz 8"]
>>>>>[Black "Crafty 19.01"]
>>>>>[Result "1-0"]
>>>>>[SetUp "1"]
>>>>>[FEN "4nnk1/8/6b1/4BP2/2N1B1K1/8/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
>>>>>[PlyCount "14"]
>>>>>
>>>>>1... Bxf5+ 2. Bxf5 Ng7 3. Be4 Nge6 4. Kf5 Kf7 5. Bd5 Ke7 6. Bd6+ Kd7 7. Ke5
>>>>>Ng6+ 8. Kf6 1-0
>>>>
>>>>First, Crafty well knows that KBB vs KN is a win.  But it isn't seeing that
>>>>here until way deep into the search.  In 99.999999999999% of these endgames
>>>>with 3 minors vs 2 minors, the game is a draw.  Handling that one special case
>>>>here and there is not going to make it play better, and would almost certainly
>>>>hurt it overall as it really should say KBBN vs KNN is a draw in almost all
>>>>cases.
>>>
>>>I do not agree. IMHO, the stronger side should win in most cases. Especially if
>>>you score all positions as 0.01, you will allow the opponent to make progress,
>>>drive your king into a corner and seperate the knights.
>>>
>>>Regards, Munjong.
>>
>>
>>Do not agree with what?  That king + 3 minors vs king + 2 minors is almost
>>always a draw?  or that KBBN vs KNN is mostly drawn?  I'd be willing to wager
>>that _most_ of the above positions are dead draws.
>
>Of course, I accept and respect your opinion in this regard. Nonetheless, allow
>me do differ:
>
>I suppose that most positions KBBN vs. KNN are won for the stronger side. In
>fact, I would not be surprised if in a couple of years, a properly working chess
>program which uses endgame databases (TB) announced forced checkmate for white
>after 1. ... Bxf5??.

I wouldn't disagree there, but I do not believe that "most" are winnable.  A
single piece is not enough.  IE KQ vs KQN is not going to be winnable.  KRB vs
KR is not winnable.  A single piece is generally not enough, except in rare
cases.  The two knights can cause real problems in trying to trade the white
knight for the black knight.  And I still suspect that most are going to be
drawn.


>
>I can probably agree that king + 3 minors vs. king + 2 minors is mostly a draw
>IF the stronger side is not up more than one minor in material, whereas the
>bishop is scored higher than the knight (B > N), such that 2B - N > B = highest
>value for minor. In fact, I believe that this is a pretty good rule for most
>pawnless endings. E.g. RB vs. R is very drawish, QB vs. Q or QN vs. Q are
>extremely drawish, RBB vs. RN offers good winning chances for the stronger side.
>
>This is of course only my own, subjective view of the matter.
>
>>Note that I don't score them as "drawn".  I score them as "side with most
>>material can't win" which is different...
>
>The end result is very similar. If you score all such positions with at most
>0.01 (actually, Crafty 19.01 always says 0.00 on my machine - please pardon me
>if I do not have the most recent version to check) for the stronger side, your
>program will most likely lose to any program which tries to make progress, even
>if yours outsearches the other program by 4 (number picked at random) plies.
>
>
>Regards, Munjong.


that probably needs looking at for some cases...



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