Author: Johanes Suhardjo
Date: 09:28:24 10/10/98
Go up one level in this thread
On October 10, 1998 at 11:17:54, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>let me clear those up more. "no tricks" is a flag that turns off a dangerous
>piece of code in the eval that is used to handle the "trojan horse attack".
>But it also makes crafty paranoid about an open h-file with queens and rooks
>on the board. I view this as unsafe and only turn it on against players
>known to use the trojan horse (this is automatic in crafty, and uses the
>infamous "S" (special player) list. I generally have this "on" (no tricks
>on which means don't use the tricky eval stuff).
I hate the idea to have special code for special opponents. What if other
players adopt those special tricks? parrot had two "customers" on FICS that
beat it consistently (one of them was about 400 points below him!!). So I
wrote special code to handle their tricks. Worked like a charm, but since I
activated the code for everybody, it made parrot play weaker in general.
>the "draw score normal" should not be used vs a computer. What this
>does is say that drawscore=-.66 in the opening, -.33 in the middlegame
>and 0 in the endgame, but it is modified when the opponent is in time
>trouble. If this is "false" (0) then draw score is set to 0 and left
>there, which is the *only* way to play computers, unless I *know* I am
>much stronger than the opponent. This is dangerous, but helps against
>humans that are rated lower and just want to draw over and over. It
>fights like hell to avoid draws. :)
Yeah, recently I added that rule (after reading one of your CCC articles).
I needed it because there are several human opponents that took advantage
of their lower rating by moving pieces back and forth. Either the games
ended in a draw or parrot sacrificed pawns to avoid the draw and ended up
in a losing position. In any case, after I added that rule, parrot scores
better now against humans. It scores worse againts computers though. I
thought that was because other programs improved, but now maybe I have to
think again.
Please note that rating means nothing to me, but I need a guide of whether
my programming is going to the right direction. So I limit FICS rated games
to 200 points above and below parrot's rating. That seems to be more
reliable. No more much lower human opponents trying to get quick draws, no
more that dangerous one-trick-parrot-kiler. 8-)
Johanes Suhardjo (johanes@farida.cc.nd.edu)
--
Count your garden by flowers,
Never by the leaves that fall.
Count your days by golden hours,
Don't remember the clouds at all.
Count your nights by stars, not shadows,
Count your life with smiles, not tears,
And with joy on every birthday
Count your age by friends, not years.
Italian Philosopher
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