Author: John Timm
Date: 08:48:13 10/25/98
In general, when Fritz and Hiarcs are set to display any given number of
"best" moves, evaluations and variations, each program will, on average,
increase the length (depth) of the displayed variation with each increase in ply
search depth, but, on some occasions, not increase, or even decrease, the length
of one or more displayed variations when displaying the result of the latest
search. In other words, if, in a given position, a display shows a variation
six ply deep at a search depth of ten ply, the display at search depth eleven is
likely to show six or seven ply, but may show five (or even one!) ply.
I
don't know why this occurs, but a reasonable guess is that the programs tend to
stop the displayed analysis at a point where two (or more?) continuations result
in approximately the same (how close?) evaluations.
Is this interpretation
correct? If not, why do programs sometimes decrease the length of displayed
"best" variations at increased search depths? Does anyone know the actual
parameters that are used (for example, the analysis is stopped at a given point
if there are three or more continuations which evaluations within .10 of each
other)?
If my guess is correct then the
occasional "early" truncation of the analysis seems to be a useful feature. In
effect, the displayed analysis "reveals" a very human-like thought ("there are a
number of roughly equal continuations here, so I should try to evaluate
precisely this position rather than waste time for little gain by analysing
deeper").
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