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Subject: Re: quiescence question

Author: John Coffey

Date: 16:08:53 10/29/98

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On October 28, 1998 at 08:58:05, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On October 27, 1998 at 01:35:31, James Robertson wrote:
>
>>On October 26, 1998 at 17:15:56, John Coffey wrote:
>>
>>>On October 26, 1998 at 02:10:37, vincent dichiacchio wrote:
>>>
>>>>my question is how programs deal with the possibility of a great non capture
>>>>move in the middle of a series of captures in a quiescence search.  if the
>>>>quiescence score ignores that non capture, the score is faulty at best.
>>>>vince
>>>
>>>
>>>How is Q search any different from extending captures out?  Could someone
>>>please define Q search for me?
>>>
>>>John Coffey
>>The q-search is just that; a minimax search that only evaluates capture moves
>>(maybe also pawn pushes or check evasions). This is a major simplification, as
>>there are several big differences from the normal minimax search.
>>I am still trying to think of how to explain them....... um...... er.....  can
>>someone like Bob or Ernst help here?
>>
>>James
>
>
>the two main differences between normal search and q-search:
>
>1.  in the q-search, we initialize alpha to Evaluate() which gives us the
>opportunity to either (a) make any move we want to or (b) stop the search at
>this point and take the static evaluation (this is the "stand pat" option).
>
>The point is that you might not have a good capture to make.  This lets you
>say "should I stop the captures here and accept the score/material balance on
>the board, or should I capture something here?"
>
>2.  in the q-search we generally exclude some moves.  IE in crafty I exclude
>all non-captures right up front.  Then I exclude captures that seem to lose
>material based on the SEE procedure.
>
>Other than those two things, they are similar.  No real need to do repetition
>checking in the qsearch if you only do captures, for example.  Perhaps a few
>other things like the 50-move rule also don't apply, depending on what you
>exclude...

Does Q-search come before or after the capture search?  I.e. do you do
a full search, and then extend that with a Q seach and then extend that will
a capture search?  Or are they the same?

John Coffey



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