Author: William Penn
Date: 14:44:53 08/17/03
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On August 17, 2003 at 13:37:20, Peter Skinner wrote: >Since my last inquiry of the importance of tablebases I have run various engines >on FICS over the last month, playing over 1100 games. > >In very few instances using tablebases did not change the outcome of a game ie. >a loss into a draw, a loss into a won game. In almost 96% of the games, the >outcome was pretty much decided by the time the 5 man tablebases were used. > >On FICS of course the time controls were of a fast nature, usually 5 3 blitz, or >30 10 "standard" time controls. > >The engines that I used in the test were Ruffian 1.0.5, Crafty 19.03, Chess >Tiger 15.0, and Junior 8. > >Out of all of these, Crafty seemed to do the best whether it had the tablebases >or not. Ruffian scored slightly under Crafty. Chess Tiger and Junior had very >mixed results. > >Now while the tablebases due in fact let the chess program gain the instant >moves needed in a fast time, I have found that without the access, the engine >usually comes up with the same move in 96% of the time. It also allows the >program to move instantly when it is searching the tablebases, thus in a short >time control this can be of service. > >I have read many tests where others are doing the same as I am, and I have come >to the conclusion that while tablebases certainly _can_ be benefitial, they for >the most part are not 100% required. > >If anyone would like the games, I would be happy to email them. > >Peter. I believe you're correct. Statistically the tablebases don't add a lot to the strength as measured by Elo ratings, perhaps 50 Elo points or so (just guessing). Also the chess engines/GUIs slow down a lot when tablebase access is required because that's a physical process - accessing the hard drive. I've found that they can drop to 1/4th of normal speed, perhaps more, when doing a lot of tablebase access in simple endgames. Of course if you're researching an endgame, perhaps you'll want to give the engine(s) & tablebases a chance. WP [P.S. Is anyone else having a problem with this composition box on CCC? The last couple of times it is hiding part of my text as I type. Something's wrong with the word wrap. I've used the same computer for the last week with several prior posts, and didn't notice it, so it seems to have started in the last 1-2 days.]
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