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Subject: Re: what do you update during null move

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 13:49:47 09/03/03

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On September 03, 2003 at 16:17:37, Rafael Andrist wrote:

>On September 03, 2003 at 03:26:59, Uri Blass wrote:
>
>>It is something that I need to fix but before fixing it I prefer
>>to read what other people do.
>>
>>Today I update
>>1)the side to move
>>2)the ep array(I have instead of one global varaible an array of 3 numbers that
>>gives me the en passant possibilities(square of the pawn that can capture and
>>squares that it can capture) and maybe it is better if I compress it to one
>>varaible and replace ep[0],ep[1],ep[2] by defines)
>>
>>I am also not sure if all my global varaibles is a good idea and it may be
>>better to save the ep information only in the history information.
>
>I have all position related information in a struct, this includes some attack
>tables, ep information and hashkey. The code is then much easier to read and to
>modify.
>
>
>>3)A global varaible that is the zobrist key(maybe I should get rid of it and
>>read the zobrist key from the history information something that is possible
>>only after I change my makenull move)
>>
>>4)The arrays that are search dependent(for example the array that gives me
>>information about the evaluation of every ply).
>>
>>I do not include these arrays in a struct and maybe I should do it.
>
>I would not include the search dependent variables in the struct for the
>position.
>
>
>>I do not update
>>1)The fifty global varaible that tells me the number of plies
>>from the last conversion and I am not sure how to update it after null move and
>>if to reset it to 0 or to increase fifty by 1.
>
>You should increase it just like you would do it after a normal move. In this
>context you can look at the Nullmove as a move which is useless, but legal. And
>it brings you one ply closer to the draw.
>
>>2)The history ply and all the arrays in the struct that are dependent on it.
>
>That depends on how you organised your data structure. I use this history
>information only for repetition checks and for updating the PV. For me it does
>not matter if I increase the history ply or not.

If you use it for repeptition detection then it should matter.


 If you have an array of
>positions/hashkeys for repetion check and if you increase the counter without
>storing the root of the Nullmove subtree, you end up with an undefined entry
>which may cause problems.

practically I have an array and I compare the hash key of the position with the
hash key of the position 2,4,6,8,...plies earlier to find repetitions when I
need to do it based on the number of plies from the last conversion.

null move is not considered as move so when I go 2 plies backward and null move
is in the middle the side to move is changed so the result of the comparison is
that there is no repetition.


 I do not store this info and so I don't have to
>increase my history ply.

How can you check for repetition without storing the information.
>
>>3)The zobrist array that is history dependent and is used only for checking
>>repetition.
>
>Do you have two different hashkeys, one for the table and one for repetition
>checking?

No

The hash key is the same hash key but I remember it as a global varaible and
also in the array after making normal moves(I should remember it in the array
also after making null moves but I forgot about it when I implemented hash
tables(If I remember correctly hash was implemented after null move).

Uri



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