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Subject: Re: The need to unmake move

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 12:14:47 09/04/03

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On September 04, 2003 at 11:20:45, Uri Blass wrote:

>On September 04, 2003 at 11:00:41, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On September 04, 2003 at 09:56:21, Anthony Cozzie wrote:
>>
>>>On September 03, 2003 at 13:59:40, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 03, 2003 at 13:51:34, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On September 03, 2003 at 13:48:21, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Mine is tunable.  I run about 100 positions and pick the minply value that
>>>>>>optimizes all 100 the best.  I just checked and I am using 3 at the moment.  I
>>>>>>have not tested this recently.  I think 3 was the optimal value for my quad >700.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I will probably test this again on my dual to be sure that I have already done
>>>>>>this correctly.
>>>>>
>>>>>You ignored my point, which is that saying that if you'll just split at 4 ply
>>>>>to alleviate that problem causes another problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>It's not 'free'
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>GCP
>>>>
>>>>I never said _anything_ is "free".  However "optimal" != "free" in this
>>>>case.  And since I have no choice, I go for optimal, whatever that is.  There
>>>>is a cost for splitting.  If that cost is high, you have to limit the number of
>>>>splits.  Also, for obvious reasons, move ordering near the root is _far_ better
>>>>than move ordering near the tips.  Splitting where ordering is better is
>>>>always a good idea.
>>>>
>>>>Note that I don't "just split at 4 ply" I split when there are >= N plies
>>>>remaining in the search, where N can be set.  I use 3 for the moment.  I have
>>>>run with 4 and 2 as well in the past, but for my program, my hardware, 3 was
>>>>best last time I tested.
>>>>
>>>>I have noted that hardware influences this.  On my P6/200 quad box, N=2 was
>>>>better.
>>>
>>>also note that Diep & Sjeng probably have better move ordering than crafty
>>
>>Based on what?  My fail high percentage on the first move is as high as
>>anybody's I have seen.  That is the critical measure.  How many times, when
>>you fail high, does it happen on the first branch as opposed to the second or
>>later?  The higher the percentage, the better.
>
>I think that this may be misleading comparison because it is also important if
>the second move fail high or the third move fail high.
>
>I can understand why slow searchers can have better move ordering.
>They can let themselves to calculate information for better move ordering when
>for you calculating the same information may be too expensive and the gain may
>be smaller than the time that you spend for the calculations.
>
>I express no opinion about comparison between Crafty and other programs but only
>explain a reason to believe that Crafty can get worse move ordering relative to
>slower searchers.
>
>Uri


The reason I asked the question is that it is to simple to just assume that
there is an explanation that _might_ be good enough to explain some sort of
behavior.  IE I don't claim my move ordering is better or worse than anyone.
But if I believe it is causing problems, I will certainly _measure_ that to
see if it is true, rather than saying that it might be the explanation.

In the world of parallel searching, "might be" is _never_ good enough if you
want to really produce good results...

You have to _know_ what is going on in your program, or you have no chance for
reasonable speedups.



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