Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Is this a correct fail-soft?

Author: Mikael Bäckman

Date: 06:15:06 09/21/03


Hi!

I have a problem with my search. I'm sick of debugging it, maybe you guys can
find the problem. :)

The below code is supposed to be a fail-soft, but when it fails high or low at
root, the score will always be on the window boundary.
If I disable hash and nullmove, the problem still exists. Even if I evaluate
with material only, the problem is the same. I don't use futility pruning, SEE,
etc.

For example, my logfile for :
[D]rnbq1rk1/ppppbppp/8/3pP3/3P2Q1/8/PPP2PPP/R1B1KBNR w KQ - 0 7

searching 1 [-10000, 10000]
  -1.09        1   0.0 Kd1 1/1
  -1.04       11   0.0 a3 1/3
  -0.99       12   0.0 a4 1/1
  -0.93       24   0.0 Qd1 1/1
  -0.76       36   0.0 Bd2 1/1
  -0.74       37   0.0 Be3 1/1
  -0.72       38   0.0 Bf4 1/1
  -0.67       44   0.0 Bh6 1/1
searching 2 [-100, -34]
  -0.73      165   0.0 Bh6 Bb4+ c3 2/8
searching 3 [-106, -40]
  -0.40       1k   0.0 Bh6! 3/13
searching 4 [-106, 10000]
   0.89       9k   0.1 Bh6 g5 Bxf8 Qxf8 4/13
searching 5 [56, 122]
   1.22      13k   0.1 Bh6! 5/13
searching 6 [56, 10000]
   1.49      37k   0.2 Bh6 Bf6 exf6 Qxf6 Bg5 Qd6 6/17
searching 7 [116, 182]
   1.82      83k   0.4 Bh6! 7/18


Same position with material evaluation only, hash and nullmove disabled:

searching 1 [-10000, 10000]
   0.00        1   0.0 Kd1 1/1
searching 2 [-33, 33]
   0.00       76   0.0 Kd1 Kh8 2/4
searching 3 [-33, 33]
   0.00      552   0.0 Kd1 Kh8 Ke1 3/6
   0.33       1k   0.0 Bh6! 3/10
searching 4 [-33, 10000]
   1.80       8k   0.0 Bh6 g6 Bxf8 Kxf8 4/12
searching 5 [147, 213]
   1.80      46k   0.1 Bh6 g6 Bxf8 Kxf8 Kd1 5/16
searching 6 [147, 213]
   1.80     234k   0.4 Bh6 g6 Bxf8 Kxf8 Kd1 d6 6/16
searching 7 [147, 213]
   1.80    1364k   2.4 Bh6 g6 Bxf8 Kxf8 Kd1 d6 Qg3 7/26


The fail high values are always on the window boundary. :(



After stripping the code of 'junk', here's what's left of it:


int evaluate(wtm)
{
	return wtm ? matscore : -matscore;
}

int qSearch(int wtm, int alpha, int beta)
{
	score = evaluate(wtm);
	if (score > alpha) {
		if (score >= beta) return score;
		alpha = score;
	}

	pLast = genAllCapMoves(wtm, pFirst);
	nLegal = 0;

	while (pMove = nextMove(pFirst, pLast)) {
		if (makeMove(wtm, pMove)) {
			nLegal++;
			score = -qSearch(wtm^1, -beta, -alpha);
			unmakeMove(pMove);
			if (score > alpha) {
				if (score >= beta) return score;
				alpha = score;
			}
		}
	}

	if (!nLegal) return score;
	return alpha;
}


int alphaBeta(int depth, int wtm, int alpha, int beta)
{
	if (depth < 1) return qSearch(wtm, alpha, beta);

	pLast = genAllMoves(wtm, pFirst);
	bestScore = -MATE;
	nLegal = 0;

	while (pMove = nextMove(pFirst, pLast)) {
		if (makeMove(wtm, pMove)) {
			score = -alphaBeta(depth - 1, wtm^1, -beta, -alpha);
			unmakeMove(pMove);
			if (score > bestScore) {
				bestScore = score;
				if (score > alpha) {
					if (score >= beta) return score;
					alpha = score;
				}
			}
			nLegal++;
		}
	}

	if (!nLegal) {
		if (isCheck()) bestScore += tree.ply;
		else bestScore = 0;
	}
	return bestScore;
}


Any help is greatly appriciated.


/Mikael



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.