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Subject: Re: Question about evaluation and branch factor

Author: Daniel Clausen

Date: 06:33:32 11/21/03

Go up one level in this thread


On November 21, 2003 at 09:19:25, Uri Blass wrote:

>On November 21, 2003 at 08:42:51, Anthony Cozzie wrote:
>
>>On November 20, 2003 at 13:18:55, Uri Blass wrote:
>>
>>>On November 20, 2003 at 12:47:41, Anthony Cozzie wrote:
>>>
>>>>On November 20, 2003 at 12:28:57, Marcus Prewarski wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>I've been completely rewriting the evaluation function of my engine
>>>>>DrunkenMaster (not a strong one) because I was tired of seeing it make some
>>>>>really ugly moves and I want to give it better knowledge of king safety and pins
>>>>>and better passed pawn evals.  When I watch it play 5 minute games against an
>>>>>earlier version it seems like the evaulation is better overall.  However it
>>>>>seems like these evaluation changes have made the branch factor a bit worse in
>>>>>several test postions I have.  And it performs worse in WAC test suites which
>>>>>seems to agree with my observations.  I would think that improving my evaluation
>>>>>function would improve the search branch factor if anything.  So my question is
>>>>>does this mean that my newer evaluation function is actually worse in most cases
>>>>>than my old one or could it be something else like my move ordering is bad to
>>>>>begin with?
>>>>>
>>>>> -Marcus
>>>>
>>>>More eval -> fewer '=' beta cutoffs.  Its just a fact of life :(  IIRC, Tim
>>>>Foden posted some numbers where material-only GLC outsearched normal GLC by ~4
>>>>ply.  Of course, it lost all its games.
>>>>
>>>>anthony
>>>
>>>I do not agree.
>>>
>>>Maybe if you compare only material with something more complex you are right but
>>>I see no reason for it to be the case with piece square table relative to more
>>>complex evaluation.
>>
>>that is because you didn't look.  Uri, it is annoying to have to explain myself
>>in full every post.  But just this once, I'm going to do your thinking for you.
>>
>>Suppose we are searching a PV node with 10 children to depth 1 with 2 programs,
>>A and B.  In program A, 4 of the children have duplicate evals, while 6 are
>>different, and in program B all of the children have different evals.  Let us
>>assume that the 'best move' is one of the 4 with duplicate evals (40% chance).
>>Program A will get 3 more beta cutoffs (move - eval - stand pat) whereas program
>>B will be trying more stuff in Q-search (maybe some checks, futility captures,
>>etc).
>>
>>Now, it is also clear that the more eval you have the less chance of getting
>>child two nodes that have the same value.
>
>
>I am not sure about it.
>
>If you always count in 1/100 pawns then even piece square table evaluation
>usually does not give the same value for 2 different nodes.
>
>If you add knowledge it does not mean reducing the chance to have different
>evaluation.
>
>For example if you have knowledge about drawn endgames then it increase the
>chance of having 2 0's.
>
>A stupid program without tablebases may evaluate KB vs K as different advantage
>for the side with the bishop that is dependent on piece square table when a
>better program that knows that it is drawn may evaluate it as draw so more
>knowledge increase the chance of having 2 nodes with the same value.
>
>There are positions that you cannot evaluate by tablebases and more knowledge
>about endgames should give a lot of 0.00 scores(for example KRPP vs KRPP when
>the pawns are on the same side of the board can be evaluated as a draw if some
>relevant conditions happen)
>
>The program with the knowledge should be able to search deeper because in the
>relevant positions it does not need to search because thanks to knowledge it can
>return 0.00(of course you need to be careful to include only position when it is
>a clear draw as 0.00)
>
>Uri

I can add that with a perfect eval, the possible scores are +1, 0 and -1, which
should increase chances again that moves from one node have the same score,
especially when there are more than 3 moves. ;)

Sargon



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