Author: Daniel Clausen
Date: 02:03:24 12/01/03
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On December 01, 2003 at 03:23:06, Roberto Nerici wrote: >Apologies for the off topic post :-) :) >I'm implementing some basic time handling code at the moment. I've found a few >bits on how to decide how long to think, some in threads here, some in some >books I've got. Something I haven't seen is how/whether to modify the allocated >time based on the number of moves available to choose from. > >It's obvious that if you only have one valid move you can make you just make >that move instantly. I've got my engine to handle that. However, what if there >are two moves to choose between? In a mid-game position where perhaps there is a >check involved, there might be only two available moves and one is much better >than the other. Does anybody's engine try to handle such a situation as a >special case? I've got my engine to compare the scores of the two moves and if >at the first check time (the point when my engine decides if it's searched >enough or should carry on) there is a large difference, it picks the higher >scoring move. However, I wonder if this is too risky, and of course there is the >question of how "large" the "large difference" should be. Well, one thing you could try is this: if your opponent just captured a piece, it's likely that you have to recapture (or capture something else) or you're just down material-wise. So you could reduce the allocated time by factor X and calculate normally. (which reduces your normal search depth a few plies) If after the allocated time, the recapture is really the best move and you didn't get a drastic fall in the score (e.g you're still in the [-0.2, +0.2] range of compared to the previous search or something) it's probably ok to do the recapture. >PS: you can all now get back to long, tedious hardware threads, attacking the >ICGA, etc :-) Since you're a member of the ICGA, your input to this subject would be very welcome though! :) Sargon (not a member of the ICGA because their payment system is a tad too archaic for my taste)
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