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Subject: Re: New Discovery: Summary And Sanity Check

Author: Amir Ban

Date: 03:55:26 11/26/98

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On November 26, 1998 at 05:07:05, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>
>On November 26, 1998 at 04:41:15, Graham Laight wrote:
>
>
>>Given this claim that a big new discovery has taken place, may we just recap
>>what we're discussing here, please?
>>
>>Correct me if I'm wrong (I probably am, because I haven't been following the
>>thread in detail), but my understanding is as follows:
>>
>>In DB V GK 97 game 2, DB played 36. axb5.
>>
>>This is a move one would not expect a computer to play, because it misses an
>>opportunity to win material with 36. Qb6, which is what one would expect a chess
>>computer to do.
>>
>>Those who believe that DB found the move for itself, without help, have, in
>>support of their case, stated that DB would have been able to see that 36. Qb6
>>leads to a forced draw.
>>
>>To discover if this is true, Bruce Moreland has asked that as many people as
>>possible should run the position for as long as possible on their own computers,
>>to see whether, at some depth of search, the eval for 36. axb5 jumps ahead of
>>the eval for 36. Qb6.
>
>I'm hoping that someone will get lucky with a search extension or whatever, and
>that this will more or less prove that it is possible to understand Qb6 in
>finite time.
>
>Best would be another program that played axb5.
>
>Second best would be that something gets a score drop such that the value of the
>position is < +1.00.
>
>We can argue about what this means, if it happens.  But I don't think it is
>going to happen.  I think everyone is going to get Qb6 +1.X.
>
>>In doing this, Ernst Heinz has discovered that, at ply 21, a line of
>>continuation that includes move 40. Ra6, appears to push the draw too far into
>>the distance for any computer to have a realistic chance of seeing it.
>>
>>This adds to the case that 36. axb5 is not a move one would expect a computer to
>>make, and therefore supports Gary Kasparov's view that the move requires further
>>explanation from IBM.
>>
>>Right or wrong?
>

I reposted the "draw" analysis here in another thread. I think this discovery is
not important for the argument, because the draw was anyway much too far for DB
to see.


>No.  I was somewhat concerned that if this search failed, people would assume
>that IBM is cheating, but this doesn't follow.  If I go looking for something
>and I find it, that is a good indication that the thing exists.  But if I don't
>find it, it doesn't prove that the thing doesn't exist.
>
>So I think that we are back to square one, although we've shown that an obvious
>brute force attempt to disprove the cheating notion fails.
>
>My personal opinion is that DB figured this position out better than the rest of
>us have.  I have no evidence that supports this.  I don't think there is any
>evidence for cheating, either.
>
>bruce

This is not all the evidence. The full case is this:

1. The basis for preferring axb5 over Qb6 remains unknown.

2. axb5 was adopted in unexplained circumstances: it never showed up in the
normal search but only came up in a main line reconstruction after the search
was interrupted while Qb6 was the best move.

3. IBM will not disclose any information or talk about this.

Amir



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