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Subject: Re: Time Management: "Life Expectancy" of a Chess Game

Author: KarinsDad

Date: 11:38:33 01/16/04

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I think a good time management function would take into account the amount of
time remaining, the evaluation of the current position, the amount of material
(especially non-pawns) remaining on the board, and the average number of moves
per half ply.

Being up a knight in the opening (once out of book) might equate to the same
overall evaluation as in the endgame (pre getting into egtbs), but a program
might be able to use less time to search in the endgame, the programmer knowing
that even second or third best moves will probably end up in the same overall
result (i.e. winning or losing the game). For example, KNPKP is hard for the
advantaged side to draw or lose the majority of the time even without an egtb.

The converse is also partially true. The fewer pawns on the board, the more
legal moves (as long as there are multiple major pieces on the board) and hence,
the more nodes to search per half ply.

It would seem that the best use of time is to search more when there are more
possibilities and to decrease those number of possibilities whenever possible as
long as the program is still making very good moves (especially when winning),
just as insurance.



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