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Subject: Re: Mate in x?

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 10:06:47 03/04/04

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On March 04, 2004 at 12:55:11, Sune Fischer wrote:

>On March 04, 2004 at 09:41:26, Tord Romstad wrote:
>
>>On March 03, 2004 at 06:04:29, Sune Fischer wrote:
>>
>>>On March 03, 2004 at 04:18:30, Paul Byrne wrote:
>>>
>>>>Granted, it is not a terribly useful position, as it came from a wild 8 (pawns
>>>>start on 4th rank) game on ICC between 2 patzers.  And a very short search will
>>>>get you a score of +10 to +15 and better in white's favor.
>>>>
>>>>It is, however, surprisingly tough to see the mate, and makes an interesting
>>>>test position...
>>>>
>>>>r1b3n1/6k1/1n6/pP3qPQ/2PP2p1/1p4b1/4B3/R1BK2NR w - - 0 15
>>>>
>>>>Guildenstern's normal search cannot see it here, while it's PN search gets it in
>>>>under 30 seconds on an athlon 2400+.  The line the PN search produces is mate in
>>>>19, but is likely not optimal, as PN search is not terribly concerned with
>>>>winning in the least number of moves.
>>>>
>>>>So, what programs can see the win from here?
>>>
>>>Not mine, I get a +22 score though.
>>
>>Mine also doesn't find it.  After 11 plies, the score is +29.  The
>>problem might be that my search is "lazy" for the winning side in
>>positions where one side seems to have a winning advantage.  I don't
>>extend checks, mate threats and other attacking moves as much as I
>>would do if the score were close to 0.  The idea is that it is more
>>important to spend time looking for deep refutations of the apparent
>>win than looking for an even more crushing win.
>
>Ditto.
>
>It seems like a good principle, only it makes the engine look bad in test
>positions.

Movei also does it but test positions are usually not about finding mates when
there is a simple win but about finding the only winning move or the only
drawing moves and in these positions it usually helps.

Uri



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