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Subject: Re: Thinker 4.6b third after 1st round!

Author: Sune Fischer

Date: 15:57:19 06/01/04

Go up one level in this thread


On June 01, 2004 at 18:44:55, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On June 01, 2004 at 18:22:18, Sune Fischer wrote:
>
>>On June 01, 2004 at 14:11:53, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>>
>>>>Book learning is really more of a database management, learning is just too
>>>>fancy a word for something so relative primitive.
>>>
>>>
>>>Does it matter?  IE is there some threshold we have to cross and then you say
>>>"ok, book learning is now a vital part of the chessplaying system and can't be
>>>turned off."???  What _is_ that threshold.  Why do you infer that mice can't
>>>learn to navigate a complex maze, since they learn the _same_ way.  They don't
>>>study the maze from above and discover a path that they use once they enter the
>>>maze.  They just navigate it by trial and error and learn how to get through.
>>>That is _exactly_ how book learning works.  yes it will probably get more
>>>sophisticated in the future.  IE I already use search results to tune book
>>>probabilities, as well as using the more crude win/lose result to mark lines as
>>>"don't play".  IE what I am doing is above what the mice do, and it will get
>>>better over time, too...
>>>
>>
>>Anything can be called learning then, if I fill out a form and the data is
>>stored into a database, then the database has "learned" something new.
>
>If it can "use" it, yes...

"use" it, certainly.
The next time someone searches for that piece of data it will be there.

>>
>>>>
>>>>An intelligent learner would adjust the game play itself, ie. parameter weights
>>>>  would be tuned so that entire classes of openings were avoided in the future.
>>>
>>>I do this already...  in a different way...
>>>
>>>
>>>>This could also be applied throughout the whole game and not just the opening.
>>>
>>>
>>>as in "position learning" as a first crude step?
>>>
>>
>>Depends what you do in position learning. :)
>>
>>>>But in a small tournament of just 10-15 games you can't really improve the book
>>>>a whole lot, improving the book is really something you have to do _prior_ to
>>>>the tournament.
>>>>The only hope once the tournament begins is to try and repeat games, and that's
>>>>just lame and annoying. Duplicate games is a waste of everyones time and
>>>>patience, they should not be allowed to count twice anyway, one game - one win.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Wrong.  _DEAD_ wrong.  Against the computer I would probably play the most
>>>popular opening move every time.  If it walks into a trap, I will lose 1/2 of
>>>the games since you have cleverly disabled my defense against this.  Even though
>>>a Human would not play the same moves every time, the computer is forced to do
>>>so because of some twisted idea that "book learning is not part of the engine."
>>>
>>>Strange, but the first time I lost an evans gambit as black, I chose to not play
>>>that again for a while.  I didn't study anything.  I didn't think about it.  I
>>>didn't ask anyone, I just didn't play that opening as black.
>>>
>>>It seems that I violates some golden rule by not doing so, according to this
>>>thread...
>>
>>
>>Unfortunately you need learning if you're up against other aggressive learners,
>>such as humans.
>
>I don't consider it "unfortunate".  It is an integral part of the game of chess,
>whether there is an opening book or not.  A program has to "change" over time or
>it will get rolled up into a ball, chewed up, and spit out by good humans...
>Just take a program like shredder, give it _one_ opening book line, and stick it
>on ICC and see what happens after a while...

You think ICC games, I think home basement games.

Controlled environment, guaranteed no aggressive learners, reproducability,
etc..

>>
>>What I'm saying is that there is nothing wrong with doing a tournament here or
>>there where this annoying feature has been disabled to everyones delight.
>
>"annoying feature"???  +no+ human chess event has _ever_ been held under similar
>circumstances.  IE if you play an opening once, you have to play it over and
>over no matter how badly you get smashed by some new innovation.
>
>Makes absolutely no sense, IMHO.
>
>We write programs to play chess under the same guidelines that humans play
>under, but then we decide to change the rules _after_ the cat is out of the bag,
>and it doesn't feel "reasonable" to me...
>

See above, this isn't the same guidelines as with humans.
These are controlled experiments.

>>
>>>You are lost in the wrong world.  It is not nearly so much about repeating "won"
>>>games as it is about not repeating _lost_ games.  Perhaps that is the point you
>>>are missing.  I would happily give up "won learning".  But not "lost learning".
>>
>>So you agree?
>
>Apparently not in that learning is critical.  Particularly the learning when
>openings are _bad_.  Of course what is bad for one side is good for the other so
>it does cut both ways and there is little to do about that...

Yes. So we are back to square one, is winning by book "interesting"? :)

-S.




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