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Subject: Re: New list WCCC participants and Free Hardware

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 14:37:19 06/02/04

Go up one level in this thread


On June 02, 2004 at 17:32:52, James Swafford wrote:

>On June 02, 2004 at 17:25:55, Dann Corbit wrote:
>
>>On June 02, 2004 at 16:58:01, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>
>>>On June 02, 2004 at 16:07:14, James Swafford wrote:
>>>
>>>>On June 02, 2004 at 16:03:10, James Swafford wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On June 02, 2004 at 10:06:22, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 16:13:24, James Swafford wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 14:15:37, Frank Phillips wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 12:53:54, James Swafford wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 11:53:29, Frank Phillips wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 11:44:58, James Swafford wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 11:35:07, Frank Phillips wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>On May 29, 2004 at 04:00:31, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>I don't think so. The program still has weaknesses that a bit of
>>>>>>>>>>>>>extra hardware will not overcome.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>GCP
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>What are these weaknesses?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>Bob may even be able to fix them before the event.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>He was talking about his program, not Crafty.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Thanks.  I misread the post.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>But I am still interested in the weaknesses being referred to by GCP, which are
>>>>>>>>>>resistant to faster hardware.  I have so many myself.  If only I knew what they
>>>>>>>>>>were :-)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>As in, "I can't seem to mate Shredder, even with faster hardware!" ?? :)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>--
>>>>>>>>>James
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I guess the answer is yes, although I have never had better hardware - and am
>>>>>>>>not SMP, so probably never will.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>See you tonight at ICC author's only tournament ?  :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>NOt as a competitor-- my thing is nowhere near strong enough
>>>>>>>to compete yet.  I'm hoping to be able to compete in the next
>>>>>>>CCT, though.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Are you still doing the learning stuff?
>>>>>
>>>>>I've been working with TDLeaf quite a bit.  At some point I'll
>>>>>post something with some meat to it, but to sum it up, I'm
>>>>>not nearly as optimistic about it as I once was.
>>>>>
>>>>>In my experience, TDLeaf can train the material weights, and it
>>>>>can even produce an evaluation vector that's superior to a
>>>>>'material only' vector.  I am not convinced it's useful for
>>>>>training a complex vector, nor am I convinced it does a better
>>>>>job than hand tuning.  For that matter, I am not even
>>>>>convinced it converges to the optimal vector!
>>>>>
>>>>>Caveat: it's possible (though I think it's unlikely) that
>>>>>my implementation is flawed.  My engine will become open source
>>>>>at some point (maybe after the next CCT), so you can judge
>>>>>for yourself then.
>>>>>
>>>>>Will Singleton and I had a bet on this... I conceited defeat
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Gah!  I "conceded" defeat.
>>>>
>>>>>the other day.  THe original bet was for the loser to fly
>>>>>the winner and spouse across country for drinks. :)  I'm
>>>>>pretty sure Will's decided he'll forego that if I show up
>>>>>at a tourney, but that's his call.
>>>>>
>>>>>I'm still very interested in learning algorithms, but I'll
>>>>>be focusing on improving my evaluation for a while.
>>>>>
>>>>>Again- I will post some data at some point.
>>>
>>>I am doing a computer guided optimization for Beowulf.
>>>
>>>It takes ~12,000 positions from super-GM games and SSDF games among the top
>>>computers where all the participants chose the same move (no other moves chosen
>>>for that position).
>>>
>>>For each of about 100 parameters, I vary the value from too small up to too
>>>large (e.g. a knight might go from 200 centipawns to 450).  At some optimal
>>>point, the largest number of positions will be chosen.  I fit a parabola
>>>throught the data ans solve for the maxima (if any).
>>>
>>>Often, the variance of the parameter has no effect on the solution scores (for
>>>instance, I might get 5500 solutions no matter what the parameter is, or the
>>>number of solutions may vary randomly).  So I also solve for the minima of the
>>>time curve.  As an example, a depth 4 search using NULL MOVE will probably solve
>>>a few LESS positions than not using NULL MOVE, but it will take 1/3 of the time
>>>at some optimal prune level.
>>>
>>>I have had lots of bugs in my curve analysis, but I am slowly working it out.
>>>
>>>Before, I solved for a smaller subset of tactical positions which made it great
>>>at solving those tactical positions but lousy at playing.  I am hoping for a
>>>better result this time (especially since some of my result calculations were
>>>backwards, making the fits enormously unstable).
>>
>>Here is the binary and source for the current project:
>>ftp://cap.connx.com/pub/chess-engines/new-approach/beocurve.zip
>
>Alright: I'll take the bait... I'll download it and check it out.
>
>>
>>There is one more correction in the file compared to my last runs -- It now
>>compares the minumum of time fitted by the curve with the absolute minimum found
>>in the raw data (before, that bit was wrong).
>>
>>Here is the curve for Bishop piece value:
>>
>>bishop_score=352 at 4; stddev=16.409341 : -0.0665458*x^2 + 46.9104*x + -2711.28
>>(x=291.000000, y=5298.000000), t=1137.000000
>>(x=307.000000, y=5431.000000), t=1141.000000
>>(x=323.000000, y=5504.000000), t=1143.000000
>>(x=339.000000, y=5519.000000), t=1145.000000
>>(x=355.000000, y=5566.000000), t=1145.000000
>>(x=371.000000, y=5539.000000), t=1146.000000
>>(x=387.000000, y=5473.000000), t=1145.000000
>>(xmax=355.000000, ymax=5566.000000), xmax seen verses curve xmax [355 352.968]
>>
>>I believe that the score will reduce at deeper plies (I have seen this trend at
>>least for shallower plies so far).
>>The result "bishop_score=352 at 4" means a biship_score of 352 centipawns is
>>optimal for this test set at 4 plies deep searching.
>
>How long does it take to complete a test set at 4 ply?

About an hour per parameter on a 2.4 GHz AMD 64 bit computer.

>And- you only vary one parameter at a time, right?

Yes.  And I repeat a few cycles of the solution, because parameters have an
effect on each other for obvious reasons.

A 2 or 3 ply search is much faster.

A 7 ply search will take eons.

You can imagine the furious CPU activity even in a 4 ply search, as I am solving
each of 12K Epd positions at 4 plies and at 6-12 different parameter values
usually (on rare occasions they are binary or have only a few possible choices).




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