Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Crafty was lucky (nt)

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 22:50:03 07/13/04

Go up one level in this thread


On July 12, 2004 at 03:51:44, Ed Schröder wrote:

>The question here is how Crafty being down a pawn, also facing 3 connected
>passers (h2,g2,f2) evaluates this position. Did 42..a5! show a possitive score
>for Crafty then hat off for Crafty. Did 42..a5! show a < -1.xx or even lower
>then I would say Crafty indeed was lucky.

I look at it from a different perspective. Crafty was the better engine this
game. Dan Heisman says it better than I could.

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/real.txt

"A Chain is Only As Strong As Its Weakest Link
The best way to introduce the second part of my explanation is to
make an analogy. Suppose you build a home where the temperature
is -20 degrees outside. You decide on a one-room home with four
walls, a roof, a floor, and a heater. You decide to save a little time
and material by finishing the four walls, the floor, and half the roof,
but the other half you leave open. Even though you have completed
over 90% of the structure, the temperature inside your home will
still be about -20 degrees with half your roof open. If you want
your inside heater to be effective, you have to enclose all of your
home.

The cold home analogy is similar to what happens when you play
Real chess for 90% of your moves, but not for the other 10%. You
think you are a good player, but weaker players beat you when you
let down your guard for that 10%. In order to be a good player, you
have to at least try to play correctly on every move, not just most of
them. Consistency is important: remember that your chain of
moves, in many cases, is only as strong as the weakest link."

Crafty may have been outplayed for most of the game, but it was more consistent
than Falcon, so it ended up the better engine that game.



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.