Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: SEEing it is BLIND

Author: David B Weller

Date: 04:39:21 08/09/04

Go up one level in this thread


On August 08, 2004 at 04:35:54, Tord Romstad wrote:

>On August 08, 2004 at 01:47:12, Stuart Cracraft wrote:
>
>>Now my new question is what features do you think would help in solving
>>problems rapidly. Extensions?
>
>Yes.  But be careful -- It is easy to introduce lots of extensions which makes
>your engine very good at solving problems, but which greatly reduce the
>playing strength in real games.  You should always play some test matches
>before you decide whether you want to keep some new extension in your
>program.
>
>The most useful extensions for solving problems rapidly are:
>
>1. Checks.
>
>2. Single reply to checks.
>
>3. Mate threats.  These can be detected statically, or by using the return
>value of a null move search.  Extend if the null move search returns
>-MATE_VALUE+Ply+2.

Question/Comment: *Some* experiments have indicated better results from
<-MATE_VALUE+300 [ie, any mate score]. Doesnt this make sense? Because, after
all, mated is mated [an absolute score]. Then again, I suppose the distance to
mate IS somewhat indicative of the actuall threat ... comments...
>
>4. Attacking moves.  If you evaluate all internal nodes (as I do), compare
>the value of the king safety component of the evaluation function before
>and after a move is made.  If a move dramatically reduces the opponent's
>king safety, you extend.
>
>In order to avoid search explosions, you may want to use fractional
>extensions.  I extend by a full ply only for checks.
>
Tord, does this mean you extend less for the mate threat extension and the
1reply to check? It seems backward to me IMHO [I say this intuitively, not
because of experimental data] It seems there are trillions of worthless checks
but far fewer 1reply and mate-threats ... yes/no/maybe ??
>Tord



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.