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Subject: Re: singular extension

Author: martin fierz

Date: 06:20:05 09/16/04

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On September 16, 2004 at 08:39:13, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On September 16, 2004 at 08:19:20, martin fierz wrote:
>
>>On September 15, 2004 at 12:18:42, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On September 15, 2004 at 10:32:53, martin fierz wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 15, 2004 at 09:53:53, Stuart Cracraft wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>>Anyone know of some code somewhere that implements
>>>>>at least part (or all) of the originally described
>>>>>singular extension and/or any modifications to it that
>>>>>have proven worthwhile (if any)?
>>>>>
>>>>>I am curious what mediocre (or better) results people
>>>>>have gotten with singular extension. Originally Anantharaman
>>>>>hypothesized that it wouldn't be good at the slower
>>>>>speeds of most programs at the time and would require
>>>>>fast speeds to show effect.  Has this proven true or
>>>>>false in the intervening 15 years?
>>>>>
>>>>>Is singular extension now generally discredited as a
>>>>>non-reproducible singularity in and of itself?
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>>Stuart
>>>>
>>>>AFAIK, SE is 'interesting' in the sense that it does enable programs to solve
>>>>certain positions faster, but of course you pay a price. and again AFAIK, nobody
>>>>is really using it these days, because the price seems too high to pay. i.e. in
>>>>games it's no improvement.
>>>>
>>>>just because the deep blue team used SE doesn't mean it's any good. remember,
>>>>they also decided not to use null-move, which was an established concept by
>>>>then.
>>>>
>>>>cheers
>>>>  martin
>>>
>>>Remember also that _others_ use/used SE.  Cray Blitz did starting in 1993.
>>>Wchess (Kittinger used the PV-singular half of SE.)  I suspect others did/do as
>>>well.  IE we know that Ferret had an implementation of SE.
>>
>>of course others used SE. if deep blue had been using *anything*, others would
>>have tried it too. like everybody playing the kings indian after kasparov did...
>>
>>i have never seen anybody claim that SE is of any use.
>
>
>1.  It worked for CB.

how do you know it worked?

>2.  Kittinger used it for several years in Wchess and claimed it worked well for
>him, using a "partial implementation".

how do you know it worked?

>3.  Ferret used it.

how do you know it worked?

>4.  HiTech used it.

how do you know it worked?

ok, ok, i'll skip the rest :-)
these are all private programs, where nobody can verify independently what it
helps or what not. SE may be fun to play around with, but has anybody ever stood
on a soap box and said "my program gains XXX elo by SE"?
this statement is different from "it works". i have stuff in my program that
"works", but i can't put down a number as to whether it really helps or not.
generating checks in qsearch is such an example. my program finds many things
much earlier in ply-terms and earlier in time with checks in QS. does it help
actual play? i don't know... but it works in the sense i wanted it to work.


>That conclusion is flawed.  It says more about the _implementation_ than it does
>the idea itself.  Others have had success with it as I mentioned above.

others have said they had success with it. that is not the same. i have seen no
proof anywhere, and as MPC-crafty suggests, you should never trust the guys who
invented an algorithm. i know of no independent tests.

cheers
  martin



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