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Subject: Re: root move ordering - a small experiment

Author: Richard Pijl

Date: 02:12:23 09/25/04

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On September 25, 2004 at 04:24:46, martin fierz wrote:

>aloha!
>
>i made a small experiment: old root move ordering vs new root move ordering.
>
>old:
>generate all moves. do not order. use normal search and after each completed ply
>(or fail high) move the current best move to the top of the list and shift all
>moves back.
>
>new:
>generate all moves. do not order. use normal search and after each completed ply
>(or fail high) move the current best move to the top of the list and order the
>remaining moves by subtree size.

In the Baron I do a few other things as well.
First: I don't use raw subtree size, but make it relative to a constant. So the
move with the largest subtree will get a score of e.g. 100.
I do the same with other possible parameters, like history value (with a
different constant of course), whether it is a capture or not (as captures),
returned searchscore relative to adjusted alpha from the previous iteration.
Then I divide the previous ordering score by two and add the new score to it, to
stabilize the order of the moves.
It may seem like a lot of work, but better rootnode move ordering will save you
a few nodes in positions where the pv will change regularly.

>results on centrino 1.4GHz:
>- test set ECMGCP 5s/move: old 107/183 solved, new 103/183 solved

I'm not surprised. In tactical test positions the solution is often a move with
a small subtree in previous iterations, and is also often a capture, making it
examined earlier with regular move ordering schemes.
Richard.

>- matches at blitz 1'+5'' increment vs frenzee & gothmog:
>old: 8-32 against gothmog, 21-19 against frenzee
>new: 7-33 against gothmog, 20-20 against frenzee
>
>(i really shouldn't be testing against gothmog, it's way too strong for my
>engine, but i believe you learn more from losses than wins and this is a good
>way to generate lots of losses...)
>
>conclusion: the "improved" new root move ordering did worse both in matches and
>in the test set. obviously the difference is far from significant and more games
>would be needed to prove anything. but overall i am a bit disappointed that it
>didn't do better in any of the 3 tests.
>
>cheers
>  martin



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