Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: The Null Move Killer: what has recapture xtension got to do with it?

Author: martin fierz

Date: 01:52:12 09/30/04

Go up one level in this thread


On September 30, 2004 at 00:46:26, Uri Blass wrote:

>On September 29, 2004 at 23:52:15, Stuart Cracraft wrote:
>
>>[D] 4r1k1/p1qr1p2/2pb1Bp1/1p5p/3P1n1R/1B3P2/PP3PK1/2Q4R w - - bm Qxf4;
>>
>>In this position I had everything turned on and got the solution
>>in a little more than 1 1/2 minutes:
>>
>> 1/11  g2f1  0.01 -953      945 g2f1 f4d5
>>                                g2f1 f4d5
>> 2/12  g2f1  0.01 -953     1644
>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5
>> 3/12  g2f1  0.02 -953     5064
>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5 d5f6
>> 4/20  g2f1  0.09 -953    20655
>>                                g2f1 f4d5 b3d5 c6d5 c1c7 d6c7 f1g1
>> 5/22  g2f1  0.65 -953   168943
>>                                g2f1 b5b4 b3a4 f4d5 f6g5 d5e7
>> 6/26  g2f1  2.59 -953   620310
>>                                g2f1 b5b4 mtmt
>> 7/32> g2f1 60.58 -552 14192153 g2f1 e8c8 c1b1 f4d5 b1e4 d6b4 f6e5 c7b6
>>                                g2f1 e8c8 c1b1 f4d5 b1e4 d6b4
>> 7/34  c1f4 99.42 5113 24537823 c1f4 e8e6 f4g5 d7e7 b3e6 e7e6 h1d1 d6e7 f6e7
>>                                c1f4 e8e6 f4g5 d7e7 b3e6 e7e6 h1d1
>>
>>
>>I turned off null move (R=2) and got the solution in about 11 seconds:
>>
>>Alpha=-1332 Beta=-531 Maxdepth=9999999 MaxTime=99999999
>> 1/11 g2f1  0.01 -953      908 g2f1 f4d5
>>                                g2f1 f4d5
>> 2/12 g2f1  0.01 -953     1565
>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5
>> 3/14 g2f1  0.07 -953    20084
>>                                g2f1 f4d5 c1g5 d5f6
>> 4/22 g2f1  0.60 -953   131543
>>                                g2f1 f4d5 b3d5 c6d5 c1c7 d6c7 f1g1
>> 5/26>g2f1  6.80 -552  1607444
>>                                g2f1 b5b4 b3a4 f4d5 f6g5 d5e7
>> 5/36 c1f4 10.70 2260  2466497 c1f4 d6f4 h4h5 g6h5 h1h5 f4h6 h5h6 c7g3 g2g3 d7d6
>>
>>                                c1f4 d6f4 h4h5 g6h5 h1h5 f4h6 h5h6 c7g3 g2g3 d7d
>>
>>So now my question is, would it make sense to consider an idea of
>>disabling null move under additional circumstances if those
>>circumstances can be identified.
>>
>>   endgame
>>   side to move in check
>>   inside principal variation
>>   last move a null move
>>
>>These are the ones I disable for -- I don't disable null move for
>>any material-related or alpha/beta related measures but perhaps
>>I should. Are any in common use?
>>
>>Stuart
>
>It is better to disable your recapture extensions.
>The problem here is not null move pruning and null move pruning willnot change
>the depth that you solve the problem when you will implement correctly checks in
>the qsearch.
>
>The target of chess programs is not to solve 141  faster but to play better.
>I am almost sure that if only the recapture extension save you many plies in 141
>then you implement it in a way that is counter productive for games.
>
>
>I wonder how do you get depth 5 without null move pruning
>
>Can you post the remaining depth after every move in the line
>1.Qxf4 Bxf4 2.Rxh5 gxh5 3.Rxh5 Bh6 4.Rxh6  Rd6 Rh8#
>
>There are no checks in this line except the mate and you do checks in the
>qsearch so without recapture extensions you need at least 9 plies for it(after 8
>plies you enter qsearch after Rd6 and do not find the move Rh8 mate.
>
>If recapture extensions lead to 4 plies extension then it seems clear that your
>new program will be clearly weaker in games.
>
>I suspect that you extend 4 plies in  this line because you extend 1 ply every
>time that the last 2 moves are captures.
>
>It is clearly a bad idea to do it and it is clear that even with more reasonable
>restriction of the recapture extension it is not productive for a lot of
>programs.
>
>I suggest that you test the version with the recapture extension in games
>against the version without the recapture extension if you do not believe me
>that your recapture extension is a bad idea.
>
>
>Uri

hi uri,

where do you see recapture extensions influencing WAC.141? the main line has no
single "recapture" if you define it as "capture of a piece of the same value, on
the same square, on two successive plies". i think that is the normal definition
of recapture.

what am i missing?

cheers
  martin



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.