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Subject: Re: chess

Author: Dan Honeycutt

Date: 08:53:10 01/18/05

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On January 18, 2005 at 05:06:48, adam wilks wrote:

>When will chess be solved? what pc speed would it take and for how long?

Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe never.

If the conclusion of the game with "perfect" play is a win for white then it may
be found.  If the result is a draw it likely will never be found.

Andrew Williams recently did a 35 ply search from the starting position with a
material only evaluation and found no forced material win for white.  If a
forced material win for white could be found then, for all practical purposes,
the game is solved.  Some line in that search might have led to an overwhelming
positional advantage for white, but the material only evaluation would not
recognize that.  If there is such a line, a deeper search is needed - deep
enough so the positional advantage converts to a material advantage.  How deep?
Maybe 36 ply.  Maybe 60 ply.

If 60 ply were the case then, using today's hardware, you would need to search
for eons.  The sun would probably cool down first which would likely interrupt
your search.  Tomorrows hardware will be faster.  How much faster, how long the
search would take, what ply to search to - all are pure speculation.

Dan H.




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