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Subject: Re: White's Best Move...? Follow the depth of search

Author: John Merlino

Date: 15:13:59 04/12/05

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On April 12, 2005 at 15:20:35, chandler yergin wrote:

>On April 12, 2005 at 11:54:35, John Merlino wrote:
>
>>On April 12, 2005 at 05:15:43, chandler yergin wrote:
>>
>>>On April 12, 2005 at 00:23:30, John Merlino wrote:
>>>
>>>>On April 11, 2005 at 23:36:27, chandler yergin wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On April 11, 2005 at 13:00:10, Rob Basham wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On April 11, 2005 at 12:24:18, John Merlino wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>>>>New game,
>>>>>>>>[D]2r1r2k/4R1pp/pb6/1p6/2nqN1QB/P5PP/1PB4K/5R2 w - - 0 1
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Analysis by Shredder 8:
>>
>><Some Analysis Snipped>
>>
>>>>>>>>1.Bf6 Qxf6 2.Nxf6 Bg1+ 3.Kxg1 Rg8 4.Nxg8 Nxb2 5.Qxg7#
>>>>>>>>  +-  (#152)   Depth: 12/42   00:00:22  7641kN
>>>>>>>>1.Bf6 Rxe7 2.Bxd4 Rd8 3.Qh4 Ree8 4.Nc3 Re2+ 5.Nxe2 h6 6.Kh1 Rxd4 7.Rf8#
>>>>>>>>  +-  (#152)   Depth: 13/18   00:00:23  7840kN
>>>>>>>>1.Bf6 Rxe7 2.Bxd4 Rd8 3.Qh4 Bxd4 4.Qxe7 Rg8 5.Rf8 Bg1+ 6.Kxg1 Nd6 7.Qxd6 b4
>>>>>>>>8.Rxg8+ Kxg8 9.Qd8+ Kf7
>>>>>>>>  +-  (#150)   Depth: 14/40   00:00:43  15586kN
>>>>>>>>1.Bf6 Rxe7 2.Bxd4 Rd8 3.Qh4 Bxd4 4.Qxe7 Rg8 5.Rf8 Bc5 6.Nxc5 Nd6 7.Qxd6 b4
>>>>>>>>8.Rxg8+ Kxg8 9.Qe6+ Kf8 10.Nd7#
>>>>>>>>  +-  (#150)   Depth: 15/36   00:00:43  15751kN
>>>>>>>>1.Bf6 Rxe7 2.Bxd4 Rd8 3.Qh4 h5 4.Qxe7 Ne5 5.Qxe5 Bxd4 6.Qxh5+ Kg8 7.Bb3+ Rd5
>>>>>>>>8.Bxd5#
>>>>>>>>  +-  (#150)   Depth: 16/38   00:00:47  17089kN
>>>>>>>>1.Bf6 Rxe7 2.Bxd4 Rce8 3.Qf5 Kg8 4.Ng5 g6 5.Qd5+ Re6 6.Rf8+ Kxf8 7.Qf3+ Ke7
>>>>>>>>8.Qb7+ Bc7 9.Qxc7+ Kf8 10.Qg7#
>>>>>>>>  +-  (#150)   Depth: 17/36   00:00:49  17858kN
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>(,  11.04.2005)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Shredder's output is incredibly bizarre here. The position is a Mate in 9, but
>>>>>>>not a single PV shows mate in 9 moves (although there are mates shown in 10, 7
>>>>>>>and even 5 moves!??).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Conclusion: Shredder found the best move, but did NOT conclusively find the mate
>>>>>>>in 9.
>>>>>
>>>>>THe Mate in 9 is not forced; Shredder gave all the variations leading to
>>>>>Mate after the Key Move.
>>>>>
>>>>>With "Best PLay" by Black it's Mate in 9.
>>>>>
>>>>>If Black errs.. he gets Mated sooner.
>>>>
>>>>I understand that, but Shredder's output still makes no sense at all. What do
>>>>you mean by "Shredder gave all the variations leading to Mate after the Key
>>>>Move"?
>>>          A Program evaluates every possible move at each ply depth;
>>>that is one complete iteration.
>>>Shredder found a Mate at ply 12, another at ply 13, another at ply 14,
>>>another at ply 15, another at play 16 etc.
>>>
>>>What don't you understand?
>>
>>Simple -- take this PV from Shredder (which is the first one listed above):
>>
>>1.Bf6 Qxf6 2.Nxf6 Bg1+ 3.Kxg1 Rg8 4.Nxg8 Nxb2 5.Qxg7#
>>  +-  (#152)   Depth: 12/42   00:00:22  7641kN
>>
>>A program should not announce a Mate for the side to move that is simply not
>>possible with best play. If I were to stop analysis at this point and post my
>>findings here, it would be soundly refuted by the simple fact that there is no
>>Mate in 5 for White.
>>
>>It seems bizarre to me that, at depth 12, the Shredder thinks that there is a
>>forced mate in 5 (only 9 plies away).
>>
>>jm
> The Program did what a Program is supposed to do!
>
>I "clipped" the analysis.
>Do you have any doubt, that if I had let it run,. that it would stabalize
>on the Mate in 9 with a deeper search?

No, I have no doubt about that at all. But there are two problems with that:

1) Anybody could say that about any program with regards to a forced mate of
reasonably short distance, and

2) It's not the ability to find the mate that I have called into question. It is
the PV output that makes no sense. (Notice that I haven't even mentioned the
"#150" that Shredder regularly puts out for no reason....)

jm



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