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Subject: Re: MTD(f)

Author: Tord Romstad

Date: 16:06:01 06/20/05

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On June 18, 2005 at 06:00:37, Vasik Rajlich wrote:
>
>Most of the search experts don't like MTD (f). Tord has stopped using it, Fabien
>also never liked it. (A discussion from CCC IIRC ..)

Hi,

I just came home from holiday and saw this discussion.  I don't have time for
reading the whole thread or making any important contributions myself, but
I have a few comments to the paragraph quoted above.

First of all, I am by no means a search expert.  My main reason for using MTD
in Gothmog was not a belief that it was theoretically superior to other
alpha-beta variants, but rather that it is by far the cleanest and easiest to
implement.  My main reason for switching to PVS in Glaurung was not that
I was not satisfied with the performance of MTD, but rather that I wanted to
try something new in order to learn more about search techniques.

For weak engines like mine, the choice between MTD or PVS isn't really that
important anyway.  With so many other more fundamental weaknesses to fix,
there simply isn't any major gain to be found by changing the main search
algorithm (except broadening your knowledge and experience, which can be
important in the long run).

Tord



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