Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 18:56:32 02/18/99
Go up one level in this thread
On February 18, 1999 at 20:38:06, Vincent Diepeveen wrote: >On February 18, 1999 at 17:13:12, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>On February 17, 1999 at 13:55:27, Vincent Diepeveen wrote: >> >>>On February 16, 1999 at 04:45:43, Frank Schneider wrote: >>> >>>>I experimented a little bit with nullmove deepsearch extensions and with >>>>singular extensions and now I have some questions: >>>> >>>>1. In all my tests the searchtree (#nodes to finish n iterations) increased >>>> by a factor of 1.5 to 4. Although testresults were interesting I believe >>>> this is too much. What are your experiences? >>>> >>>>2. Is it correct to assume that singular extensions work best if there are >>>> only few other extension heuristics. >>>> >>>>3. How would you describe the difference between nullmove deepsearch extensions >>>> (Donninger) and the nullmove threat detection by Deep Thought? >>>> >>>>4. Who uses >>>> - singular extensions >>>no >>>> - nullmove deepsearch extensions >>>no >>>> - nullmove threat detection >>> >>>yes, if there is a mate threat i sometimes extend. >>> >>>>5. What is the best (easiest) way to implement singular extensions? >>> >>>Let's see 3 cases of SE implementation in a position where i >>>have a score for a move m, which is the best move and i >>>want to see whether it's best. >>> >>> a) your score s is <= alfa >>> b) your score s is > alfa and < beta >>> c) your score s is >= beta >>> >>>Easiest case is b) >>> >>>Let's see that first, for searching with a singular difference S: >>> >>>s is a true score, so you can search ALL OTHER MOVES with a window >>> >>>[alfa,beta] = [s-S,s] >>> >>>If all scores are <= s-S then your move is singular in case b. >>> >>>Now case a. We get back a score s. We know that to be singular all moves n >>>which are unequal to m must have a lower score. >>> >>>There is however one big problem: score s is a bound. It is not >>>a true score, so in fact s could be theoretical s-i where i > 0. >>> >>>Practical with nullmove and a q-search that doesn't search all moves using >>>minimax, but prunes at >= beta, which as far as i know all programs do, >>>s is likely to be not the true score of m. >>> >>>So we must first get the TRUE score of m before deciding what its score is. >>>We then need to research m again. Eeasiest is to research with >>>[-infinite,s] >>> >>>If we get a fail high then we can assume that s is the true score. >>>If we don't get a fail high then the new score s' is the true score of >>>move m. >>> >>>Now it will be obvious that researching with -infinite is rather silly. >>> >>>It is in fact doing a minimax search, as you remove your bound and >>>research this move with the initialy limits. >>> >>>So it is not very wise to do that at the same depth as you initially did. >>>It is wiser to research using a reduction factor for the remaining depth you >>>search with. >>> >>>Then it's obvious to see that the overhead of singular extensions is >>>depending upon your branching factor. The better your branching factor, >>>the bigger the overhead. >>> >>>This insight is easy to get: >>> >>>Suppose your branching factor is 5. then if you reduce a depth d with >>>2 ply, then that tree is more or less 1/5*5 = 1/25 part of the tree at >>>depth d. >>> >>>If your branching factor is say 2.5 to 3, then it is way more than 1/9 >>>extra overhead, just for this move. >>> >>>Case c goes like case a, just that you need to search initially with >>>[s,infinite] instead of [-infinite,s]. >>> >>>Let's take an easy example of a position where humans see directly the >>>problems and programs have more problems: >>> >>>r1b1k2r/p2n1ppp/1p2p3/3p2B1/P2P4/1Nn1P3/5PPP/R3KB1R w KQkq - >>> >>> r = b = k = - r ... 1 ... >>> o - = n = o o o ... 2 ... >>> - o - = o = - = ... 3 ... >>> = - = o = - B - ... 4 ... >>> O = - O - = - = ... 5 ... >>> = N n - O - = - ... 6 ... >>> - = - = - O O O ... 7 ... >>> R - = - K B = R ... 8 ... >>>position deriving from an analysis of Eric de Haan and Vincent Diepeveen >>>white to move >>> >>>Here i saw directly that white could win the piece at c3 after f3, and then >>>put pressure at c3 with bd3 kd2 and rhc1. >>> >>>That's simply an idea. so when i start searching i start with >>> >>>f3,Bb7,Bd3,Kd2 and i see that the piece gets captured after Rhc1. Now >>>that is not a computer analysis. >>> >>>For the computer to see the problem is depending upon evaluation. >>>Let's take the variation without nullmove and without hung pieces >>>evaluation and without recapture extension: >>> normal depth >>>f3 1 >>>h6 2 >>>Bh4 3 >>>g5 4 >>>Bf2 5 >>>Bb7 6 >>>Bd3 7 >>>Rc8 8 >>>Kd2 9 >>>e5 10 * >>>Rhc1 11 >>>exd4 12 * >>>exd4 13 >>>something 14 >>>Rxc3 q-search >>> >>>Now a human sees that h6-g5 is not smart, and that g5 is forced >>>after h6, although for a computer this can be exchanged for Rc8 too. >>> >>>The singular extensions in THIS line are without a smart evaluation >>>(so material considerations) marked with a star, so: e5 and exd4. >>> >>>Questionable is what happens after >>>f3 1 >>>h6 2 >>>Bh4 3 >>>g5 4 >>>Bg3 5 >>>Bb7 6 >>>Bd3 7 >>>Rc8 8 >>>Kd2 9 >>>h5 10 >>>Rhc1 11 >>>something 12 >>>Rxc3 q-search >>> >>>Now we see that Bg3 is way better than Bf2, and therefore should get >>>objectively a singular extension. However we only see that it is better >>>AFTER we already have found it to be winning. >>> >>>Now we know how very little ply we need to find this for humans easy case >>>of getting a hung piece, we are gonna search for another way to delay >>>this combi. Even if the g5 bishop gets via h4 to g3, then still we can >>>delay things with f6 and e5 and capturing at d4. >>> >>>So the line now becomes: >>>f3 1 >>>f6 2 >>>Bh4 3 >>>g5 4 >>>Bg3 5 >>>Bb7 6 >>>Bd3 7 >>>Rc8 8 >>>Kd2 9 >>>e5 10 >>>Rhc1 11 >>>exd4 12 >>>exd4 13 >>>something 14 >>>Rxc3 q-search >>> >>>Now we clearly see that f6 is a clear case of a singular move here, >>>as it is the only move that delay the loss. >>> >>>I think this is a problem that is very important to realize, >>>but let's go on and take the nullmove program at the short line: >>> >>>f3 1 >>>h6 2 >>>Bh4 3 >>>g5 4 >>>Bg3 5 >>>Bb7 6 >>>Bd3 7 >>>Rc8 8 >>>Kd2 9 >>>nullmove 10 >>>Rhc1 11+R >>>something 12+R >>>Rxc3 q-search >>> >>>Now that's *without* any extensions yet. >>> >>>Now let's take cray blitz. It does detect for threats in nullmove. >>>And R=1 for the nullmove reduction factor. R=2 for the singular extension >>>reduction factor. Further it has recapture extensions. >>>So it sees already after Rhc1 the problems because >>>of the q-search nullmove. That is 12 ply, even without singular extensions. >>> >>>In this line however Bg3 and Bb7 should be singular extended! >>>So actually it should find it at 10 ply, if everything would be normal. >> >>I ran this test and found two things. First, from ply=2 on, CB likes f3 >>and would _never_ play anything else. from plies 2-8 the score climbed >>slowly but white is a pawn down so it was less than zero. At ply=9 it got a >>fail high, but no PV back so the score was -.117 at that point. At ply=10 it >>failed high again with an evaluation of +1.5. > >Is that a new version of Cray Blitz? > that is a good question. I run at two places. At our supercomputer center here in Alabama, I have the most recent version, dated 1994, which was the version where we added singular extensions before the Cape May ACM event that year. At Livermore, where I run on occasion as well, Harry has the older version there with no SE. I have no idea which I used when I tested, although 12 plies sounds like no SE and null-move R=1 which would match the '47*' versions (we numbered major changes and appended a letter for 'tweaks'. 48* had SE implemented. >Some months ago when i messaged you this position and asked to have >a look at it with Cray Blitz to see how SE works, you messaged me back >that it needed 12 ply for it to see that it was winning with white with f3. > >You used 1 processor for it. correct. I suspect I ran at Livermore. But without 'thinking' I probably forgot about v47 vs 48... I should also run it on the SE version of crafty being tested...
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