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Subject: Re: rybka pawn pushes. can new versions of engines handle it?

Author: Joseph Ciarrochi

Date: 11:39:21 02/25/06

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One big difference between computers and humans is that we have read aron
Nimzowitsch's "my system." Most of us know the famous quote:  "The passed pawn
is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as
police surveillance, are not sufficient."

So I might know to blockade a passed pawn, even if  i can't caclulate exactly
how the passed pawn will make it to the 8th rank.

I always assumed that engines recognize the value of a blockade, but i think
maybe rybka is demonstrating that they underestimate the value?



On February 25, 2006 at 11:01:13, Uri Blass wrote:

>On February 25, 2006 at 04:28:52, Joseph Ciarrochi wrote:
>
>>I just watched yet another game involving the famed rybka pawn push....Glauring
>>did not seem to recognize the danger of the passed pawn till it got to the 6th
>>row, wheras rybka seemed to recognize it immiediately..
>>
>>I have two questions regarding this advantage rybka seems to have over all
>>others
>>
>>1) Once you see this error in chess engines (not recognizing the danger of a
>>passed pawn early enough), how easy is it to program your engine to correct the
>>weakness. Is this rybka's major "trick" and once engines adjust to it, will
>>rybka be pulled back to equal with the other engines.
>
>You first need to define the weakness.
>If you do not know to define what rybka does in the evaluation in english
>language you have no chance to program it.
>
>>
>>2) this leads me to a more general question. are chess engines getting better
>>against humans, or are they only getting better against other engines. This
>>rybka pawn push......would super GM's fall for it. Did rybka merely expose a
>>latent weakness that exists only in other engines but not in humans (e.g.,
>>humans are usually pretty good at seeing long term pawn push plans)
>
>I do not agree that humans are usually pretty good at seeing long term push
>plans.
>Maybe super GM are good at it but humans generally are not good at it and I
>guess that I could be a better chess player if I had the knowledge of rybka
>about it.
>
>Uri



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