Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 21:19:25 05/11/99
Go up one level in this thread
On May 11, 1999 at 23:42:34, Peter McKenzie wrote:
>On May 11, 1999 at 21:18:59, Dann Corbit wrote:
>
>>On May 11, 1999 at 20:38:31, Peter McKenzie wrote:
>>[snip]
>>>I think the chances of being able to do this are approximately zero.
>>>An even if you could, its not that hard to put zugzwang detection into a
>>>nullmove implementation. It slows it down a little, but not hugely. The fact
>>>that few programs bother with this (although some do) indicates that it just
>>>isn't worth it.
>>Why do you think the probability is so low?
>
>I don't think there are many useful zugzwang positions in the first 15ply. By
>useful positions, I mean positions that could conceivably be reached in a game
>and be used to your advantage. In fact, I'm not aware of any - perhaps someone
>could post some?
>
>Peter
Maybe there are some, but even if you find one it does not mean that the side in
zugzwang looses. Maybe this side is going to loose only several centipawns. This
is enough to define a "zugzwang" position, not enough to loose the game. So
ignoring them is still a good deal.
I would bet that if you find any zugzwang position in the first 15 moves of a
game the side in zugzwang is still not loosing for this reason.
Christophe
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.