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Subject: Re: Endgame trap; some progs see it - How is it found? e.g. Crafty?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 20:24:02 05/26/99

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On May 26, 1999 at 23:18:09, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On May 26, 1999 at 23:14:59, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On May 26, 1999 at 20:22:28, Paul Richards wrote:
>>
>>>On May 26, 1999 at 19:32:02, José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>	The main problem is that no program will see the repetition, as white >can easily make 50 moves without allowing a third repetition. The program
>>>>would need to detect the 50-moves draw with the search, and that would not
>>>>be enough as white can make five pawn advances, resetting the count.
>>>>	Then the program needs to search 50x5x2=500 plies to detect the draw, >and that is quite far from what current programs reach on current hardware.
>>>
>>>Crafty completely ignores gxh6?? as an option, and if forced to make the move,
>>>realizes the position is drawn at 16 ply (this is within the Fritz GUI,
>>>no tablebase access enabled.  So what is the code that allows it to avoid
>>>gxh6?? immediately, and how does it determine the draw after making the move
>>>gxh6?  This would be rather easy for Dr. Hyatt to explain, hence the use of
>>>the word Crafty in the subject to draw his attention. :)) In any case most
>>>programs do see the draw, and without resorting to tablebases.
>>
>>To see a draw, in this kind of case, you need two circumstances:  The side
>>that is 'seeing' the draw hopefully thinks it is better.  The other side,
>>therefore, thinks it is losing.
>>
>>Given those two, the side trying to win discovers that if it doesn't play the
>>move leading to a draw it loses outright.  But by playing the move that does
>>lead to a possible draw, the opponent can't find any way to win, and since that
>>side thinks it is losing, it heads to the draw a.s.a.p.  Not knowing that it
>>can also play a much longer draw if it wants.
>>
>>Cray Blitz would handle this far differently, but it would produce the same
>>result.  If the other side (in this position) was well ahead, then the other
>>would not be able to force a draw it could see, because the winning side would
>>try like mad to avoid the draw and push it off so far into the future that it
>>would not be seen.  In essence this is a position where the drawing move is the
>>only move that doesn't lose, and by playing this the other side becomes
>>convinced that taking the draw is the right thing to do.
>>
>>Almost like _both_ sides think they are losing, but not quite.  :)
>
>
>also I didn't look at the position, but there are many positions that Crafty
>knows about...  ie bishop + rookpawn of the wrong color.  So that it can
>evaluate something as drawn even though it is way up in material.  Perhaps
>Fritz doesn't know about this.  It is amazing how many programs don't know
>about not playing Bxa7 if black can play b6 and trap the bishop.  But I watched
>Crafty spring this trap on two well-known programs yesterday and today on ICC.
>B+RP is just another important piece of knowledge that will save a game here
>and there at nominal execution time cost.


OK.. I read the whole thread, and tried it.  It is the piece of knowledge
that says K + B + RP on wrong color draws if the opposing king can get to the
queening square before the pawn.  That is why Crafty plays Nh6 as black and
_never_ considers gxh6.  If you play Nh6, a 1 ply search rejects gh because it
evaluates to DRAW.  Very simple answer after looking at it..   so forget my
first answer.  That happens, but not in this case...



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