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Subject: Re: Computer Chess version of my post

Author: KarinsDad

Date: 21:54:58 07/12/99

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On July 13, 1999 at 00:26:38, Bruce Moreland wrote:

[snip]

>
>Not to pick nits, but this particular question has a lot to do with computer
>chess.  People have tried to quantify the chess domain, in order to figure out
>how difficult it would be to solve the game.
>
>I can imagine a good article on this subject being published in the ICCAJ, which
>isn't to say that I'd read it.
>
>bruce

Not to pick nits, but it is peripheral at best (as opposed to having a lot to do
with computer chess).

When you are talking 10^46 positions, the game is basically unsolvable with
today's technology. Any discussion is more or less opinion and philosophy, but
has very little bearing on the real world, even the real computer chess world.

Yes, I could see that someone may come up with a new idea that could drop it to
9.9^45, but as a general rule, these ideas will probably not be applicable to a
chess playing program, a chess database program, or any form of chess extension
program (such as format converters or winboard type programs).

So, it is definitely outside of mainstream discussions. I could make an argument
that knowing the ratings of the GMs allows a programmer to filter the opening
database better and therefore has at least as much or more relevance than the
maximum number of chess positions which also sounds (on the surface) like it is
totally chess related and not computer chess related. Just because most people
do not use the ratings that are sometimes posted to improve their opening books
does not mean that it is not important information and cannot be used that way.
Someone else could make a counter argument to this that may have just as much
validity.

It is all dependent on your own perspective and my basic point is that one man's
garbage is another man's treasure. I just do not use a narrow view to make a
judgement on it.

KarinsDad :)



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