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Subject: Re: KQ vs kr position

Author: Ricardo Gibert

Date: 09:29:08 08/04/99

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On August 04, 1999 at 09:19:56, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On August 03, 1999 at 23:13:13, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>
>>On August 03, 1999 at 21:54:23, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On August 03, 1999 at 15:34:54, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>
>>>>On August 03, 1999 at 14:28:04, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On August 03, 1999 at 10:28:25, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On August 03, 1999 at 09:00:33, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On August 03, 1999 at 04:45:07, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On August 03, 1999 at 04:32:27, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>On August 02, 1999 at 22:47:14, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Your post is a little ambiguous. Are you saying Nalimov EGTB is a shortest mate
>>>>>>>>>>EGTB for all the 5 man endings? How would the tables be generated?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>I would be surprised if all the endings covered by the Nalimov EGTB are of the
>>>>>>>>>>shortest mate variety. I would also be disappointed for the reason indicated.
>>>>>>>>>>Some endings (other than KQKR which a computer program can win in about 34
>>>>>>>>>>moves) would be "impossible" to win using such a TB due to the 50 move rule.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I would be suprised if the Nalimov tables are *not* distance to mate.  The only
>>>>>>>>>publicly available distance to conversion tables that I know of are the Thompson
>>>>>>>>>tables.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Shortest mate EGTB also has the defect of possibly concluding that an ending is
>>>>>>>>drawn due to the 50 move when it is actually winning. By the way, I think this
>>>>>>>>issue can be cleared up by noting that "distance to mate" is not necessarily the
>>>>>>>>same as "shortest mate".
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>first, 50 move draw is _not_ included.  How could it be?  Because you have
>>>>>>>_no_ idea what position you will enter the database at...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>and distance to mate _is_ "shortest distance to mate" absolutely...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>Then this means the EGTB will prefer a mate in 51 without pawns moves or
>>>>>>captures to a mate in 52 with a pawn move or capture before the 50 move rule
>>>>>>kicks in. It will draw winning positions. Undesirable and unnecessary.
>>>>>>Fortunately rare.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>yes... but this is a problem no matter what.  Because the tablebase is just
>>>>>a file that is indexed by piece location, and it provides mated-in-N, draw, or
>>>>>mate-in-N.  It has _no_ idea about prior positions and what might have
>>>>>transpired before reaching this position.  It can't even tell if this position
>>>>>is a successor of another position in this file, or if it was reached via a
>>>>>capture with a zero 50-move counter.
>>>>
>>>>prior positions are irrelevant.
>>>>
>>>
>>>you are wrong here.  I play move A, then move B (which unmakes move A),
>>>then move A again, then move B again, and now I probe the table, and it
>>>says if you play move X you win the rook in 4 moves.  Unfortunately,
>>>a couple of moves before you win the rook, you play move A again and
>>>the position is repeated and the game ends as a draw.
>>
>>The EGTBs hits should be "part" of the eval. A tool. You catch 3 fold reps the
>>same way you always do. For example, distance to mate also would have this
>>"problem". What difference does it make if you find mate or win of a rook?
>
>>
>>Besides, after you play A the 1st time, you probe and find move X to win the
>>rook. No draw.
>>
>
>
>this is going in circles.  This was _my_ argument.  then _you_ pointed out
>you were talking about doing a probe _after_ an adjournament.  And there, the
>problem is going to come up and there is no solution for it.
>
>If my program plays the whole game, this will _never_ be a problem.  If you
>give it a position to play after someone else has played a bunch of moves,
>then this wil never work properly.
>

It will be a problem regardless (unless you also provide the game score) of how
you do it. "My way" addresses the 50-move problem.
>
>
>>>
>>>If you don't have state information in the database, there is _no_ way
>>>to probe it and ask about such things.. because it says you can capture
>>>a piece in 29 moves, but how many _prior_ positions of yours do you repeat
>>>before doing so?
>>>
>>>This is an old discussion.  There are _many_ problems here...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>deep mates are going to be a problem in 6 piece files, no doubt about it.  It
>>>>>would be interesting to see if there are already violations of this in the 5
>>>>>piece files...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>And yes, the tables do suffer from the possible problem that you mentioned,
>>>>>>>>>although this should be extremely rare in practice.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>bruce



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