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Subject: Re: Positional Play (Only 2700+ GMs need respond please)

Author: walter irvin

Date: 12:12:07 10/24/99

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On October 24, 1999 at 12:09:10, Ratko V Tomic wrote:

>> i think around 30 ply or so with a average (current)eval and perhaps
>> 40 to 50 ply with only material .
>
>Even 30 plies for exact minimaxing (with over 10^23 nodes examined with optimim
>move order) is far beyond any conceivable technology. Selectively, yes, they
>even go today 30 plies thay way. As for the 50 plies, with over 10^38 positions,
>that would be a "galactic" sized computer, it won't happen. There are also
>limits on the minimum size of computer circuits and the customary doubling of
>speed every couple years won't go on for much longer. We may see programs
>examining perhaps 10^12 positions, equivalent to 15-16 plies of exact
>minimaxing. Not a big deal for a well motivated and well prepared GM to subdue.
>
>The present style programs, essentially alpha-beta searchers with refinements,
>are a dead end. Their efficiency (the proportion of non-junk nodes to all nodes
>examined) drops toward zero with increasing depth, which is why even otherwise
>seemingly unsound selectivity (be it the null-move or gradual ad hoc forward
>pruning increasing with depth) appears to work better at higher depths -- even a
>random discarding of nodes will end up discarding proportionately more junk at
>higher depths, thus it will seem more accurate (and less wasteful of computing
>resources). But the programs which will achieve the unquestionable superiority
>over the top human players (and, of course, over the present style programs)
>will be of a smarter kind, with several layers of control and search trees,
>where alpha-beta is only the lowest layer guided between the nodes of the sparse
>next higher level tree by the reasoning components (similar to what humans do
>when they use computer for in depth analysis).

there is one other posibility for computers to all but smash gm's .that is to
come up with a opening table base that would always leave the computer in a very
, very good position out of the opening .they have done it with the ending i say
it can be done with the opening .not all the way to check mate just to a good
advantage .there may be a limit to how many nps (except multi processors) that
computers will attain .but who knows just how much data can be stored .there are
only a certain number of positions that can safely be reached against strong
opposition , out of the opening .
 i think programers should be going in that direction in order to make programs
stronger .one thing a computer does better than ANY man and that is to remember
or store vast amounts of data . people cant even remember where they put their
car keys !(ha ha ) i think research into the opening of chess games is in order
. maybe the current human openings are not the best . maybe a computer could
find what man does not have the time  or inclination to find ie  certain moves
man may deem too risky .



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