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Subject: Re: NULL move question

Author: Ricardo Gibert

Date: 16:24:37 01/19/00

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[snip]
>
>
>OK... change that to "middlegame position".  Same result.  I don't reach
>endgame positions very often from middlegame positions.  Usually not until
>around move 40 or so in a real game.  That leaves 40 moves to search with
>no regard to null-move failures at all.  And if the program is smart enough to
>switch null-move off when it is not appropriate, rather than just turning it off
>at the root, this is a total non-issue... for _any_ position you care to name...
>
>So my original statement remains accurate...  A bigger tree is _not_ more
>prone to null-move failures than a smaller one...

Keep changing it. Ignoring what Dan wrote, here is what _you_ wrote:

 "what makes you think that in a 10 ply search, where there are N zug positions,
that in a search space 10 times bigger there are more than 10*N zug positions?"

The assumption _you_ make is there are a non-zero number of "zug positions"
within a 10 ply search. Obviously, _you_ made the tacit assumption that the
position in question is one very much like one encountered at around move 40 or
so. This is _your_ premise. This is why _your_ argument fails. Your argument
clearly does not consider just any random middlegame position. Most middle game
positions will not yield a zugzwang position within a 10 ply search. Your
argument addresses those middlegame positions where zugzwangs _do_ arise within
a 10 ply search, so the game _is_ necessarily pretty far along in the vast
majority of such cases.

You keep trying to re-invent the premises to make your argument work. Wouldn't
it be simpler to admit you made a mistake? Then you could amend your argument so
it works. Instead you want to create the pretense your argument was fine all
along. Why do you want to do this?



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