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Subject: Re: how to detect information about pawn structure based on bitboard

Author: JW de Kort

Date: 05:02:45 12/17/02

Go up one level in this thread


On December 17, 2002 at 07:28:54, Uri Blass wrote:

>On December 17, 2002 at 06:52:43, JW de Kort wrote:
>
>>On December 17, 2002 at 06:44:52, Uri Blass wrote:
>>
>>>On December 17, 2002 at 06:28:31, JW de Kort wrote:
>>>
>>>>On December 17, 2002 at 05:57:55, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On December 17, 2002 at 05:46:29, JW de Kort wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On December 17, 2002 at 04:46:16, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On December 17, 2002 at 04:27:48, JW de Kort wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On December 17, 2002 at 03:40:11, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I think to add to my program bitboard that will be used only for pawn structure.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>2 numbers of 64 bits that are used for white pawns and for black pawns.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I want to detect based on these bitboards a lot of information about every pawn
>>>>>>>>>and I may want to use the information together with attack tables for
>>>>>>>>>evaluation.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>My question is if using bitboard is a good idea to get the information and
>>>>>>>>>if the answer is positive how can I detect the information by bitboards
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>For every pawn I want to detect the following:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>1)Is it a weak pawn(a pawn that can never be defended by a pawn and cannot go
>>>>>>>>>forward to promote without captures and without the risk of being captured by a
>>>>>>>>>pawn)
>>>>>>>>>2)Is it probably weak pawn(it means that the only way to defend it by a pawn is
>>>>>>>>>by capturing the opponent pawn or by letting the opponent to capture the
>>>>>>>>>potential defender by a pawn).
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>3)Is it a pawn that is defended by a pawn and if not how many normal pawn moves
>>>>>>>>>that are not captures and do not let the opponent to capture by a pawn are
>>>>>>>>>needed to defend it by a pawn.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>4)Is it a passed pawn and if it is a passed pawn how many normal pawn moves are
>>>>>>>>>needed to defend it by a pawn.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>5)Is it a potential passed pawn(is the only way of the opponent to stop it is by
>>>>>>>>>letting the player to have another passed pawn)
>>>>>>>>>In case that it is a potential passed pawn the question is if it can be done by
>>>>>>>>>normal means or the only way to make it a passed pawn is by sacrifices
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Uri
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Dear Uri,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I do this in my 0x88 based program: i use bitboards to do the pawn evaluation.
>>>>>>>>This evaluation is only on a very basic level but the topics you mention is
>>>>>>>>covered. I found out that by bitboard it is far easier and quicker to check
>>>>>>>>whether a pawn is passed or not but i think this is commom knowledge. I found
>>>>>>>>the source of Crafty very informative.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>regards
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Jan Willem
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>1)This seems to be not very basic level.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>In the match steve ham against computers Nimzo7.32 could not evaluate correctly
>>>>>>>a black passed pawn at c3 that could not be protected by a pawn and gave it a
>>>>>>>big bonus.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>If even Nimzo7.32(that is at the level of the top amateurs) could not evaluate
>>>>>>>it then it means that it is not a basic evaluation because I expect nimzo7.32 to
>>>>>>>know at least everything that is very basic level.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I guess that big majority of the chess programs do not have this information
>>>>>>>because most amateurs have less knowledge than nimzo7.32(movei of today even
>>>>>>>does not evaluate passed pawns).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I'am afraid my response was not completely clea at this point or maybe i got
>>>>>>your question not right. M<y progrma can tell if a pawn if passed atc. by using
>>>>>>bitboards but iám not to say that it is evaluated correctly. My engine is very
>>>>>>weak at the moment and one of the problems is the wrong evaluation of these
>>>>>>features. I understood your question as; how to detect these things. Iám sorry
>>>>>>if i under estimated you. (I wonderde why you asked this question to be honest).
>>>>>>By 'basic' i mean that an evaluationfunction coveres all the aspectes that are
>>>>>>already in the function of CHESS 4.5.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>2)Where did you look at crafty source code to find the relevant information that
>>>>>>>helped you?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I took a close look in the evaluationfunction where the pawns are evalutaed. But
>>>>>>i think it is not to hard to understand this. e.g if you want to know if a pawn
>>>>>>is passed you can do a logical AND with the bitboard of all opposite pawns and
>>>>>>an bitboard giving all the squares that must be empty for the pawn to be passed.
>>>>>>(Again i appologize if this information is not what you are looking for).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Note that I plan to use the information for the evaluation but it does not mean
>>>>>>>that this information will give me the evaluation because I want to evaluate
>>>>>>>weak pawn that is attacked by the opponent as less than weak pawn that is not
>>>>>>>attacked  by the opponent so I may use my attack tables.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>3)What is the level of your program?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Not very good i'am afraid. The evaluationfunction does know almost all the
>>>>>>features of CHESS 4.5 like passed pawns, backwardspawns, very backwardspawns,
>>>>>>doubled rooks, rooks and quens on seventh rank, kin safety, caslte bonus for
>>>>>>being casteld and a malus for not being so, king tropism, center tropism,
>>>>>>placement of pieces like near the centre and on safe squares etc. but these
>>>>>>features are at the moment so badly tuned that my program is willing to open up
>>>>>>his king defence to advance his pawns. But again this is only for starters,
>>>>>>since it can play under winboard iám planning to make it stronger. My main
>>>>>>concern however is the speed, or better the lack of it. I saw it beat BEOWULF
>>>>>>once but i saw it beaten by BEOWULF about twenty times. It largely depends on
>>>>>>the opening my progrma plays if it can give some resistance.
>>>>>
>>>>>My programs knows almost nothing about it but it is clearly better than programs
>>>>>like Gerbil.
>>>>>
>>>>>My question is what is the level of your program relative to other chess
>>>>>programs.
>>>>>
>>>>>Uri
>>>>
>>>>Dear Uri,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I have never let it play agains Gerbil, but i will do that soon. I had it play
>>>>against Fritz 6 with the obvious result. It plays about 50-50 agains TCSP (or is
>>>>it TSCP i'am not sure) but i do not like this program to test is againt (but is
>>>>very usefull to get information from) because it always plays the same moves. My
>>>>progrma uses a large openingbook wich contains gambits and if my program plays a
>>>>gambit it is a sure loss because the lost pawn will never be retrieved and my
>>>>progrma does not know how to exploid the possitional advantages. Agains BEOWULF
>>>>it plays better then i expected but it also most of the time loses but i have
>>>>seen it a few times. The problem with my progrma is that the evalutaion function
>>>>is not tuned and i hope to find time to work on it.
>>>>
>>>>So i would say my engine is relatively weak but i think -or hope- it has
>>>>potential to grow.
>>>>
>>>>Greetings JWK
>>>
>>>I think that the problem with your program is that you worked on the wrong
>>>direction.
>>>
>>>search is clearly more important than evaluation.
>>
>>That might by true but i have implemented already some search things like
>>iteratieve deepening, captures first, killer moves, hash table, hisotry
>>heuristic and i am planning for null move and extansions but after that i found
>>out that my progrma lacked knowledge.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>If it is often losing against tscp after playing gambit lines then it means that
>>>something is wrong with it's search.
>>
>>I don't think i agree. If i see it correctly the purpose of a gambit is to give
>>up material to gain positional advantage. THis is ok if you kno how to use this
>>positional advantage and this involves knowledge. If you don't know how to
>>exploit the advantage you just give away material like my program does.
>
>I believe that if you let it search deeper at the same opening it is going to
>beat tscp.
>
>I suggest that you try the same openings that your program lost but only let it
>to search 2 plies deeper than it searched in the games.
>
>I expect it to win most of the games that it lost.
>
>Uri

I will certainly try that. There is onother thing that springs into my mind: my
program always searches 6 ply no matter what and using the time control i use,
TSCp always goes to 6 ply and often to 6 or more. An anoing thin however still
is that TSCP always makes the same move, still a great program.







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