Tag: Endgame

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Do Tough Things

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I read an interesting post on a computer chess forum last night. It began: Dixondeuxyeux’s Post I thought I would share a few observations that might be of interest to some of you. It was Mark Twain who wrote, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” I like this adage because it is a humbling reminder that the game we enjoy so much is a brutally honest and cruel taskmaster. It is believed that after the first nine moves of any game, the possible continuations outnumber… Continue Reading

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MadChess 3.0 Beta 4d22dec (Endgame Eval Scaling)

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I improved MadChess 3.0 Beta’s detection of drawn endgames. The IsPawnlessDraw method scores the following positions as drawn. Though it continues to search moves for a swindle (opponent mistake that makes a drawn game winnable). 2N vrs <= 1 Minor Q vrs 2B Q vrs 2N Q vrs Q Q vrs R + Minor R vrs R + <= 1 Minor Q vrs 2R 2R vrs R + Minor 2R vrs 2R Testing revealed considering R vrs <= 2 Minors a draw increased evaluation error and caused the engine to play weaker. I left that endgame in the IsPawnlessDraw function… Continue Reading

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Missed Opportunity in the Endgame

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I’ve been playing chess against my engine recently, using a beautiful 23″ wooden board by Drueke, with my notebook PC off to the side.  I set the time control to 25 min + 10 sec / move and give myself an extra 5 minutes per game (more time than MadChess) to make the moves on the board and the PC.  I figure that’s fair- it averages to 5 seconds per move over 60 moves. Since MadChess plays chess as well as an international master (slightly below a grand master), and I am nowhere near that strong, I handicapped it to… Continue Reading