#2277
I cannot help it. That is how it is.
Chess will never be solved, here's why
#2274
"In the game you mention Black won with the 3-fold repetition rule in force. With a 2-fold repetition rule the game would have been drawn."
++ No: if the rule were 2-fold, then black would not have repeated the moves, or he might have lost on time. If the rule were 5-fold repetition, then black might have repeated the moves 4 times, to gain time on the clock and check and double check his calculation.
So in your judgement he'd have played different moves depending on whether it'e 2-fold, 3-fold etc.
Is that what you mean by " It does not matter"?
#2268
Here is again the shortest proof game for the first legal Tromp sample.
Its accuracy is near 0%. You can add some moves and/or change the move order, but that changes nothing: the accuracy stays near 0%.
As for the other position it is obvious that white must promote his pawn: preferably to a queen, or else to a bishop, or to a rook, or to a knight. What does that prove? Of course promotion to a queen is the move.
Rook or knight would lose.
The point is, according to your own description of your method your computation must consider the resulting position where White has two dark square bishops. Precisely what you say will never happen.
#2280
"So in your judgement he'd have played different moves depending on whether it'e 2-fold, 3-fold etc. Is that what you mean by " It does not matter"?"
++ They played 40 moves in 2.5 hours. Of course Kotov used all his available time calculating 21 moves deep before he sacrificed his queen 30...Qxh3+. So he took advantage of the 3-fold repetition rule by repeating twice to reach move 40 without losing on time. If it had been a 2-fold repetition rule, then he would not have repeated twice, or he might have lost on time, or he might not have sacrificed his queen.
When I say it does not matter I mean it does not matter for solving chess. If repeating twice are the optimal moves, then repeating 3-fold are the optimal moves as well.
#2282
"I think rook or knight would lose." ++ Yes, that is correct.
"The point is, according to your own description of your method your computation must consider the resulting position where White has two dark square bishop's. Precisely what you say will never happen."
++ I do not count positions with two dark square bishops in my assessment of the feasibility of weakly solving chess.
Of course I allow any underpromotions that may arise during the actual weakly solving of chess.
This is by the way no counterexample to the heuristic of never underpromoting to a bishop unless to avoid stalemate. Promoting to a queen is still the simplest and best way to draw.

"A heuristic (/hjʊˈrɪstɪk/; from Ancient Greek εὑρίσκω (heurískō) 'I find, discover'), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, short-term goal or approximation. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision."
'self-discovery'. Lol. 'Ease the cognitive load'.
But 'decision' seems to have already been made.
This is about Sveshnikov ?
Its about 'fighting for Sveshnikov' ?
Interesting that 'heuristic' can refer to 'self-discovery'.
Plus we got a few posts ago 'can't help it'.

Anyway - 'heuristics' would certainly be relevant to the forum subject..
And - to a big percentage of the postings so far.
#2280
"So in your judgement he'd have played different moves depending on whether it'e 2-fold, 3-fold etc. Is that what you mean by " It does not matter"?"
++ They played 40 moves in 2.5 hours. Of course Kotov used all his available time calculating 21 moves deep before he sacrificed his queen 30...Qxh3+. So he took advantage of the 3-fold repetition rule by repeating twice to reach move 40 without losing on time. If it had been a 2-fold repetition rule, then he would not have repeated twice, or he might have lost on time, or he might not have sacrificed his queen.
When I say it does not matter I mean it does not matter for solving chess. If repeating twice are the optimal moves, then repeating 3-fold are the optimal moves as well.
Repeating any number of times does not matter in a weak solution of chess, because the repetitions can simply be removed.
Whether it matters in computing a weak solution of chess depends on the method you use.
If you use a tablebase generation method it doesn't matter.
If you use your proposal it does matter.
That's because SF14, your vehicle, will repeat moves (possibly optimally) in won drawn or losing positions. (Not more than twice if it evaluates alternative moves as winning).
For example the 1024 sec/move example in the SF14 v SF14 games I posted here was the only one that finished correctly in a win from the initial winning position. It was played with a 3-fold repetition rule in force. Had it been a 2-fold repetition rule the result would have been a draw.
"If repeating twice are the optimal moves, then repeating 3-fold are the optimal moves as well."
Unfortunately typical of your reasoning. White's moves 4 in the 8 sec/move and 256 sec/move games in the same link repeat twice and are perfect in your 3-fold variant. Had he repeated 3-fold on move 6 that would have been a blunder.
#2282
"I think rook or knight would lose." ++ Yes, that is correct.
"The point is, according to your own description of your method your computation must consider the resulting position where White has two dark square bishop's. Precisely what you say will never happen."
++ I do not count positions with two dark square bishops in my assessment of the feasibility of weakly solving chess.
Yes, I realise you don't. I'm just saying you should.
Of course I allow any underpromotions that may arise during the actual weakly solving of chess.
So you allow them but you don't count them in your assessment. Does that not mean you finish up with the wrong assessment?
This is by the way no counterexample to the heuristic of never underpromoting to a bishop unless to avoid stalemate. Promoting to a queen is still the simplest and best way to draw.
I wasn't discussing heuristics, only the validity of your assessment.

There were two different papers by Schaeffer about solving checkers. One mentioned 10^9 nodes, the other 10^7 nodes each needing 10^7 positions. Hence the confusion.
Both those numbers (10⁹ and 10⁷) were referred to the proof size, not the number of nodes searched and I think you know it well now as before. You have been saying that only 10⁹ or 10⁷ nodes had been searched to solve checkers.
I try to explain in a way that is understandable to all. I answer all questions to the best of my ability.
And is it impossible that's not enough to make it understandable, not only to the less gifted?
"there is no conspiracy or a "gang" against you"
++ Most of my arguments get just met by some insults, some ridicule, some sarcasm, some unsound counterargument, plain denial, some trolling.
You stil put many things together, as if they were questionable the same.
I have no problem at all with different opinions, as long as it stays civil and constructive.
There is no possibility to construct anything, as long as you think that any other either cannot or doesn't want to understand you. You simply do not accept that basically all the others may have the same opinion about your theories and you attribute that to "ganging". That's a clear sign of hubris imho.
"It's because your definitions and the relationships between them are not clear at all"
++ I try to define as clearly as possible. I try to indicate the relationships as clearly as I can. I am aware that my reasoning may sometimes be too succinct for some to understand, but I do not want to make my posts too long either.
As I said, you exclude the possibility that your reasoning may be impossible to understand for anyone.
"As for the relationship between ratings and the topic, imho there is basically none."
++ Basically little. A little bit maybe: there is or rather was a relationship between chess playing strength and education in science. Anderssen, Steinitz, Lasker, Euwe were mathematicians. Capablanca, Botvinnik, Vidmar were engineers.
Capablanca did not graduate at university, if I am not mistaken, but yes he did study engineering. Nonetheless Tal didn't, for example; he studied psychology, if I recall well. Morphy and Alekhine were lawyers, Kasparov has a degree in literature, I think. Why do you mention only facts which support your theories, when you can easily find others that do not? And I hope you believe my word that I have been outplayed at chess by people who had far less scientific education (and understanding) than me.
That however is not what I implied. Rather like: we cannot beat this guy in chess and neither in science, but surely we are better at insulting, ridiculising...
Incredible. You really think you "beat" all the others here at science, which is about objectivity, when you, a single subject, entitle yourself and yourself only to evaluate how much scientific you are... And for sure I do not see this thread as a contest; you do, and you are so confident this is the only way to deal with such things, that you think the others do the same. A true narcissist. @playerafar was right, then, you behave like an unscrupulous lawyer: first the win, then the truth.
"their supposedly better evaluation function"
++ I do not believe in an evaluation function to solve chess, only in deep calculation and using heuristics derived from human and engine play. The evaluation function will always fall short. Only deep calculation until the endgame table base or an earlier 3-fold repetition of position is reliable.
I edited my previous post to make myself clearer: you think you can use your supposedly better than ours evaluation function, to understand how much of the search space can be cut down, preventing any further search in that excluded part, in order to speed up the process. AFAIK no one out there (not only in this thread) supports your approach, because it is fallacious by faulty generalization.
But can we now pin you down on the game you propose to solve as basic rules + 3-fold repetition rule. ...
I'll take that as a "yes".
#2268
Here is again the shortest proof game for the first legal Tromp sample.
Its accuracy is near 0%. You can add some moves and/or change the move order, but that changes nothing: the accuracy stays near 0%.
...
Sorry for the delay, I didn't at first realise that was meant to be a response to my challenge.
Very good as a first try, but a few nit-picks.
(i) If you add moves and/or change the move order some people might say that changes something by definition.
(ii) You don't prove the accuracy is near 0.
(iii) You don't prove if you add some moves and/or change the move order, the accuracy stays near 0%.
Apart from that - well done!
I look forward to you clearing up those few points - I'm sure as the World's strongest grandmaster it won't take you long.

#2259
"Tromp waved you off when you tried to push your BS...10^44 dropped to 10^36"
++ No, Tromp could not agree with any of my proposed definitions of a sensible position.
My present best effort: sensible position = legal position with a proof game of > 50% accuracy.
Tromp was quite helpful generating the random sample of 10,000 positions without promotions to pieces not previously captured. Tromp conjectured that only 1 in 10^6 of those positions without promotions to pieces not previously captured might occur in a reasonable game.
"It doesn't matter if only 1 in a million positions turns out to be viable/worth evaluating...because you have to evaluate them anyway at some level to make that determination"
++ No, I do not have to evaluate them, as they do not occur during weakly solving chess.
Only positions that are legal, sensible, reachable, and relevant need evaluating as they turn up during weakly solving chess.
Illegal positions do not turn up as they cannot be reached from the initial position.
Non-sensible positions like with 2 white dark square bishops or 5 black rooks do not turn up as they cannot be reached from the initial position by a game with > 50% accuracy and we are searching for an ideal game with optimal moves and thus an accuracy near 100%.
Non-reachable positions do not turn up. Many positions with a white pawn on e2 are legal and sensible, but none can be reached after 1 e4.
Non-relevant positions are legal, sensible, and reachable, but do not matter. If 1 e4 e5 is proven a draw, then it is not relevant if 1 e4 c5 draws as well or not.
Apparently you don't understand how computers work. If you give the system a set of rules to apply to "eliminate" non-sensible positions, the act of evaluating each position and checking the criteria you have set is a significant portion of the effort you think that you are avoiding. Whether you pre-parse all this and de-couple it from the actual evaluation of the sensible positions make little difference...you're still talking about orders of magnitude that make your 5 years laughable.
10^120 possible games including all legal paths *was already reduced* to 10^44.5 unique positions since the route of evaluating all legal games is even more out of reach. The cost of this simplification is that you are left evaluating unique positions, not valid game paths. Checking those game paths will cost you a number of years that are not remotely feasible. As I said, your reductions are not going to work. 10^120 to 10^44.5 (sound) to 10^36 to 10^17 (unsound)...it's a little much .

#2255
"You are also using rapid ratings of human beings, and pretending they should have some meaningful impact on understanding how chess can be solved by engines or some future technology."
++ I did not pretend or even imply that, that is your interpretation. Maybe the ratings have some meaningful impact on how humans behave on the forum. How much ad hominem arguments they use. How much sarcasm. How much ridicule. How much they gang up.
Just an example: "Your rating gives you not one ounce more credibility than you have ever had here, which is not much."
In your own style: "Your low rating gives you not one ounce more credibility than you have ever had here, which is not much."
The difference is, I have demonstrable credibility on the forums . Every would-be genius on the forums is the same...they all think that their brilliance is unfathomable and leads to people "ganging up on them" in some organized way. The answer is much simpler. You're just wrong, ergo a bunch of people individually attempt point it out to you.
Optimissed tried to name us all as a group, but Elroch and I don't really interact directly, Playerafar and I don't really get along, Martiggan and I have never interacted that I can recall, and Haiaku is brand new addition to this topic (and a very discerning one, I would say). Pfren, BlueEmu, and Llama each have their own unique take on things as well. There's no "gang". If the average user on the forums understood this problem better, you'd have hundreds and hundreds of posters telling you you are wrong. How big does the "gang" of posters telling you your premise doesn't work have to get before you even start to wonder if you *might* be mistaken?
The fact that it happens over and over should clue you in, but as we know from other examples, some people are not that good at picking up on clues that they might be off the beam.

#2268
Here is again the shortest proof game for the first legal Tromp sample.
Its accuracy is near 0%. You can add some moves and/or change the move order, but that changes nothing: the accuracy stays near 0%.
As for the other position it is obvious that white must promote his pawn: preferably to a queen, or else to a bishop, or to a rook, or to a knight. What does that prove? Of course promotion to a queen is the move.
Congratulations. I accept your premise that this position is not the solution to chess . Only 10^44.5 more positions to go...
With such an attitude - could anybody tell such a person anything at all?
Is it worse than the obsession with personal chess ratings of 'the other' ?
It could be. Could be even worse. Depending on the context.