How to make your engine beat Rybka !!!

[Dylan Sharp]

This is a translation of IA's post from the spanish section by request.

IA:
"I'm going to try to explain my opinion about how to make your engine beat not only Rybka but any silicon opponent.

First, you'll start from two points: 1) Chess is infinite in its possibilities. 2) Even though they're very strong, chess engines have weaknesses, you just have to learn how to exploit these weaknesses and beat them. These points are the basis that show that no chess engine is unbeatable. The next question is how to beat a stronger opponent!

There are 2 concepts that you have to keep in mind, you should not only know your engine (in this example Hiarcs), but to know your opponent. If Hiarcs is stronger in some kind of positions you have to aim at these positions if it's possible. If the opponent bases its strength on the pressure, you have to avoid bad positions at all cost. I'll explain this later.

The engine has to be open ended so you can adjust its settings at all times with several parameters. These settings allow the engine to maneuver and without them it becomes useless. You have to allow the engine to have several personalities and use them accordingly, changing them within minutes and midgame.

Let's start: Chess is divided in 3 phases, opening, middle game and endgame. The subject is complex so I'll keep these issues divided. When a problem is so complex that you are confused by it you should not give up, you just divide the problem in smaller parts and analyze them individually so they're easier to understand. This can be applied to everything that happens in life, because all problems have a solution, you just have to find it and if it proves hard you just divide the parts in smaller parts until you can understand it.

We start with the opening, in this case it's necessary to divide all the openings, and to find out with which opening, with white and with black you can reach favorable positions for our goal. You have to analyze the openings that are the most uncomfortable to play to our opponent for Hiarcs to win. It would be interesting to turn the opening book in some kind of engine. E.G. this opening engine is aware that the position is open, closed, unclear, half-open, even an intelligent opening book with some kind of heuristic that is aware all the time of the best path for Hiarcs. Openings are 50% of the game and if you come out of it in bad shape then you're lost.

The middle game is about planning, if you are fine after the opening there is no major trouble, but it would be interesting to see the weak points of the opponent and exploit them as soon as possible. E.G. if Rybka is strong with pawns and bishop combination you should try to capture the bishops soon or make them stuck positionally. You have to make the opponent fall in its own trap and eliminate all its strong points. In the middle game if the position gets worse it would be interesting to get the pieces together and attack the opponent, this way you strengthen the position. Like a stonewall, in the middle game unity is strength, the goal is to weaken our opponent and bring it to a lost endgame for it.

In the endgame besides tablebases it could be tried to program into Hiarcs the opening that lead to these kind of endgames. By choosing the 5 strongest openings for Hiarcs with white and black, you can try to reach some kind of won endgame.

Well, I don't want to make this post longer, this is a simple example of some ideas that I have. Thanks everyone, I have more ideas but I don't want that the people get bored.

Regards."

[IA]

Thank you very much for every Dylan

[Dylan Sharp]

No hay de que. Creo que tambien traduciré las respuestas de este tópico al español para que la comunicación sea mas sencilla.

(I'm going to translate the replies to spanish so communication is easier.)

[George Tsavdaris]

This is a translation of IA's post from the spanish section by request.

IA:
"I'm going to try to explain my opinion about how to make your engine beat not only Rybka but any silicon opponent.
.............
............."

Sorry but all these seem to me meaningless.
He doesn't explain anything concrete and it's just general thoughts. Maybe good thoughts but by all means they can never be practical as they are too general....

[IA]

What does not make sense is George to criticize without contributing anything, I have contributed ideas, they can please you more or less, but they are ideas, since comprehension I am not going to put in the forum to write to me a complete agreement of since winning Rybka.

Not if you know George that before putting something in practises has to turn into idea and then it go on to the practise and not upside-down since it is impossible.

Regards .............

[Soren Riis]

Maybe you could illustrate your idea by providing some examples supported by games.

One related method is to let the engines play many games until the desired result occur in a game.

[Hetman]

Hi,

Examples are in the Rybka - Zappa match.

Rgds
Hetman

[chesstango]

Es cierto lo que tu dices; el problema es que no dices como hacerlo en forma concreta; ejemplos: yo podria decir que con la misma nafta super de Shell , haciendo algunos cambios en el auto, puedo llevarlo de hacer 100 km/h a 200 km/h; otro ejemplo, con la formula de Einstein podemos hacer aparatos medicos para curar y tambien podemos hacer bombas para matar.......
Si me dices como hacer concretamente para que hiarcs le gane a rybka, pues dimelo.
Gracias.

This is a translation of IA's post from the spanish section by request.

IA:
"I'm going to try to explain my opinion about how to make your engine beat not only Rybka but any silicon opponent.

First, you'll start from two points: 1) Chess is infinite in its possibilities. 2) Even though they're very strong, chess engines have weaknesses, you just have to learn how to exploit these weaknesses and beat them. These points are the basis that show that no chess engine is unbeatable. The next question is how to beat a stronger opponent!

There are 2 concepts that you have to keep in mind, you should not only know your engine (in this example Hiarcs), but to know your opponent. If Hiarcs is stronger in some kind of positions you have to aim at these positions if it's possible. If the opponent bases its strength on the pressure, you have to avoid bad positions at all cost. I'll explain this later.

The engine has to be open ended so you can adjust its settings at all times with several parameters. These settings allow the engine to maneuver and without them it becomes useless. You have to allow the engine to have several personalities and use them accordingly, changing them within minutes and midgame.

Let's start: Chess is divided in 3 phases, opening, middle game and endgame. The subject is complex so I'll keep these issues divided. When a problem is so complex that you are confused by it you should not give up, you just divide the problem in smaller parts and analyze them individually so they're easier to understand. This can be applied to everything that happens in life, because all problems have a solution, you just have to find it and if it proves hard you just divide the parts in smaller parts until you can understand it.

We start with the opening, in this case it's necessary to divide all the openings, and to find out with which opening, with white and with black you can reach favorable positions for our goal. You have to analyze the openings that are the most uncomfortable to play to our opponent for Hiarcs to win. It would be interesting to turn the opening book in some kind of engine. E.G. this opening engine is aware that the position is open, closed, unclear, half-open, even an intelligent opening book with some kind of heuristic that is aware all the time of the best path for Hiarcs. Openings are 50% of the game and if you come out of it in bad shape then you're lost.

The middle game is about planning, if you are fine after the opening there is no major trouble, but it would be interesting to see the weak points of the opponent and exploit them as soon as possible. E.G. if Rybka is strong with pawns and bishop combination you should try to capture the bishops soon or make them stuck positionally. You have to make the opponent fall in its own trap and eliminate all its strong points. In the middle game if the position gets worse it would be interesting to get the pieces together and attack the opponent, this way you strengthen the position. Like a stonewall, in the middle game unity is strength, the goal is to weaken our opponent and bring it to a lost endgame for it.

In the endgame besides tablebases it could be tried to program into Hiarcs the opening that lead to these kind of endgames. By choosing the 5 strongest openings for Hiarcs with white and black, you can try to reach some kind of won endgame.

Well, I don't want to make this post longer, this is a simple example of some ideas that I have. Thanks everyone, I have more ideas but I don't want that the people get bored.

Regards."

[IA]

The problem that I see is that the people have very few ideas, this is an opened forum in order that each one of his opinions not to judge and to destroy them of the others and though it had the main key to win not serious Rybka so silly of giving it here in order that the team of Rybka was using it, I am a prudent man and it is not important for my what the others think.

Regards .....................