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[H.G.Muller]

If people prune bad captures in QS, do they make exceptions for captures with piece that were under attack already?

E.g. when I attack my opponent's Queen, and he would respond with a counter attack on my Queen, the 'obvious refutation' is usually that I make a 'suicide capture' with my Queen. Because when he now recaptures, I take his Queen, making it merely a trade.

So a counter-attack is usually a fatal mistake, but if in QS the suicide capture with the threatened Queen is not searched because it has negative SEE, the program would not see it.

I am especially interested in this, because counter-attacks are often a prelude to a plunder raid, where the attacks are followed by actual captures. Plunder raids can only sustain themselves if each capture of the lagging side targets a new victim at least as valuable as what the opponent threatened with his last capture. (But with pieces as strong as Queen, or even stronger, that is usually possible in multiple ways.) So you are typically in a situation where both sides have a valuable piece under attack, And making the captures is usually not the most effective defense for the leading side. A suicide capture with the threatened piece is much more likely to refute the counter attack, and put an immediate end to the plunder raid.