About been aggresive as a point machine

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Kempelen
Posts: 620
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:44 am
Location: Madrid - Spain

About been aggresive as a point machine

Post by Kempelen »

Do you think, or have you noted, or do you have testing data that make the saying "best defense is an attack" true?. I mean, do you think doing a aggressive engine is more paying?

I know that current engines see "nearly all" and this could be a philosophical question, but I feel interest on opinions....

Making test with my engine, I have seen than when I tune defensive parameter to high the engine does not win so many games......
Fermin Serrano
Author of 'Rodin' engine
http://sites.google.com/site/clonfsp/
AlvaroBegue
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Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:46 pm
Location: New York
Full name: Álvaro Begué (RuyDos)

Re: About been aggresive as a point machine

Post by AlvaroBegue »

Your evaluation function should be a proxy for the probability of winning the game from a position, or for the expected number of points you'll score (to handle draws). If you overemphasize either attack or defense, I expect the strength of the engine to go down.

It is possible that an aggressive style is an advantage when playing against weaker players, because there will be fewer games where no big complications arise on the board and the opponent gets away with a draw.
Ferdy
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Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:15 pm
Location: Philippines

Re: About been aggresive as a point machine

Post by Ferdy »

Kempelen wrote:Do you think, or have you noted, or do you have testing data that make the saying "best defense is an attack" true?. I mean, do you think doing a aggressive engine is more paying?

I know that current engines see "nearly all" and this could be a philosophical question, but I feel interest on opinions....

Making test with my engine, I have seen than when I tune defensive parameter to high the engine does not win so many games......
I think being aggressive hunting a king is rewarding. You have to remember also the saying "before you attack you have to at least equalize". For an engine, an attack_margin maybe appropriate. Launch a counter attack even if you have not fully equalize as long as the attack_threshold is not exceeded. I have not tried this idea yet.