How to test if MCTS is working?

[chessica]

Hello, I just stumbled across MCTS. I have a simple question. How do you check whether MCTS really works?
I haven't found anything about that yet. Are there special tests that can provide information about this?

[Christopher Martin]

Hello. I hear you. I can give you instructions on how to proceed

[chessica]

Hello. I hear you. I can give you instructions on how to proceed

Hello my friend, please tell me what you can say about it. I am very interested because I have not found anything about it.

[Christopher Martin]

Yes

[chessica]

Yes

joker, you

[chessica]

Checking the Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) in a chess program can be an interesting task. Here are some approaches to test whether MCTS is working properly: Comparison with other engines: Compare the MCTS engine's ratings and moves with other strong chess engines like Stockfish or Komodo. If the engines agree at great depths, that's a good sign. Otherwise, play the displayed variations back and forth and see if the engine ratings converge. If not, either go deeper or decide based on your own chess understanding that the engine is wrong.

[JacquesRW]

Hello, I just stumbled across MCTS. I have a simple question. How do you check whether MCTS really works?
I haven't found anything about that yet. Are there special tests that can provide information about this?

Well firstly what do you mean by “works”?

I’m going to take Pure MCTS = The Wikipedia definition of MCTS + UCT.
Pure MCTS should be able to resolve (very) simple tactics if given enough time. It is hard to overstate how terrible pure MCTS is relative to your bog-standard minimax engine.

[chessica]

Hello, I just stumbled across MCTS. I have a simple question. How do you check whether MCTS really works?
I haven't found anything about that yet. Are there special tests that can provide information about this?

Well firstly what do you mean by “works”?
...

"works" ---> means that the engine does exactly what it is supposed to do, and does it correctly.

[JacquesRW]

"works" ---> means that the engine does exactly what it is supposed to do, and does it correctly.

This is the emptiest statement ever made. You can't give an answer to a question like that. What exactly, in your view, is the MCTS engine meant to do?

[chessica]

Checking the Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) in a chess program can be an interesting task. Here are some approaches to test whether MCTS is working properly: Comparison with other engines: Compare the MCTS engine's ratings and moves with other strong chess engines like Stockfish or Komodo. If the engines agree at great depths, that's a good sign. Otherwise, play the displayed variations back and forth and see if the engine ratings converge. If not, either go deeper or decide based on your own chess understanding that the engine is wrong.

No, that was not an answer from me, but comes from artificial intelligence, also called AI.