🚀 go-pugleaf

nash@visus.com (Richard V. Nash) writes:

>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>8 |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>7 |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>6 | *P |    |    |    |    |    | *K | *P |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>5 |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>4 |  P |    | *B |    |    |    |    | *P |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>3 |  B |    |    |    |    |  K |    |    |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>2 |    |    | *P | *B |    |    |    |    |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>1 |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
>  +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>    a    b    c    d    e    f    g    h    


>This is the position just before c2c1B. My guess as to why GNUchess did this is  
>because its evaluation function "reasoned" that it was better to go with 3  
>bishops against 1 than 2 against 1. If the pawn would have promoted to a queen,  
>no doubt it would have been taken by the bishop on a3. As the game went, the  
>white bishop moved away.

>Sound plausable? Sound like something a silly machine would do?

	This seems more to me like something a silly machine would do.  When
you are up by this many peices it is almost always beneficial to trade away
peices.  Besides, if the bishop on a3 took the queen it would not be 2 against
1, it would be 2 against 0 after the bishop at d2 took the bishop at a3 (now
c1).  This would leave GNU chess with a white and black bishop and 3 pawns
(with the pawn in row a ready for easy promotion after the removal of the
opponent's pawn which would not be able to be prevented by the king (sitting
all the way over in f column).  Besides, two bishops (of opposite colors) and
a king vs. a king is a workable mate solution.
	As an aside question, is it a workable mate if you have two bishops
of the same color and a king vs. a king?

Dwight
dwight@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu         who knows if my employer has opinions?
-- 
No matter which road you travel down, all other roads get farther away.