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Extended Null-Move Reductions

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Computers and Games (CG 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 5131))

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Abstract

In this paper we review the conventional versions of null-move pruning, and present our enhancements which allow for a deeper search with greater accuracy. While the conventional versions of null-move pruning use reduction values of R ≤ 3, we use an aggressive reduction value of R = 4 within a verified adaptive configuration which maximizes the benefit from the more aggressive pruning, while limiting its tactical liabilities. Our experimental results using our grandmaster-level chess program, Falcon, show that our null-move reductions (NMR) outperform the conventional methods, with the tactical benefits of the deeper search dominating the deficiencies. Moreover, unlike standard null-move pruning, which fails badly in zugzwang positions, NMR is impervious to zugzwangs. Finally, the implementation of NMR in any program already using null-move pruning requires a modification of only a few lines of code.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 52900, Israel

    Omid David-Tabibi & Nathan S. Netanyahu

  2. Center for Automation Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA

    Nathan S. Netanyahu

Authors
  1. Omid David-Tabibi
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  2. Nathan S. Netanyahu
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Editor information

H. Jaap van den Herik Xinhe Xu Zongmin Ma Mark H. M. Winands

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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David-Tabibi, O., Netanyahu, N.S. (2008). Extended Null-Move Reductions. In: van den Herik, H.J., Xu, X., Ma, Z., Winands, M.H.M. (eds) Computers and Games. CG 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5131. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-87608-3_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-87608-3_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-87607-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-87608-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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