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What does it mean if Stockfish's analyze's depth is well over 1 like 49/43? My understanding was that the first number shows the number of half-moves that are always checked and the 2nd [usually higher] number shows the max depth of some longer variations. I am pretty often seeing it the other way around though with the 1st number being higher. How so?

Rasmus
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(Disclaimer, not an expert.)

These numbers are usually much bigger than 1. The first number is the number of 'iterations' that the engine has completed. The second corresponds roughly to the deepest line the engine has searched.

With each iteration the engine searches deeper, so the first number is a measure of how deep the engine has searched, but it does not strictly correspond to the number of ply ("half-moves") the engine is searching ahead. For example, if a move loses the Queen and the engine can see no compensation, the engine will prune that move and focus its time on searching its main candidate moves deeper.

The first number is usually smaller than the second number, but since the first number is not exactly depth, there's no reason why it can't be larger than the second number.

You can see more details here.

Allure
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  • This seems to make sense that one of the numbers does not represent exactly plies. First number seems to indeed be something like number of loops the engine has completed and the 2nd one... longest depth the engine has searched ahead... of the starting move it is currently considering? Right now I'm seeing such numbers for example: https://gyazo.com/077d86f20a440ee86c8afac7f7c7d6f4 (66/24). – Rasmus Apr 22 '23 at 06:02