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Questions tagged [calculation]

Calculation is the ability of a chess player to calculate variations in a given position.

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How do chess engines "think"?

What I want to know is how engines are programmed to find moves. I'm sure they first calculate the most forcing lines such as captures and checks. But what about subtle, deep positional moves? They seem to find them very quickly as well (Generally…
chubbycantorset
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Given a legal chess position, is there an algorithm that generates a series of moves that lead to it?

Given a FEN board position, is there an algorithm that can return a PGN move list that evaluates to it from the standard initial position?
2080
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Best ways for improving "tactics"

I have been playing chess for a long time, and I have been around 1850-1900 ELO for quite some time. I have always wondered which are the best ways to improve the tactics. Does playing more and more games improve chess tactics? Playing limited…
Anshu
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Proven ways to improve calculation speed

I've been working on my tactics using on-line resources like Chess Tempo. I found my improvement (as measured by my CT rating) over the last few months to be encouraging, but I struggle to translate this into significant OTB results. I do find that…
firtydank
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CPU v. GPU for chess engines

GPUs are better at certain types of calculations, e.g. generating bitcoins and performing climate simulations. Would chess engines benefit if they calculated with GPUs instead of CPUs? Maybe some knowledgeable person can highlight the differences…
Jessica Ortiz
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Do grandmasters think on every move?

While watching Hikaru's Streams/YouTube (GM Chess Twitch Streamer), he's no doubt extremely impressive when it comes to recognizing patterns that win him material and forced mates in like 7+ moves. Things like this require extensive knowledge of…
Timothy Oh
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What was Anand thinking in the 1994 Armageddon blitz semifinal?

In the famous Blitz semifinal armageddon in 1994, Anand spends 1:43 minutes (from his 5 minutes available) on move 4, and ends up winning the game. What exactly was he thinking? Are there any interviews (text, sound or video) available where he…
d4zed
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How many moves ahead does Anand calculate in his mind?

I always wondered about this! How many moves ahead can strong players like Anand actually 'see' during the game? How does the calculation of a supercomputer like Deep Blue differ from that of strong human players?
msumaithri
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Is there a single best move in every position?

If it were possible to analyse every possible outcome of a position, would there ever be a single move that could be considered "best"? I know that this is how computers evaluate positions, but they can only calculate the decision tree down to a set…
SilverlightFox
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Which methods can be used to prove that a position is illegal?

Given a board position, there are programs that try to find a series of legal moves that lead to it. Are there algorithms that can do the opposite - prove that the position is not reachable by a series of legal moves? Proof by exhaustion doesn't…
2080
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Positional thinking by Grandmasters

How do Grandmasters think in an unknown position and make the best move?
Club Player
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Does depth (number of ply) still matter once it is high enough?

This isn't real, just imagine this happening. Computer A is supercomputer. It can calculate 30 ply deep within 20 seconds. Computer B is supercomputer. It can calculate 15 ply deep within 20 seconds. They play against each other chess. Does these 15…
RikTelner
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{Landa vs Zhu Chen, Bad Wiessee, 2006} Lichess giving a +4.7 to white. Why?

Here is the lichess study for the game which is often presented as study. I am curious here, as to why White is given a strong advantage, even though the material is equal and Black has a lot more active pieces. The Black squared bishop (of Black)…
Soham
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Lichess puzzle 87510: How much calculation would a strong player do before playing Bg4+ when white has a range of (all losing) responses?

Lichess puzzle 87510 has this position. [FEN "r1b1k3/pp4R1/2q3RQ/4p3/5P2/bP2P3/2P1K2P/8 b - - 0 1"] The solution is 1...Bg4+,.after which White has 6 legal moves: 1...Bg4+ 2. Rxg4 Qxh6, which is the computer solution, possibly followed by 3. Rg8+…
Rebecca J. Stones
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Sharp pawn endgame - can it be calculated to the end? With Computer engine?

White to move, here is a brief summary of my analysis where I attempted to determine exact evaluation. Number of pawns is equal but White's 2 pawns on the queenside are held by one Black's pawn, so in a sense Black has an extra pawn on the rest of…
Joe
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