Tablebases are databases that contain complete, exhaustively calculated moves and variations for a given collection of chess positions. E.g. the Nalimov tablebases contain full solutions for all endgames involving 6 pieces or less.
Questions tagged [tablebases]
85 questions
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Can a rook win against a knight in the endgame?
Suppose we have a rook and the opponent has a knight next to his king.
Is it possible to win this game theoretically?
E.g., in the following position (white to move), is it possible for white to win?
[FEN "8/8/8/3n4/3k4/8/K7/R7 w - - 0 1"]
Saeed Amiri
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What is the status for seven man end game table bases?
There are complete (or nearly complete) six man end game table bases available for download, and even online.
What is the status of seven man table bases? Is there still active development in this area? How much progress has been made? Is there any…
Mark Byers
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Is there a freely available online 7 piece Endgame tablebase?
The only 7 piece site I heard about is http://tb7.chessok.com/ , and upon registration I am able to setup various positions with 2-6 pieces . However as soon as I setup a position with 7 piece, I get an error about service not being avaiable. Has…
Joe
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Will quantum computers solve chess?
The theory is that there are more that 10^40 positions, and a computer that works with an atomic scale has to be impossibly large(As in galaxy-scale large), and well beyond our current level of knowledge.
But now, quantum computers will soon be…
MikhailTal
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What do DTM, DTZ, DTC, DTR, DTZ50, and DTZR mean?
I need help clarifying the abbreviations and acronyms used in endgame tablebases. Just what do DTM, DTZ, DTC, DTR, DTZ50, DTZR mean?
edwina oliver
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How does Syzygy store its information?
From reading everything I've found so far, I know that Syzygy uses both win/draw/loss files and distance-to-zero files, but I haven't found any information on the internal file format that these files use. I'm looking for the low level nitty gritty…
Oscar Smith
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What is Syzygy tablebases?
I just want to know in simple language exactly, What the Syzygy tablebases are, Why they are used, What are their advantages, disadvantages?
R K
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What is the status for EIGHT piece endgame tablebases?
An earlier question here asked in 2012 about the status of 7-piece tablebases. Today complete 7-piece tables are widely available.
So today, what is the status of 8-piece endgame tablebases?
How complete is the solution?
Where are they available?…
Laska
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How is it possible that the Lomonosov-endgame-tablebase from 2012 still is the most powerful tablebase?
Due to Wikipedia: Endgame tablebase the Lomonosov endgame tablebase is still the biggest tablebase (with a size of 140TB). Now this tablebase was computed in the year 2012 with the Lomonosov 1 (Top500-list November 2012, rank 26). The Lomonosov 1…
BNetz
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How many legal but unreachable positions exist?
Consider this legal chess position which can never be reached from the normal starting position.
[FEN "6kb/6p1/6K1/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
The Black bishop is placed on h8, but with the Black pawn on g7, there is no way the bishop could have…
NM Wesley Falcao
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Computer endgame strength without tablebases
I have seen that engines aren't particularly strong in the openings without access to a book.
How strong are modern engines in the endgame when they are not allowed access to tablebases? E.g., can a computer typically win those difficult endgames…
wim
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Are there attempts at creating practical endgame tablebases?
As I understand it, 8-piece endgame tablebases have been in development for many years. The big issue is the sheer number of positions that are possible.
Are there any attempts at making a "practical" endgame tablebase, where the search is only over…
Allure
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Do Stockfish and the tablebase work together or independently?
I use Arena GUI together with stockfish in engine games. I want to download a 6-piece tablebase but that is just a lot of work (and perhaps unnecessary). If I download the tablebase (syzygy), does stockfish work with it or just waits for the board…
Wais Kamal
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How far from solving chess are we?
See here: Does there exist an algorithm that would play perfect chess if given infinite processing power?
With infinite power, we could trivially recursively check every board state for winnability, and gradually work back towards knowing the…
Brondahl
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What is the maximum DTM with K+J vs K?
What is the maximum Depth to Mate (DTM) in the endgame king + janus vs king on a 10x8-board ?
The janus can move like a bishop or like a knight. Since both sides have two
additional pieces, the board has 10 columns and (like the chess board),…
Peter
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