I can see the upper bound of 2x, but the lower bound is no benefit at all,
or a small loss in performance (due to cleaning up the tree after
pondering).  It seems unlikely that the overall benefit would be greater
than 1.5x more time.  This is nice, but for now, I have bigger issues to
work on.

David

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:computer-go-
> [email protected]] On Behalf Of terry mcintyre
> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 5:49 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Computer-go] Speculatively pondering
> 
> If you are 100% effective at guessing the opponent's reply, and use all of
> his
> time to ponder, and your opponent thinks as long as you do, then you have
2x
> as
> much thinking time compared to not pondering.
> 
> Of course, a 100% rate of guessing the opponent's reply is a tall order,
> unless
> you play against a very similar program.
> 
> What if you guess right, and have spent enough time to find a good reply,
> and
> are confident enough of that reply to play it immediately? You plonk it
down
> immediately, reserving time for some later, more complex situation.
> 
> Assuming a measure of "stability" which indicates when you have thought
> "enough"
> to play immediately, and when you need to expend more resources, then
> pondering
> can improve time management, for a possibly superlinear benefit.
> 
> Some of the same benefits may occur with clever opening books, joseki, and
> so
> forth, of course.
>  Terry McIntyre <[email protected]>
> 
> 
> Unix/Linux Systems Administration
> Taking time to do it right saves having to do it twice.
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> > From: David Fotland <[email protected]>
> > To: Aja <[email protected]>; [email protected]
> > Sent: Thu, September 16, 2010 8:14:09 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Computer-go] Speculatively pondering
> >
> > Surely pondering can't give more strength benefit than perhaps 1.5x more
> CPU
> > power?
> >
> > Which program did you use for your  experiments?
> >
> > David
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: [email protected] [mailto:computer-go-
> > > [email protected]] On Behalf Of  Aja
> > > Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 4:53 PM
> > > To: [email protected]
> > >  Subject: Re: [Computer-go] Speculatively pondering
> > >
> > > Actually in  my experiments on 19x19, pondering gives a VERY big
> strength
> > > increase.  This result is shown in our paper "Time Management for
> > Monte-Carlo
> > >  Tree Search Applied to the Game of Go" to be published.
> > >
> > >  Aja
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "David Fotland"  <[email protected]>
> > >  To: <[email protected]>
> > >  Sent: Friday, September 17, 2010 1:58 AM
> > > Subject: Re: [Computer-go]  Speculatively pondering
> > >
> > >
> > > > Many Faces does not  ponder, but it's on the todo list.  I don't
> expect
> > > > pondering  to give a big strength increase compared to all the other
> > things
> > > >  queued up.
> > > >
> > > > David
> > > >
> > > >>  -----Original Message-----
> > > >> From: [email protected] [mailto:computer-go-
> > > >> [email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
> > > >> Sent:  Thursday, September 16, 2010 6:45 AM
> > > >> To: [email protected]
> > >  >> Subject: Re: [Computer-go] Speculatively pondering
> > >  >>
> > > >> Quoting Brian Sheppard <[email protected]>:
> > >  >>
> > > >> >> In other words: a strong opponent will cause  a lot of ponder
hits
> > and
> > > >> >> speculative pondering is  the best way to search effectively.
> > > >> >
> > > >> >  This makes sense, but actual measurements on CGS showed that
> > > >>  > speculative pondering was worse. At least for Pebbles.
> > > >>  >
> > > >> > That experimental result is consistent with  mathematical
> > > >> > models, so I have confidence.
> > >  >> >
> > > >> > Have you tested Valkyria both ways?
> > >  >>
> > > >> No, what I wrote is just what I believe. There is a  lot of things
I
> > > >> would like to test but this is on the todo  list.
> > > >>
> > > >> Currently pondering tend to be  inefficient for a different reason
> > > >> since Valkyria have no  garbage collection and quickly fills memory
> > > >> with 4 fast cores.  In forced sequences it does not ponder at all
> > > >> because the tree  is already full.
> > > >>
> > > >> Magnus
> > >  >>
> > > >>  _______________________________________________
> > > >> Computer-go  mailing list
> > > >> [email protected]
> > >  >> http://dvandva.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/computer-go
> > >  >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > >  Computer-go mailing list
> > > > [email protected]
> > > > http://dvandva.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/computer-go
> > >
> > >  _______________________________________________
> > > Computer-go mailing  list
> > > [email protected]
> > > http://dvandva.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/computer-go
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Computer-go  mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://dvandva.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/computer-go
> >
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Computer-go mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://dvandva.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/computer-go

_______________________________________________
Computer-go mailing list
[email protected]
http://dvandva.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/computer-go

Reply via email to