Chess endgames will be solved in the middle of this new decade

[JEDI]

Now there are cpu's with 8 cores.
god knows how high the computer power will go.

plus cheap video cards that can be linked together to form a poor man's super computer.

6piece endgames have been solved in 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame_tablebase

eta for 7piece is 2015.

when such seven-piece tablebases become complete, composing a traditional miniature chess problem will become obsolete.

whats a miniature chess problem?

and i guess 7piece is the beginning of whats considered endgame phase?

 

[Argo]

Basically, the computer takes a position and analyzes every possible move and comes up with solutions like "white wins in 1073 moves"

They started with 3 pieces, then moved on to 4, 5, etc and now they are onto 7. The problem however is, that this is totally useless to human players. No player can memorize 1000 move end games.

 

[Venix]

If you want to know what a miniature chess problem is, maybe you should click on the "miniature" and "chess problem" links right there in the sentence you copy/pasted.

 

[Modular]

The problem however is, that this is totally useless to human players. No player can memorize 1000 move end games.

This is really neat. I find chess to be as fascinating as physics and the universe at time.

 

[MarkXIX]

Basically, the computer takes a position and analyzes every possible move and comes up with solutions like "white wins in 1073 moves"

They started with 3 pieces, then moved on to 4, 5, etc and now they are onto 7. The problem however is, that this is totally useless to human players. No player can memorize 1000 move end games.

That's a bit short sighted to think that. There are people that can remember dates and times down to the minute for nearly their entire lives. Someone can do it, the human brain is an amazing thing.

 

[Argo]

That's a bit short sighted to think that. There are people that can remember dates and times down to the minute for nearly their entire lives. Someone can do it, the human brain is an amazing thing.

Well, my dad is a professional chess player (retired) and if he tells me that players cannot memorize those ending, I believe him.

 

[esquared]

Well, my dad is a professional chess player (retired) and if he tells me that players cannot memorize those ending, I believe him.

You need to watch this. It was on a couple weeks back
This is a whole new category of people with exceptional memory
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/16/60minutes/main7156877.shtml

 

[Udgnim]

Basically, the computer takes a position and analyzes every possible move and comes up with solutions like "white wins in 1073 moves"

They started with 3 pieces, then moved on to 4, 5, etc and now they are onto 7. The problem however is, that this is totally useless to human players. No player can memorize 1000 move end games.

I think certain individuals can memorize 1,000 move end games. whether they are good at chess is an entirely different story though.

 

[gevorg]

Memorizing all possible endgame moves for a human is complete fail. Good players can quickly skip the noise and identify correct moves by logic.

 

[Argo]

I think certain individuals can memorize 1,000 move end games. whether they are good at chess is an entirely different story though.

1000 moves is just *ONE* possible end game. There are 1000s of them, each of varying length.

 

[DrPizza]

Memorizing all possible endgame moves for a human is complete fail. Good players can quickly skip the noise and identify correct moves by logic.

Pretty much this. Good players don't memorize all the moves - it's not memorization. It's knowing how to win the end game given certain positions. It's hard to transfer that logic into programming. Ditto openings. Good/great players have the first 8 to 10 moves memorized for literally dozens, if not 100's of variations of openings and defenses.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

This is why I play go : p (Mostly kidding)