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Remove the queen from the mobility area of minor pieces #1532

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@Rocky640 Rocky640 commented Apr 3, 2018

Remove the queen from the mobility area of minor pieces
STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2c15f0ebc591746423fa3
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22066 W: 4561 L: 4330 D: 13175

LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2d6500ebc591746423faf
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 25871 W: 3953 L: 3738 D: 18180

Ideas for future work in this area:

• tweak some more mobility areas for other piece type.
• construct a notion of global mobility for the whole piece set.
• bad bishops.

bench 4989125

bench 4989125
master 6036915
@mstembera
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Congrats! BTW, just curious if there is any intuitive explanation why this works?

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Rocky640 commented Apr 3, 2018

We remove the king from the mobility area because it simply stands in the way of other pieces,
and since opponent cannot capture the king, our piece which "protects" the king cannot recapture.

Similarly, I think it is rarely a need for a queen to be "protected" by a minor
(unless it is attacked only by a queen).
We once had a LoosePiece bonus, and the queen was excluded from that penalty.

Idea came when reviewing an old game of Kholmov
The guy was a very good midgame player, but for the openings, well, it reminds me Lasker.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1134645

Each white queen move 10.Qd3 13 . Qb3 is in the way of some minor piece.
I would hardly give a mobility bonus at move 10 for the bishop for the square d3,
or later at move 13 for the knight for the square b3.

And the textbook move is 19.Qe3 ! which prepares 20. Nb3

This short game sample shows how much a queen can be "in the way" of minor pieces.

However, a queen in the way of a rook is more normal. Rooks are usually sitting on the first rank and happy to wait for action. Nevertheless, this was tested first and it turned yellow (excluding queen from rook and minor mobility area) http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac297b10ebc591746423f88

I also checked the knight alone, (against knight and bishop) it was red.
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac36e3e0ebc590a5b910735

@snicolet snicolet closed this in 04a228f Apr 3, 2018
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snicolet commented Apr 3, 2018

Merged via 04a228f, congrats!

I have updated the commit message with your intuitive explanation and the comment about the Kholmov game, as it is alsays a nice thing to have some chess stories to tell for the external readers of Abrok :-)

@snicolet snicolet changed the title Minor Mobility Tweak Remove the queen from the mobility area of minor pieces Apr 3, 2018
joergoster pushed a commit to joergoster/Stockfish-old that referenced this pull request Apr 4, 2018
In master, we already remove the King from the mobility area of minor pieces
because the King simply stands in the way of other pieces, and since opponent
cannot capture the King, any piece which "protects" the King cannot recapture.

Similarly, this patch introduces the idea that it is rarely a need for a Queen
to be "protected" by a minor (unless it is attacked only by a Queen, in fact).
We used to have a LoosePiece bonus, and in a similar vein the Queen was excluded
from that penalty.

Idea came when reviewing an old game of Kholmov. He was a very good midgame
player, but in the opening his misplace his Queen (and won in the end :-) :
     http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1134645

Both white queen moves 10.Qd3 and 13.Qb3 are in the way of some minor piece.
I would prefer to not give a bishop mobility bonus at move 10 for the square d3,
or later a knight mobility bonus at move 13 for the square b3. And the textbook
move is 19.Qe3! which prepares 20.Nb3. This short game sample shows how much a
queen can be "in the way" of minor pieces.

STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2c15f0ebc591746423fa3
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22066 W: 4561 L: 4330 D: 13175

LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2d6500ebc591746423faf
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 25871 W: 3953 L: 3738 D: 18180

Closes official-stockfish/Stockfish#1532

Ideas for future work in this area:

• tweak some more mobility areas for other piece type.
• construct a notion of global mobility for the whole piece set.
• bad bishops.

Bench: 4989125
goodkov pushed a commit to goodkov/Stockfish that referenced this pull request Jul 21, 2018
In master, we already remove the King from the mobility area of minor pieces
because the King simply stands in the way of other pieces, and since opponent
cannot capture the King, any piece which "protects" the King cannot recapture.

Similarly, this patch introduces the idea that it is rarely a need for a Queen
to be "protected" by a minor (unless it is attacked only by a Queen, in fact).
We used to have a LoosePiece bonus, and in a similar vein the Queen was excluded
from that penalty.

Idea came when reviewing an old game of Kholmov. He was a very good midgame
player, but in the opening his misplace his Queen (and won in the end :-) :
     http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1134645

Both white queen moves 10.Qd3 and 13.Qb3 are in the way of some minor piece.
I would prefer to not give a bishop mobility bonus at move 10 for the square d3,
or later a knight mobility bonus at move 13 for the square b3. And the textbook
move is 19.Qe3! which prepares 20.Nb3. This short game sample shows how much a
queen can be "in the way" of minor pieces.

STC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2c15f0ebc591746423fa3
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 22066 W: 4561 L: 4330 D: 13175

LTC
http://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/5ac2d6500ebc591746423faf
LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) [0.00,5.00]
Total: 25871 W: 3953 L: 3738 D: 18180

Closes official-stockfish#1532

Ideas for future work in this area:

• tweak some more mobility areas for other piece type.
• construct a notion of global mobility for the whole piece set.
• bad bishops.

Bench: 4989125
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