With a tablebase this issue is avoided as the engine, knowing it has tablebases available, probes them when the analysis reaches that number of pieces on the board. This is the reason why we see massive engine scores on drawn position or visa-versa. The problem with the approach for endgames is that the specifics of the position can have a massive influence on the correct move, which is general approach will not see. The relative scores for possible choices are compared and the best line is built by following the “best” scores. Generally, most have very little specific, definitive knowledge but use a general approach which considers a number of factors – Material, Space, King Safety……to calculate a score for a specific position. Let us consider for a moment how an engine evaluates a position. Why are Tablebases important to Chess Engines
#6 piece endgame tablebase install
Currently, 7 piece tablebases are only available online and are not practical for the typical home user to install locally. In addition to this, the storage requirements for Tablebases are significant. What is worth considering is that Tablebase development is a slow process – this is due to the staggering amount of computing power required to calculate them as the number of pieces increases, thus it is not expected to see rapid releases of larger tables on a rapid basis. Limited 8 piece are in development but are not publicly available.
Tablebase development has reached the point that 6 piece tablebases are widely available and 7 piece ones are available from limited sources. These are linked to together, so the table can provide a definitive answer to the theoretical outcome of the position. The Endgame tablebase has every possible combination and position on the board stored in its table(s). If we have three pieces, it could be a draw or a Win/Loss – depending on the pieces and their positions. If we have two pieces, the only outcome of the position is a draw. It is typically used by a computer chess engine during play, or by a human or computer that is retrospectively analysing a game that has already been played.”Ĭlear now? Maybe not! Let’s start at the beginning. Wikipedia defines them as “An endgame tablebase is a computerized database that contains precalculated exhaustive analysis of chess endgame positions.
Tablebases are one of those facets of knowledge of (correspondence) chess that are taken as granted as being understood by all but are often not!