H. G. Muller wrote on Thu, Nov 14, 2019 10:03 AM UTC:
Is this really a problem? If you score stalemate after the first move as -INFINITY (which it would automatically get when you score King capture as +INFINITY), the node that searches the first move will end up with score -INFINITY if it has no legal pair of moves. Only there you correct such a score to 'draw' if the player is not in check. This assumes actual checkmates get a slightly better score, either by adjusting them for distance to the root in the leaf itself, or by a delayed-loss bonus when propagating towards the root, so that positions heading for a forced checkmate will not be mistaken for stalemates. (Note that a consequence of the proposed rules is that when your only 1-step-legal check evasions stalemate yourself, this would count as a checkmate.)
BTW, I thought that Sven Schüle said he had made an engine, in the TalkChess discussion you already referred to. I never got around to making a Fairy-Max derivative for it.
Is this really a problem? If you score stalemate after the first move as -INFINITY (which it would automatically get when you score King capture as +INFINITY), the node that searches the first move will end up with score -INFINITY if it has no legal pair of moves. Only there you correct such a score to 'draw' if the player is not in check. This assumes actual checkmates get a slightly better score, either by adjusting them for distance to the root in the leaf itself, or by a delayed-loss bonus when propagating towards the root, so that positions heading for a forced checkmate will not be mistaken for stalemates. (Note that a consequence of the proposed rules is that when your only 1-step-legal check evasions stalemate yourself, this would count as a checkmate.)
BTW, I thought that Sven Schüle said he had made an engine, in the TalkChess discussion you already referred to. I never got around to making a Fairy-Max derivative for it.