8-man tablebases already exist?
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:24 am
It is Christmas break for me and one of my annual habits during the yearly downtime is to spend a little time searching for interesting endgame news. I may have found one. In the Y-Combinator Hacker News discussion board, while discussing Centaur chess and Leela, one commentator makes a brief aside stating that 8-man tablebases have been created. No details on the metric computed or the team or the computer employed. But if true, given that Y-Combinator is San Francisco based and is well tapped into the venture investor community, it is a fair guess that the team is based in Silicon Valley.
The information is evidently second-hand, and from a year and a half ago, so make of it what you will.
The only bit I can add is that I have a memory from a couple years ago of reading a similarly opaque comment from similar circles that 8-man tablebases will be created "sooner than you think". I have not been able to relocate that comment.
Any other rumored sightings of the Yeti of computer chess are welcome.
P.S. I am aware that TalkChess is where it's at these days. But I have a fondness for Kirill's EGTB discussion board. Nostalgia probably.
The information is evidently second-hand, and from a year and a half ago, so make of it what you will.
In the intervening year and a half I'm not aware of anyone coming forward with an announcement. It would be notable news for a team seeking priority of accomplishment, so such a long period of silence is hard to square with the claim.BTW: A research team has created the 8-man Tablebase, although it takes probably
100s of TB to store. This means that 8-man Tablebases will remain as Hard-drive only
for now. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20774774 [Aug 23 2019]
The only bit I can add is that I have a memory from a couple years ago of reading a similarly opaque comment from similar circles that 8-man tablebases will be created "sooner than you think". I have not been able to relocate that comment.
Any other rumored sightings of the Yeti of computer chess are welcome.
P.S. I am aware that TalkChess is where it's at these days. But I have a fondness for Kirill's EGTB discussion board. Nostalgia probably.