Reference
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Houdini knows quite well which positions are won and which are drawn. This means that except for difficult-to-evaluate endings like KQP v KQ the 5-men EGTB do not really increase Houdini ' s playing strength.
To handle this situation in an intelligent way, Houdini will vary the frequency at which the EGTB are probed depending on the actual end game that is occurring. In difficultto-evaluate endings Houdini will probe the EGTB files much earlier than in endings that are easy to evaluate.
The frequency of the probing is further influenced by the following parameters:
· Hard Probe Depth is the earliest search depth at which the EGTB probing will result in a disk access. You can reduce this value if the table base files are installed on a very fast disk, or if you are running less than 4 threads.
· Soft Probe Depth is the earliest search depth for EGTB probing that uses only the memory cache. You can reduce this value if you are running less than 4 threads.
3.8.18 Extended Options in the Engine Window
In the engine window the user now sees a new display of the number of processors used. This display is only relevant for computer systems with several processors and programs that are able to use more than one processor.
Clicking the CPU button in the engine window allows the user to change the number of processors being used.
3.8.19 Endgame databases
Many chess programs can play all important major piece endings with four and five men on the board perfectly. This is to be taken literally. They contain full information on every legal position that is possible in these endings. At any stage, the program knows whether the position is won, lost or drawn, and how many moves it takes to win or lose( assuming perfect play by both sides).
End Game Table Base support
Houdini integrates the Syzygy table probing code © Ronald de Man, the Gaviota EGTB probing code © Miguel A. Ballicora and the Nalimov EGTB probing code © Eugene Nalimov.
The Syzygy 6-men EGTB system is the recommended table base solution for Houdini. It features by far the best compression( smallest file size) and best performance,
© ChessBase 2015