The solutions have profoundly advanced the chess community’s understanding of endgame theory. Some positions which humans had analyzed as draws were proven to be winnable; the tablebase analysis could find a mate in more than five hundred moves, far beyond the horizon of humans, and beyond the capability of a computer during play.
Where did the term endgame tablebase come from?
Originally, an endgame tablebase was called an “endgame data base” or “endgame database”. This name appeared in both EG and the ICCA Journal starting in the 1970s, and is sometimes used today. According to Haworth, the ICCA Journal first used the word “tablebase” in connection with chess endgames in 1995.
When did Thomas Strohlein write the endgame tablebase?
In 1970, Thomas Ströhlein published a doctoral thesis with analysis of the following classes of endgame: KQK, KRK, KPK, KQKR, KRKB, and KRKN. In 1977 Thompson’s KQKR database was used in a match versus Grandmaster Walter Browne .
Are there tablebases for the fifty move rule?
These metrics support the fifty-move rule, but DTR tablebases have not yet been computed. 7-man DTZ tablebases were made publicly available in August 2018. The difference between DTC and DTM can be understood by analyzing the diagram at right.
Where did the term Endgame tablebases come from?
The term Tablebase opposed to endgame database was coined by Steven Edwards by means of a data vector and a single file access for both sides to move, when he introduced his Edwards’ Tablebases, addressing several shortcomings of Ken Thompson’s earlier database of positions with the weaker and hence potentially losing side to move only .
How much storage is needed for endgame tablebase?
Later on, Syzygy tablebase managed to reduce that to 18.4 TB. The tablebases of all endgames with up to seven pieces are available for free download, and may also be queried using web interfaces (see the external links below). Nalimov tablebase requires more than one terabyte of storage space.
