4

I can reach a draw with White in the below position. The Stockfish 9, however, gives 28.1 points for black after Kf3,Ba1,Ke4,Bb2,Kd3. 

[FEN "8/p7/kpP5/qrp1b3/rpP2b2/pP4b1/P3K3/8 w - - 0 1"]

1. Kf3 Ba1 2. Ke4 Bb2 3. Kd3 Ba1 4. Ke4 Bb2 5. Kd3 Ba1 6. Ke4 Bb2 7. Kd3 Ba1 8. Ke4

Why Stockfish 9 fails to see the draw?

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    You only need two dark-squared to illustrate the point, but one is not enough. Interesting question. – Akavall Oct 16 '18 at 22:32
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...... Stockfish isn't designed for solving a position like this. It's being written to play a good game of chess. Your position is not a position that SF should give an equal score.

The engine doesn't understand there's no mating possibility if White does nothing but moving the king. It gives a high score for Black because of the extra materials. Humans wouldn't even consider with any of the pawn capture, but SF has no idea.

Unfortunately, SF doesn't have the power to solve chess.

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  • If the stockfish uses at least min-max algorithm to determine the winning strategy, couldn't it to figure out the draw? – kelalaka Oct 16 '18 at 16:56
  • @kelalaka At the leaf root, the position would still be material advantage for Black. – SmallChess Oct 16 '18 at 16:57
  • But, in the min-max it must see that the white can carry the game, and see that there is no winning strategy since there is no gain after x round? – kelalaka Oct 16 '18 at 17:01
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    @kelalaka SF would only see decisive material advantage after certain depth. It can't search for all possibilities. It doesn't understand the position is a draw if White just move kings. – SmallChess Oct 16 '18 at 17:02
  • "The engine doesn't understand there's no mating possibility if White does nothing but moving the king" If you remove two black bishops, then the engine understands it. It is the bishops (two is enough) that are confusing SF. – Akavall Oct 16 '18 at 22:31

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