Introduce DistanceFromPV

snicolet · vondele · commit 0f3f5d85fb5c · 2021-02-26T19:45:29.000+01:00
We introduce a metric for each internal node in search, called DistanceFromPV. This distance indicated how far the current node is from the principal variation. We then use this distance to search the nodes which are close to the PV a little deeper (up to 4 plies deeper than the PV): this improves the quality of the search at these nodes and bring better updates for the PV during search. STC: LLR: 2.96 (-2.94,2.94) {-0.25,1.25} Total: 54936 W: 5047 L: 4850 D: 45039 Ptnml(0-2): 183, 3907, 19075, 4136, 167 https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6037b88e7f517a561bc4a392 LTC: LLR: 2.95 (-2.94,2.94) {0.25,1.25} Total: 49608 W: 1880 L: 1703 D: 46025 Ptnml(0-2): 22, 1514, 21555, 1691, 22 https://tests.stockfishchess.org/tests/view/6038271b7f517a561bc4a3cb Closes #3369 Bench: 5037279
diff --git a/src/search.cpp b/src/search.cpp
@@ -616,6 +616,7 @@ namespace {
     moveCount = captureCount = quietCount = ss->moveCount = 0;
     bestValue = -VALUE_INFINITE;
     maxValue = VALUE_INFINITE;
+    ss->distanceFromPv = (PvNode ? 0 : ss->distanceFromPv);
 
     // Check for the available remaining time
     if (thisThread == Threads.main())
@@ -1175,8 +1176,12 @@ namespace {
       // Step 15. Make the move
       pos.do_move(move, st, givesCheck);
 
-      // Step 16. Reduced depth search (LMR, ~200 Elo). If the move fails high it will be
-      // re-searched at full depth.
+      (ss+1)->distanceFromPv = ss->distanceFromPv + moveCount - 1;
+
+      // Step 16. Late moves reduction / extension (LMR, ~200 Elo)
+      // We use various heuristics for the sons of a node after the first son has
+      // been searched. In general we would like to reduce them, but there are many
+      // cases where we extend a son if it has good chances to be "interesting".
       if (    depth >= 3
           &&  moveCount > 1 + 2 * rootNode
           && (  !captureOrPromotion
@@ -1258,27 +1263,29 @@ namespace {
                   r++;
 
               // Decrease/increase reduction for moves with a good/bad history (~30 Elo)
-              // If we are not in check use statScore, if we are in check
-              // use sum of main history and first continuation history with an offset
+              // If we are not in check use statScore, but if we are in check we use
+              // the sum of main history and first continuation history with an offset.
               if (ss->inCheck)
                   r -= (thisThread->mainHistory[us][from_to(move)]
                      + (*contHist[0])[movedPiece][to_sq(move)] - 3833) / 16384;
               else
                   r -= ss->statScore / 14790;
           }
 
-          Depth d = std::clamp(newDepth - r, 1, newDepth);
+          // In general we want to cap the LMR depth search at newDepth. But for nodes
+          // close to the principal variation the cap is at (newDepth + 1), which will
+          // allow these nodes to be searched deeper than the pv (up to 4 plies deeper).
+          Depth d = std::clamp(newDepth - r, 1, newDepth + ((ss+1)->distanceFromPv <= 4));
 
           value = -search<NonPV>(pos, ss+1, -(alpha+1), -alpha, d, true);
 
-          doFullDepthSearch = value > alpha && d != newDepth;
-
+          // If the son is reduced and fails high it will be re-searched at full depth
+          doFullDepthSearch = value > alpha && d < newDepth;
           didLMR = true;
       }
       else
       {
           doFullDepthSearch = !PvNode || moveCount > 1;
-
           didLMR = false;
       }
 
diff --git a/src/search.h b/src/search.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ struct Stack {
   Value staticEval;
   int statScore;
   int moveCount;
+  int distanceFromPv;
   bool inCheck;
   bool ttPv;
   bool ttHit;
