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Concept
Endgame tablebase
Summary
An endgame tablebase is a computerized database that contains precalculated exhaustive analysis of chess endgame positions. It is typically used by a computer chess engine during play, or by a human or computer that is retrospectively analysing a game that has already been played.
The tablebase contains the game-theoretical value (win, loss, or draw) in each possible position, and how many moves it would take to achieve that result with perfect play. Thus, the tablebase acts as an oracle, always providing the optimal moves. Typically the database records each possible position with certain pieces remaining on the board, and the best moves with White to move and with Black to move.
Tablebases are generated by retrograde analysis, working backward from a checkmated position. By 2005, all chess positions with up to six pieces, including the two kings, had been solved. By August 2012, tablebases had solved chess for almost every position with up to seven pieces, but the positions with a lone king versus a king and five pieces were omitted because they were considered to be "rather obvious." These positions were included by August 2018. , work is still underway to solve all eight-piece positions.
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; in some cases 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. For this reason, tablebases also called into question the 50-move rule, since many positions are now seen to exist that would be a win for one side but are drawn because of the 50-move rule; initially, as individual cases were found, exceptions to the rule were introduced, but when more extreme cases were later discovered, the exceptions were removed. Tablebases provide a powerful analytical tool, enhancing competitive play and facilitating the composition of endgame studies.
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