[net.games.chess] deviation from Perfect Play

colonel@ellie.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (03/10/86)

> 	The question is:
> 
> 	IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE LOSER OF THE GAME TO ACTUALLY HAVE
> ACQUIRED LOWER SCORE? IN OTHER WORD, IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE LOSER TO HAVE
> MADE FEWER DEVIATION FROM A PERFECT PLAY EVEN THOUGH HE LOST THE GAME??

It's not hard to construct an example.  More specifically, imagine a
game in which White often plays 2nd-best moves and Black often plays
3rd-best moves.  After 40 moves White has a winning advantage.  He
then plays a 2nd-best move in a position where all moves but the best
lose instantly.
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel
CS: colonel@buffalo-cs
BI: csdsicher@sunyabva