Hi Clive,
" Engines like Houdini "think" the way that they do because they can examine something
like 10 million positions per second, "
Never underestimate the human brain.
Look at how many ingenuis ways we have invented for killing each other.
(most likely man's first invention was a club to kill things.)
Shakuntala Devi who passed away recently could out perform computers in mathematical calcualtions.
from wiki.
"In 1977 in USA she competed with a computer to see who gives the cube root of 188138517 faster, she won."
OK a 1977 computer cannot be compared to a 2013 computer but even so that is an amazing feat.
She was unique. Gifted.
Who is to say that this lad cannot see what a computer will play in a given position.
White to play and mate.
That took you all of 5 milliseconds. You recognised the pattern.
This lad, the Bulgarian chess player, can see what a box will play without calculation.
(just as you never calculated the above position.)
Who is to say he cannot?
We have had prodigies in Music, Maths and Chess before. They do happen.
We all think and imagine differently.
Think of two dice showing the number 7. What do you see?
4+3
5+2
6+1
What colour are your dice? Are they both the same colour?
A simple test like that and we are getting all kinds of different answers.
Today I see 5+2 on red dice...tomorrow it may be 3+4 on white dice.
Perhaps a part of his brain can tune into what a computer would play?
Sometimes it does not work (we have all had those days and tournaments.)
Like all gifted people he cannot explain it, it just happens.
Likely?
You cannot say no. Never under estimate what the human brain can do.
And if we knew for sure that what Houdini plays is 100% correct and
can never be improved upon Chess then yes very possible.
However if it has not (yet) reached that level of absolute perfection.
And the moves of Houdini can be improved upon....
....why is the prodigy playing bum notes?
Some maps have deliberate mistakes in them so if anyone reprints them
without permission then they reprint the mistake.
http://www.ianbyrne.free-online.co.uk/s ... errors.htm
So instead of looking at match up's.
Look for the moves that Houdini likes (and we can prove are not the best)
then look for the same moves appearing in Boris's games.
If instead Boris plays the improvement......?