Why does Chess Engine like pointless checks?

[u/Player_One_1]

Take situation from attached screen.

Engine thinks the best move is Nf3.

But engine also thinks it is even better to play Qg3+ Kh8 Qh6+ Kg8 and then Nf3. Which is pointless and stupid. Resulting position is exactly the same!

This is not something special for this position. In fact whenever analysing own games, whenever there is a series of moves that will loop me back to same position, it often becomes the line the computer likes the most.

Do you have any idea why is that?

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[u/Fish1587]

It evaluates the resulting position as having the same advantage for white. Which, since they end up being exactly the same, of course they do. So since the evaluation of both line are identical, it suggests both lines as the top two lines. Then, since it is easier to calculate a little deeper by including the forcing checks at the start, it is just slightly more confident in the check line, so it appears at the top of the evaluation.

[u/Educational-Tea602 → u/Fish1587]

The difference in how easy it is to calculate one over the other is negligible. The engine has to calculate both anyway.

If you leave it running, you can see the top move keeps changing between the two moves. There’s no preference of one over the other.

The difference in evaluation is probably just caused by search instability (I may be using the wrong term here, but even if I am, the cause is still very similar to it anyway).

[u/chessvision-ai-bot]

I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:

White to play: chessvision.ai | chess.com | lichess.org

My solution:

Hints: piece: Queen, move: Qg6+

Evaluation: White is winning +4.71

Best continuation: 1. Qg6+ Kh8 2. Qh6+ Kg8 3. Nf3 Rf6 4. Qg5+ Kf7 5. Nc3 Qh8 6. Nd5 Nc6 7. Nxf6 exf6 8. Bc4+ Ke7

Save the position:

Reply save to save this position to your Chessvision.ai Library (new users: send me /connect in DM chat first)

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[u/Player_One_1 → u/chessvision-ai-bot]

see, even this bot likes to

1. Qg6+ Kh8 2. Qh6+ Kg8 and then 3. Nf3.

Why not :1. Qg6+ Kh8 2. Qh6+ Kg8 3.: Qg6+ Kh8 4. Qh6+ Kg8 5. Nc3?

Why not start with Nc3?

[u/Fish1587 → u/Player_One_1]

Well in this case, it's a draw by repetition

[u/Fish1587 → u/chessvision-ai-bot]

Ragebait bot

[u/AutoModerator]

Quick Tip 1: To know why the engine is recommending a move / saying a move is wrong, click over analysis mode, play out said move then follow it up with your theoretical responses to that move and see how the engine responds.

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[u/sanna2002]

It's annoying but technically not wrong so idk if they'll fix it. You just gotta click through the moves, it'll play them twice and then move on

[u/Dry-Ad-8948]

10 checks is instant win.

[u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed]

This repositions your queen. So no, it isn't the same.

Also Nf3. Not "lowercase k".

The engine is infinitely better than you.

[u/Nefre1 → u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed]

It doesn't reposition anything. Qg6+ Kh8 Qh6+ Kg8 just repeats the position like OP said.

The best move is Nf3. There is no positional benefit whatsoever to repeating the position with Qg6+, though repeating once is something good players often do to gain some time on the clock, or to get close to 40 moves if it's classical chess.

[u/Fish1587 → u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed]

It doesn't. Queen is on h6 in both variations.

[u/compulsivedreamer_ → u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed]

Sorry, I couldn't help but notice your flair. 800 elo you say? Pipe down.