Is it possible to post an example position (maybe a small board, 9x9 or 7x7) where Thermostrat fails but Sentestrat gives a better result?
Yes, I can do it!
Our game is in Japanese rules. The square board has a side length of seven spaces. Reverse Komi is twenty-three points!
Black played the marked Sente move. The temperature of the upper right corner is six and three fourths. The lower left corner is also unsettled with a temperature of eight.
White playing Thermostrat would immediately take the lower left corner, but this is a mistake. Black captures two key stones. In the end, she loses by one point. (Remember the reverse Komi.)
Yes, that works for me. I think if I put it on a 9x9 board, then I can give black a few points of territory and make it work without the reverse komi. I'll add a modified version of this example to the main page once I've figured it out.
I'm confused about how you get the temperature of 6 3/4 points for the top right.
I agree with 8 for the bottom left: if black plays first, it's 2 points of territory; white first is -14 (6 prisoners plus 8 territory), so 16 point swing divided by 2 stones local tally difference makes 8 points miai value.
But for the top right, I'm thinking: black first makes 5 points (2 prisoners plus 3 territory), white first makes -1 (net one prisoner to white, seki), so a 6 point swing with a local tally difference of 1 stone, for miai value exactly 6. Where does the fraction come from?
But whether you call it 6 or 6 3/4, it's the same story: the bottom left is bigger, but white's capture at top right puts seven black stones in atari and raises the temperature, so white can steal a few points at top right before resolving the bottom left. It's a nice example, thanks :-)
I somehow managed to get the temperature wrong two different ways by forgetting to take into account the first Sente update and the two captured stones if Black played first. You're right. The temperature of the upper right corner is six.