diff --git a/src/search.cpp b/src/search.cpp
index 4aeadc28..07c491b6 100644
--- a/src/search.cpp
+++ b/src/search.cpp
@@ -654,9 +654,7 @@ namespace {
     // starts with statScore = 0. Later grandchildren start with the last calculated
     // statScore of the previous grandchild. This influences the reduction rules in
     // LMR which are based on the statScore of parent position.
-    if (rootNode)
-        (ss+4)->statScore = 0;
-    else
+    if (!rootNode)
         (ss+2)->statScore = 0;
 
     // Step 4. Transposition table lookup. We don't want the score of a partial