Author: KarinsDad
Date: 16:36:45 05/08/00
Go up one level in this thread
Enrique, Ok, I read all of your posts. And yes, it is silly to handicap the program. However: A program should not be in a national chess championship in the first place (granted, this is arguable). Take off your programming hat for a moment and think about the following. You plan to play in a national championship next year. You are #12 in your country, so you figure if you study the games of the top 20 players who have been in the tournament for the last 5 years, you have a fair chance of ending up in the top 5, possibly in the top 3. You work hard for 8 months and then a few months before the tournament, the association says that a computer with 4 processors is going to play. You know that this program has beaten some of the top 100 players in the world in G60 games, so you figure you have no chance. Your style is not that of Karpov, solid, defensive, few tactical mistakes. Rather, your style is like Polgars, aggressive, unconventional, shocking. You know that you are lousy against computers since they do not get rattled by your game. How would you feel? It is not understandable that players who know that egtbs are practically invincible (if you let the program get to them) would not want them in the tournament. It is obvious that the Dutch players felt this way since they worked to enforce this. Is it not understandable that a person who worked for 8 months preparing for a tournament would be psychologically shocked by hearing that a program was going to be allowed to play? I would be furious in that position. It is easy as a programmer to think that the world revolves around a system equitable to both players and programs. But, this is not the case. The players are human. They have rights which programs do not. They have the right to not play programs and this entire episode of reducing the prize fund for those who would not play the program just goes to show how money and politics often overrule common sense. Yet again, the almighty dollar takes precedence over people. Take your programmer hat off for a moment and see if you can empathize with the players that this bothers. Is it really that hard to understand? KarinsDad :)
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