Author: Chris Whittington
Date: 09:07:54 11/03/97
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On November 03, 1997 at 11:31:37, Chris Carson wrote: >On November 03, 1997 at 10:42:37, Howard Exner wrote: > >>I think one disadvantage Crafty may have is that it is >>so easily available to everyone. There is no mystery about >>its playing style, strengths and weaknesses. >> >>Here are some observations to support this theory. Note just a few >>recent examples of programmer secrecy such as in Deep Blue for one and >>the withholding of games from the French Championship a few >>weeks ago as another. Secrecy in chess is commonplace for all chess >>players. Also,I wonder how many programmers have now included opening >>preperation against Crafty's ingenious forth move in the Ruy Lopez >>(B-c4 instead of the common B-a4) that was seen about a year ago? >> >>How might Crafty fare in two years from now if Bob took a 2 year >>break from releasing Crafty to the masses? >>Call it "Hyatt's Hiatus" (say that quickly 3 times in a row). > >I agree with you and with Chris W. (in a different post). I >think Bob has done a great job with Crafty! :) I also think >that with the popularity and ease to get source/opening book/ >learning.dat information, most programers use Crafty as a >testbed anyway. This means that they spare with Crafty all >the time and improve as a result (Crafty gets a lot of play >with the others on the servers, but not with the latest/well >prepared versions). Crafty may play against the other programs on the servers but these are not programs operated by anybody connected with his competitors. They are just people who have bought the programs. I don't accept that there is heavy tuning or training games played against Crafty. Most training will be against the usual commercially available programs and done via automated interface. Genius, Mchess, Hiarcs, Rebel, Fritz etc. Not Crafty. For example, I've never played one game here against Crafty, Thorsten has domn a few, but these were for himelf, and the games and/or conclusions never got passed to me. Its just not true that Crafty gets used as a testbad; maybe by some relatively unknown amateur programs, but certainly not by the major programs - their opposition is not Crafty. If you need to try and generate an excuse, anti-Crafty tuning is not going to be it. > Not sure how Bob can fight back? Something >we should all think about this year and perhaps help out with >(perhaps a three month blanket period for Bob/Crafty to prepare?) Bob needs new concepts and ideas, mainly in the search. His evaluation function is probably ok, given that he wants to stay as a fast program, massive evaluation additions are not feasible. Its the search. His ideas are behind the other fast programs. Simply getting speed by 64 bit stuff obviously isn't enough, its algorithmic search improvements that he needs. Chris Whittington > >I thought Crafty did extremly well considering the competition >and the fact that Crafty is a no secret project! :) > >Best Regards, >Chris Carson
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