Author: Stefan Meyer-Kahlen
Date: 09:26:25 04/22/01
I have received from the ICCA President David Levy a copy of an open letter concerning the Kramnik match. I agree with all the points of his proposal and I agree to participate in a qualifying match for the right to play Kramnik according to the terms of the ICCA. Below you will find a copy of this open letter. Best regards Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, author of Shredder An Open Letter to Professor Enrique Irazoqui [ The Cadaques tournament and the Bahrain match ] Dear Professor Irazoqui, Your forthcoming computer chess tournament in Cadaques is arousing widespread controversy which cannot be good for the future of computer chess or for “man v machine” chess. This is most certainly not what you intended and the ICCA has now been asked to act as mediator in an attempt to help you bring order to the situation. When your tournament first came to the attention of the ICCA there were three aspects in particular which concerned us. The first is that, so far as we were told, the tournament was to take place in private surroundings, without the programmers being present. Fortunately we now see that the event is scheduled to take place in public with the programmers and the media welcome to attend. We are very pleased that you have made this change. Of much greater concern to us was that fact that your tournament used the phrase “World Championship” in its name. In view of the fact that the ICCA has been the recognized body for organizing all of the World Championships for chess programs since our association was formed in 1977, we could in no way support any other event claiming to be a Computer World Championship. Fortunately you have now changed the name of your event and the phrase “World Championship” no longer appears. We are very pleased that you have made this change. The third aspect of your event which causes us concern is that it is designed to be a qualifying competition in order to select the program that will play a match with Kramnik in Bahrain, starting in mid-October. Given that we already have a World Computer Chess Champion – the “SHREDDER” program – it would hardly seem appropriate to denigrate SHREDDER’s title by inviting its programmer to participate in a “qualifying tournament”. Having said that, we recognize that commercial organizations have the right to do as they wish when staging competitive events for which they raise the sponsorship. It must be said, however, that for the Bahrain match to have the credibility it deserves, Kramnik’s opponent should, like Kramnik, be a current World Champion. SHREDDER won the World Computer Chess Championship in Paderborn, Germany, in a tournament held in 1999, and will have the opportunity to defend its title next year. (Our main World Computer Championships usually take place every three years.) The tournament in Paderborn was open to programs running on absolutely any hardware, for example mainframe computers and multi-processor systems were eligible to take part. In addition, SHREDDER is also the reigning World Microcomputer Chess Champion, a title it won in that same Paderborn tournament and retained last year in London. You can understand that from the ICCA’s viewpoint, as well as from the viewpoint of many chess and computer chess fans throughout the world, the natural choice of opponent for Kramnik is SHREDDER, holder of both World Championship titles in the computer chess world. A sad situation has now arisen in which diverse commercial interests are damaging the public’s perception of computer chess. Let us examine the situation closely and see if we can resolve the arguments being conducted on the Internet and through the news media. Clearly every player involved in this situation, whether human World Champion or computer programmer, has rights and opinions which should be respected. Right now the person who feels that his rights and opinions are not being respected is the programmer of SHREDDER, World Champion Stefan Meyer-Kahlen. Let us examine the points he raises and let us try to find a way to satisfy everyone involved in this matter. Stefan has written his own resumé of the situation and posted it on the Internet. It is reproduced here with my own comments [in square brackets]. “Subject: Why Shredder is not playing in Cadaques Posted by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen on April 18, 2001 at 06:11:04: A lot of discussion is going on about the planned Kramnik machine match and I think it is necessary to give you my point of view about the whole issue. I refused to play in this event for various reasons which I will sum up below: · The final version of the program playing against Kramnik must be made available to Kramnik end of July already. This makes an match with equal chances impossible as it will be very easy for Mr. Kramnik to prepare and win a match against any program under this circumstances. I would even say that it is possible for human players of my strength to win a match against any program with this conditions. [Certainly it is unheard of to give an opponent such an advantage as is being proposed for Kramnik. This does not happen when programs take part in human tournaments. Nor did it happen when Kasparov played against Deep Blue in 1996 and again in 1997. I find it surprising that Kramnik would want such an advantage and even more surprising that some programmers are willing to give it to him. - DL] · For a computer to play the match against Kramnik he must win a qualifier against some other chess programs. This qualification tournament will be called the BGN computer world chess championships and the winner will be called the BGN computer chess world champion. I see no reasons to have another computer chess world championship and another computer chess world champion besides the ICCA tournaments and the ICCA champion so I will not play there. [This point is no longer a problem. Since Stefan posted his document on April 18th the words “World Championship” have been removed from the title of the Cadaques tournament. – DL] · The first time I have heard about this qualification tournament was two weeks before the scheduled start of this event. [It is almost unheard of in chess for an event which purports to be of top calibre to be announced with such short notice. The fact that some programmers are willing to take part under these conditions does not mean that all programmers should be compelled to do so. Giving programmers so little notice presents an advantage to any programmer who has only recently finished the latest serious revision of his program. – DL] · The event will be played with the autoplayer and without any representative of the programs on site. [Autoplayers have never been used in any of the ICCA’s World Computer Chess Championships. For 24 years we have organized our tournaments with one programmer sitting across the board from the other. In our view autoplayers should be used in a game only if they are acceptable to both programmers. As to the question of representation – this has fortunately been solved since Stefan’s posting on the Internet. The programmers are now invited to be present to watch in Cadaques. – DL] · The starting fee for each program will be $5000. [A tournament organizer is at liberty to charge what he wishes for the entry fee. – DL] · The prize fund in the human machine match will be divided quite uneven in the case that Kramnik or the computer will win. In this respect the whole issue seems to me like an event only for Kramnik and the organizers to make big money, not to play a real match against a computer. [On this point I must again agree with Stefan. In top class chess matches there has long been a tradition that the prize fund is divided in proportions such as two-thirds : one-third or five-eighths : three-eighths, in favour of the winner, with the money being split 50 : 50 if the match is drawn. Of course there is nothing wrong with an agreement between the players for a “winner take all” or other fair distribution of the prize fund, but the proposal for the Kramnik match is very uneven. In my opinion the only fair way to distribute the prize fund gives a certain amount to the winner and the balance to the loser, no matter who the winner might be. – DL] · There are many more points like a clause that all the micro Deeps can be kicked out anytime when IBM decides to join or severe restrictions in the marketing of this event, but I think those given above should be sufficient to understand my point of view. So I have various reasons not to join this thing, each of those being enough not to join. I hope that all the speculations, wild guesses and accusations concerning my withdrawal will end, particularly of those guys who even haven’t seen the contract, including one of my colleagues here. Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, author of Shredder.” So much for what is wrong with the situation. Now I would like to make some concrete suggestions for putting it right, in a way that is not only fair but is also seen to be fair. Would it not be so much better if the Bahrain match were to take place in a good atmosphere, without the spectre of disputes which is already threatening to engulf the event in bad publicity? If all the parties involved can agree to the following proposal the whole matter could be amicably settled in 24 hours. I represented the ICCA in negotiating the contract for the first match between Kasparov and Deep Blue and can confirm from that experience that it is not so difficult in the chess world to get reasonable people to reach agreement about what is fair. MY PROPOSAL FOR BRINGING PEACE TO THE SITUATION 1 The ICCA will institute a new title – World Matchplay Computer Chess Championship. 2 The winner of the Cadaques tournament qualifies to play a match against World Computer Chess Champion SHREDDER to determine the first holder of the World Matchplay Computer Chess Championship title. The ICCA would be very pleased if you, Professor Irazoqui, were to be the Chief Organiser of that event and, if you wish, to organize it in Spain. In order to give all the strongest programs a chance to qualify for the match against SHREDDER the tournament in Cadaques should be open to all leading chess programs below the rank of World Champion. 3 This match takes place during July or August in order to give both programming teams sufficient time to prepare for the event. The ICCA will supervise the match which should be played, in accordance with previous practice, without autoplayers. 4 The winning programmer of the World Matchplay Computer Chess Championship negotiates with the organizers of the Bahrain match and with Kramnik over the detailed conditions for that match. [Conditions which are acceptable to one programmer might not necessarily be acceptable to another and for a match to be fair to both players it is necessary for both players to be in agreement over the conditions.] To conclude, Professor Irazoqui, I would like to say that it is the fervent wish of the ICCA that this matter be settled in a way which is fair to all concerned and which endows your tournament in Cadaques with the greatest possible respectability. The Bahrain match is a truly wonderful idea and deserves to be allowed to proceed in peace. Best regards, David Levy [President – ICCA]
This page took 0.05 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.