Author: Kevin Stafford
Date: 10:18:04 08/13/01
Go up one level in this thread
> When you see everybody else is missing the point... you think it's you that is >missing the point. I mean: > 1. Chessbase people are certainly intelligent people. I don't like some >behaviours they have, but they are clever, no doubt. > 2. Chessbase agreed some terms with Kramnik for this match. > 3. These terms are (?!) public. > 4. Chessbase claims everywhere that Kramnik is going to have a very hard time >against Fritz, that Fritz is as strong as Deep Blue. > 5. Now a lot of people (including Anand) claim that the terms of the much are >unfair for the computer, that Kramnik will easily crash Fritz, having the engine >two months before, ... > > I can't understand this. Chessbase must have some "hidden gun". There must be >a reason why they don't say "the match is unfair, but we'll fight anyway", or >something like this. I don't think they necessarily must have a 'hidden gun', I think that getting an opportunity to play the champion, even on slightly unfair terms (I'm not sure I agree the terms are unfair personally), is going to sell more copies of fritz than not playing him at all. If this match gets anything like the publicity that deep-blue/kasparov got fritz is going to become a household name. > If Kramnik crashes Fritz, most people (not experts, but normal public) will >think he did it in fair terms, so that Fritz is very weak, and this will hurt >Chessbase. > If they allow an unfair match, there must be a reason why they don't believe >they're gonna lose. > Just my (confused) opinion. > > José C. For one, I don't believe that anyone who gets 'crashed' by Kramnik is necessarily 'very weak', considered he is easily one of the best players in the world, if not the best. I also don't think that chessbase believes they will win. As I said above, winning doesn't really matter, and perhaps may hurt potential sales. This may be twisted logic, but here's why I think this: the media is jumping on this match as a rematch between man and machine. If machine beats man, no one is shocked, because its the general publics viewpoint that the best chessplayer is already a machine, so this isn't really news. Man beats machine on the other hand, and you have an epic comeback story to put on the news, one that restores faith in our dominance over our creations, blah blah blah. Fritz beating Kramnik gets a byline on the backpage. Kramnik beating Fritz is front page news, once the media puts their spin on it. Front page news = more copies of fritz 7 sold = chessbases ultimate goal. Of course the opposite side of this is that if they win they can put a big label on the box saying so, which is great advertising in itself, so I could be totally off base. Something to ponder at least. -Kevin
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