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Subject: Re: Computer Chess is pointless

Author: Miguel A. Ballicora

Date: 08:51:09 01/07/02

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On January 07, 2002 at 06:36:58, Dann Corbit wrote:

>On January 07, 2002 at 05:56:55, Bas Hamstra wrote:
>[snip]
>>I have seen these arguments, but they absolutely don't convince me. This kind of
>>hurting is *nothing* compared to the hurting that is currently going on, where
>>someone on a P3-700 has to compete with a fast quad machine in a tournament.
>
>In the past, there have been entrants on dedicated hardware like the Fidelity
>and Kasparov Sparc.  Those would be eliminated (perhaps a phantom dragon, since
>dedicated hardware has fallen out of favor).
>
>In the past there have been experimental entries like Hsu & Campbell's original
>effort.  Nobody is trying the IC route anymore, so probably a phantom dragon.
>
>In the past, there have been MacIntosh entries.  The Mac is falling out of
>favor, but there are still Mac programs around (including some that run *only*
>on the Mac).
>
>I'm just pointing out that the uniform hardware solution is not ideal in all
>cases.
>
>Also, for uniform hardware, someone has to cough up the expense of renting all
>the equal hardware.  Perhaps sponsors could be arranged for that.
>
>I think a problem that will appear is that those who can easily afford the
>hottest hardware will want to maintain that purely mechanical edge.  In other
>words, if you can easily come up with a ten thousand dollar machine to use on
>the contest, you will want to keep the hardware specification as undefined.
>
>I think that uniform platform is a good idea if it can be arranged.  But I think
>arranging it is the hard part.

This is like car races. The most popular of all is Formula 1, where it is pretty
much open (with certain restrictions of course for safety). Everybody loves that
because it is the cutting edge of the car technology with probably
the best drivers and the combination with their engineers. Now, you have a new
model of car but you cannot compete with Ferrari because you do not have money?
the answer is only one: TOUGH. Making it open forces everybody for improvemenet
in any aspect.

On the other hand, you have races where everybody is equipped with a Volkswagen
Beetle. Pretty nice, even and fair, but not so interesting for development...
Schumacher cannot win there? Who knows, but not many people care, the idea
is to put the best guy suitable to be in rocket with 4 wheels and see how it
does.

With a restricted harwarde, part of the competition will be the lobby for the
decision of which hardware will be chosen.

Regards,
Miguel








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