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Subject: Re: " You don't know what the h*ll you're talking about".

Author: David Dory

Date: 20:33:34 04/15/02

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On April 15, 2002 at 09:43:38, Sune Fischer wrote:

>On April 15, 2002 at 06:08:21, Sune Fischer wrote:
>
>
>>>Name one algorithim used today, that wasn't used 20 years ago?
>
>Here is quote from kasparovchess.com by Mark Uniacke:
>
>"It has been almost three years since Hiarcs 7.32 was released, and although I
>have been relatively inactive in the chess computer scene in that time, Hiarcs
>has undergone many changes. Perhaps the most striking, to those familiar with
>Hiarcs, will be that the program searches 1-3 moves (plies) deeper than its
>predecessor at the same time control. This has been achieved through being more
>selective in the moves analysed, supplemented with an improved evaluation of
>positions. This means that Hiarcs is able to see deeper positional and tactical
>ideas, resulting in a significant improvement in chess strength over its
>predecessor. Hiarcs still examines many fewer positions per second than its
>competitors like Fritz, Junior, Shredder and Tiger, preferring to spend more
>time evaluating the positional aspects."
>
>http://www.kasparov.com/serve/templates/folders/show.asp?p_docID=20671&p_docLang=EN
>
>
>-S.

Mark has simply sped up the evalu8 function for Hiarcs latest version. Doesn't
mean that he's improved the strength of the program much.

Of course, he SAYS it's "much stronger", but it's probably a very small strength
improvement, indeed. He's gotta hype his product a _little_.

Here's the kind of improvement I'm talking about - not hype - facts.

This is taken from Jonathan Schaeffer's book ONE JUMP AHEAD**. In it, he
documents the hardware improvement on his previous chess program, PHOENIX.

Year              Seconds to Complete Test
===========================================
1989                     3,500
1990                     1,800
1991                     1,327
1993                       629
1994                       357

THAT'S what I'm talking about, Sune. A ten fold increase in STRICTLY HARDWARE.
in only FIVE years!

(The Phoenix program was already retired, and unchanged during this time. It was
used only to provide a test of the hardware.)

THIS is the kind of improvement that has being going on in HARDWARE. It's a
fact, (whether you like it or not), it's not "somebody said" or "should be" or
any of the hype.

Most of the improvement in chess strength in the last 20 years has been due to
HARDWARE improvements.

Even if all the hype says otherwise.

Dave

**Page 466



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