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Subject: Re: Ooops

Author: Tom Kerrigan

Date: 10:31:16 06/18/03

Go up one level in this thread


On June 17, 2003 at 17:25:13, Ricardo Gibert wrote:

>On June 17, 2003 at 16:58:45, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>
>>On June 17, 2003 at 15:05:59, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>
>>>On June 17, 2003 at 13:40:19, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>>>
>>>>On June 17, 2003 at 13:15:31, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On June 16, 2003 at 23:46:15, Keith Evans wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On June 16, 2003 at 23:23:41, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On June 16, 2003 at 02:50:49, Ricardo Gibert wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On June 14, 2003 at 18:00:30, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>On June 13, 2003 at 12:03:58, Michael Vox wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>http://www.clubkasparov.ru/521772350.html?462691585533321
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>One could argue chess endgame tablebases play the endgame like god, but not this
>>>>>>>>>>article....
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Enjoy :)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>The author is an idiot.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>a 5 piece endgame _counts_ the two kings.  He is not counting them.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>He really thinks he is probing what we would call a 7 piece ending, which
>>>>>>>>>is _years_ away from reality.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>At no point in the article does he ever do as you allege. He always counts the
>>>>>>>>pieces correctly.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>We all make mistakes, but I don't think we should therefore brand all of
>>>>>>>>ourselves "idiots". Do you? He is a GM after all, so don't you think you calling
>>>>>>>>him an "idiot" a little extreme?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Perhaps "computer chess idiot" would have been better?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>His entire article is based on incorrect information.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>A 5 piece position is _always_ played perfectly by a program.  But when there
>>>>>>>are more than 5 pieces on the board, perfection goes away even when probing
>>>>>>>5 piece tables after captures.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>In his text, I get the impression he is saying position two should be played
>>>>>>>perfectly.  Yet it has _seven_ pieces on the board.  Tables work miracles,
>>>>>>>but they don't make the impossible possible, yet...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Nevertheless for position 1, after 1.Bd1 Kg8 2.h7+ Kxh7 3.h6 Kg8 4.h7+ Kxh7 5.h5
>>>>>>Kg8 6.h6 Kh8 7.h7 Kxh7 there are only _five_ chessmen on the board. So if he has
>>>>>>tablebases enabled, then what _should_ the engines return? I don't have 5-men
>>>>>>tablebases available, so I don't know. Is his analysis incorrect, or is he
>>>>>>pointing out a bug or setup problem with Junior and Fritz?
>>>>>
>>>>>The problem is this:  If the position _starts_ off with 5 pieces, it will
>>>>>play _perfectly_.   If it starts off with more, it might not.  IE it might
>>>>
>>>>I don't know why this conversation is still going on. Bob, you're being an
>>>>idiot. The position in the diagram has 8 pieces, right? Then there's the
>>>
>>>I don't see how it helps at all to say, "Bob, you're being an idiot." In fact,
>>>as RH has demonstrated himself (see
>>>http://www.talkchess.com/forums/1/message.html?301083), this sort of thing is
>>>extremely risky.
>>>
>>>For instance, how you like it if RH came back with a challenge matching his
>>>"idiocy" against your "cleverness" by playing a match between Crafty and Stobor?
>>>None of us are perfect. Unforntunately this includes me, which I'm reminded of
>>>all too often.
>>
>>Well, what would be a better word? Okay, miscounting (thinking there are 7
>>pieces in the first position instead of 8) is a mistake. Not reading a key part
>>of the article is a mistake. Calling the guy who wrote the article an idiot
>>because of those mistakes is lame but I wouldn't say it's idiotic. Continuing to
>>assert that the article was talking about a 7-man position after being corrected
>>explicitly TWICE is idiotic.
>
>I noticed he said 7 instead of 8, but since 7 or 8 is irrelevant to the points

Right. That was a mistake. I'm not calling him an idiot for that, as I
explained.

>>Also, correcting Bob without calling him names was obviously not working.
>I don't see how this justifies the use of the term. Where is the logic? Did you
>really expect to accomplish something? It made you "feel" better? What?

Sure, felt great. :)

>>I'm not sure how Stobor would do vs. Crafty right now, as I haven't really
>>worked hard on my program for several years now, but Stobor has been stronger
>>than Crafty in the past so don't be so sure that Bob is more "clever" than me in
>>that regard.
>
>Excellent! Can we then say that we have a match on if RH too is amenable?

AFAIK, Crafty is still playing on ICC. I can match it whenever I want. I'm in
the middle of implementing some stuff in my program now, but later, sure. I
might even be able to get hardware similar to what Bob is using.

-Tom



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