Author: Darse Billings
Date: 04:36:14 12/09/03
I have been asked to contribute my views regarding the Shredder vs Jonny game in Graz. (I was in Graz during the WCCC, and I've been involved in similar 3-fold repetition situations in the Computer Olympiad. FWIW, I have the highest arbiter certification awarded by the Chess Federation of Canada: National Tournament Director.) http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1335 This is an interesting situation, but the ruling was entirely correct. The actual circumstances made the decision clear. Anyone who cannot see this needs to check their logic or their knowledge of the rules. The hypothetical issue is more interesting: whether the operator has the right to decline an opportunity to draw. Some people have asserted that the operator does not have that right. They are wrong. Since the operator is given the right to claim a draw on behalf of the program, the natural corollary is that it is *not obligatory* for the operator to do so. Note that this discretionary privilege can also lead to a *win* for the operator's program. The operator is *not* a completely passive entity, nor has that ever been the case in computer chess competitions. The rule in question dates back to a previous era when computer chess was a friendly competition between gentlemen. If that is no longer desirable, then the whole process of claiming a draw (as well as resigning on behalf of the program) must be revisited, and be taken out of the hands of the operator. The exact procedure for claiming a draw by 3-fold repetition is covered in the FIDE rules. If a program follows those steps, then the operator has no say in the matter. Most programmers have better things to do than encoding every niggling detail of the FIDE rules (which were developed for human players). Personally, I prefer to allow the programmer to do what he believes to be right. If I were the arbiter, I would rule accordingly. If a third party suggested or demanded that a programmer do something he believes to be less than honourable, I would hope it was a bad joke, and would dismiss it summarily. It is a sad statement that some non-cooperative participants prefer to use the rules as a weapon, forcing increasingly complex rules to handle minor quibbles (which is an impossible task in the limit; at some point judgement and reason must come into play). Regardless, the case at hand is clear and unambiguous: Jonny did not follow the exact steps for claiming a draw, and the operator's choice to continue the game was legal. Those who have criticized the ICGA on this matter should rethink their position. As a side note, this situation would not have arisen if the programs were required to use a direct communication protocol, like that used for Go competitions. We could also dispense with the physical clocks, leaving the time enforcement (and other technical details, like draw claims) to a referee program in the middle. This places a greater burden on the programmer to satisfy the protocol, and I wouldn't recommend it for friendly events like the Computer Olympiad, but it is long overdue for the World Computer Chess Championship. - Darse.
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