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Subject: Re: List of participants for WCCC

Author: Anthony Cozzie

Date: 07:17:10 05/18/04

Go up one level in this thread


On May 17, 2004 at 17:48:35, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On May 17, 2004 at 15:26:58, Anthony Cozzie wrote:
>
>>On May 17, 2004 at 00:12:58, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On May 14, 2004 at 20:43:01, Anthony Cozzie wrote:
>>>
>>>>On May 14, 2004 at 20:31:25, Vasik Rajlich wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On May 14, 2004 at 18:26:54, Amir Ban wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On May 14, 2004 at 12:32:26, Matthew Hull wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On May 14, 2004 at 12:16:57, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On May 13, 2004 at 20:17:42, Russell Reagan wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Not anyone can play. Only people who have several thousand dollars and two
>>>>>>>weeks >>to burn can play. I don't know many people in that situation, or at
>>>>>>>least if >>they are in that situation and participated, the locks would be
>>>>>>>changed when >>they returned home from the trip :)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>FYI, travel costs and hardware are sponsored by the organisation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>No, they are not.  $2000 dollars is not sponsored by the organization, neither
>>>>>>>the hotel, nor the paid time off for two weeks.  The entire situation is
>>>>>>>calculated to discourage American participation.  The physical format is
>>>>>>>calculated to permit cheating, as was done with the illeagal throwing of a
>>>>>>>drawn game to the eventual "winner".  It is a corrupt establishment designed to
>>>>>>>cater to European interests, and to snub Americans.
>>>>>>>It is therefore an irrelevant contest, just like the FIDE World Championship is
>>>>>>>completely irrelevant.
>>>>>>>:)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>CCT is now the venue for true WORLD comptetition, instead of just European
>>>>>>>competition.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>No it's not. I will come to CCT to experiment, if I come at all. Others don't
>>>>>>bother to show up, and why should they ? It's not a major event.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>CCT is a bit like Biel: crowded and noisy, with a few good players. But don't
>>>>>>mistake Biel for Wijk an Zee.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Which reminds me that no major chess tournament takes place in the USA nowadays.
>>>>>>All the major tournaments are in Europe, but I don't hear you saying that
>>>>>>Kaidanov and Stripunsky are the world's best.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Amir
>>>>>
>>>>>Quite a few top chess events have been held in the U.S. - '95 Kasparov-Anand,
>>>>>'89 or so Kasparov-Karpov, '99 FIDE knockouts, three man-machine championships.
>>>>>
>>>>>But no WCCCs.
>>>>>
>>>>>Ok it's probably just a coincidence - but IMO the complaints are understandable.
>>>>>
>>>>>Vas
>>>>
>>>>The complaints are understandable.  Heck, *I* have a problem with it :) But the
>>>>people claiming CCT has superceded the WCCC are simply living in a dream world .
>>>>. .
>>>>
>>>>anthony
>>>
>>>
>>>CCT is going (note is going, not already has) to accomplish two things:
>>>
>>>1.  encourage participation from around the world, not just from around Europe.
>>>
>>>2.  Eventually make the WCCC irrelevant.  We already have 3x the participants.
>>>We've had most commercial programs in the events.
>>>
>>>The problem is the internet vs international travel.  A 2-3 day game conference
>>>would be nice, maybe with the last 2-3 rounds of the event played in the
>>>evenings.  But two weeks is simply beyond ridiculous with the idea of
>>>encouraging _new_ participants.  If my first tournament had involved
>>>international travel for two weeks, I certainly would not have had a first
>>>tournament.  A commercial chess programmer might be able to make that as it is a
>>>primary mission for his company.  Locals might make it.  But the cost is a real
>>>issue.
>>>
>>>That is where the ICCA is completely missing the boat.  They are supposed to be
>>>encouraging development of computer chess programs.  Just read the charter.
>>>They are failing in at least one regard, for that essential mission (that is
>>>_the_ reason we originally formed the ICCA, regardless of what they might
>>>suggest.  _I_ was actually there when we agreed to form it.)  Somehow that got
>>>lost in the shuffle.  It started in the dirty days of the commercial section of
>>>the WMCCC and has led the ICCA farther astray from its primary _mission_.
>>>
>>>But that's OK.  CCT will likely continue to do better and better.  And actually
>>>have an international collection of participants, both experienced and new
>>>participants as well...
>>>
>>>At a price that beginners, newcomers and students can afford.  That is a big key
>>>issue...
>>>
>>>There was great discussion when we started adding a 5th round to ACM events.
>>>Because it makes it harder and harder to take off to participate.  Now we are at
>>>two weeks.  By 2020 it will be a full-time year-round job it would seem...
>>>
>>>You should _first_ decide who you are trying to attract, then define the event
>>>that will do this.  Not first worry about how many rounds and how to occupy two
>>>weeks, and then see who will come...  If the WCCC had started at 2 weeks, it
>>>would not have survived the first event.  Where this "idea" came from is beyond
>>>me.  At least through 1989 they were 5 rounds period.  And getting to them was
>>>not a problem due to time off, and by bouncing between NA and Europe every 6
>>>years there was a WCCC "on continent" if you could not travel internationally
>>>due to cost.
>>>
>>>But those were the days when the programmers were actually the people making the
>>>decisions and running the organization.  It's drifted far away from that...
>>
>>I completely agree with the length issue.  There are simply too many rounds in
>>the current format.  At WCCC03 I thought the top programs all won their last 5
>>games in a row anyway.  If the system is automated, it is easily possible to
>>play 2 games per day (all you have to do is watch).  Perhaps a time control of
>>90 minutes for the first 40 moves plus 90 minutes for the rest of the game. So a
>>1/2/1/2/1 format would give 7 rounds (about the right length, I think) in 5
>>days.  That would also give some time for sightseeing or other stuff.
>
>For reasons only they know, the ICGA is _not_ going to go to an automated
>format, where everybody has to have support for a chess server, and they set up
>a local FICS server in the tournament hall.
>
>Why this can't be done is beyond me since it is _exactly_ what we do in the CCT
>events.  Another example of "dinosaurian thinking" as this has been easy to do
>for at least 10+ years.  I started working with the old xboard, and with Tim
>Mann, to add features so that the current protocol idea was started and now is
>more than adequate to play games on a server, as many of us prove daily.
>
>It can be done.  Why they refuse to do it and let all the nonsensical TD
>decisions and player interference and other things detract from the event is
>beyond any sane explanation.  So let's just call it insanity and leave it there.
> :)


I just checked, and the WCCC is closer to 1 week than two.  In fact, if they
just chopped the last 4 rounds/2 days I would say they had a perfect schedule.

anthony



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