Author: KarinsDad
Date: 22:04:40 06/15/99
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On June 16, 1999 at 00:08:46, eric guttenberg wrote: > >In a 7-round tournament luck is clearly a major factor, especially >where the competitors are machines running programs within 20-30 >elo points of each other. It may not be the biggest factor but >anyone who has seen a lot of computer v computer results knows that in >a tournament where the top contenders only play 3 or 4 games against >other top contenders the result might be very different than if the >top programs played 40 games against its top rivals. > >eric I disagree. Luck is not a major factor at all. Luck is one of those terms that is bandied about when some improbable event occurs. However, you have 30 chess programs here. So, on average, they each have about a 3.3% chance of winning. But just because the average chance to win is low and hence the chance to win of the winning program is low (i.e. improbable), does not mean that whichever program wins will be lucky. It means that one of many improbable events will be the final result. The winning program will be skillful. Chess is a game of total skill, not luck. Backgammon is a game of skill and luck. If there were 30 humans playing in the tournament and you were one of them and you won the tournament, then you would not say that you won it because you were lucky. You would say that you won it because you had a higher winning percentage than any other competitor (or maybe some more colorful euphemism). Four to six round chess tournaments occur every week in the world and a lot of these are split up in to 200 point differential sections. Nobody (generally) goes around saying that the winner of these tournaments is lucky, so why would they say that for a seven round tournament? When Anand played Karpov for the World Championship, the previous elimination rounds consisted of the winner of two games (and quick chess tie breaks) per round. Only 2 games! But, nobody said (at least to my knowledge) that Anand was lucky to beat Shirov, Gelfand, and Adams after winning his first 3 rounds. Everyone just took it in stride that Anand would be playing for the Championship because he was victorious. End of story. The program that wins the WCCC will be one that plays extremely well. KarinsDad :)
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