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Subject: Re: Poll Question - Tournaments vs Matches

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 10:25:12 01/05/00

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On January 05, 2000 at 10:53:50, Bertil Eklund wrote:

>On January 05, 2000 at 09:45:04, Chris Carson wrote:
>
>>For ELO measurements (FIDE, PCA, SSDF or combined).  Would a computer
>>(or perhaps a person) get a higher rating in a tournament than in
>>a match?
>>
>>My opinion is that a tournament is a better predictor of strength
>>than a match.  My reason (not based on any facts, it would be an
>>interesting study) is that in a tournament a person (or machine) would
>>face a broader range of styles than in a match.  In a match, the person
>>or computer might face an opponent that just plain does well against
>>him/her/it (Even Fisher had a nimises).  Also, in match play, each
>>player can book up on the opponent and may get an advantage that might
>>not be there in a tournament (more players to worry about).
>>
>>So, I think a tournament is a better measure of strength than a match.
>>
>>Second question:  Would computer ratings benifit more from tournament
>>play than match play?  I vote that tournament play would produce higher
>>(more accurate) ratings for computers against people than match play.
>>
>>Just my two cents.  :)
>>
>>Best Regards,
>>Chris Carson
>Hi!
>
>You are right humans plays a lot better in single game matches and that is the
>main reason between the discrepance between the SSDF-list and these matches
>often with increment or double-increment time-controls.
>
>Regards Bertil SSDF


Here I still disagree.  The SSDF list is simply grossly inflated.  Programs are
not playing at a 2700 level, if by 2700 the word "FIDE" comes to mind.  The lack
of human competition over the last 7-8 years has caused this, as
machine-vs-machine ratings tend to get exaggerated.  I can't count the number of
times I have made small changes to crafty that would cause version N+1 to beat
version N by a 60-40 margin, yet the rating remained _exactly_ the same on ICC.

Most versions will beat the earlier versions by significant margins, yet the
overall skill level gain (against humans) is lower than what is suggested by
taking the win/lose/draw score and running it thru the Elo formula.

As I have said before, the pools are totally different.  The ratings are not
comparable in any fashion until the two pools of players are merged and mingled
enough that they can be treated equally.



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