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Subject: Re: Just learning capability?

Author: blass uri

Date: 11:01:58 06/14/00

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On June 14, 2000 at 13:23:19, Hans Gerber wrote:

>On June 14, 2000 at 11:54:38, KarinsDad wrote:
>
>>On June 13, 2000 at 19:57:39, Mogens Larsen wrote:
>>
>>>On June 13, 2000 at 19:18:45, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>>
>>>> And even the opening database data (while - admittedly - more important than
>>>>endgame tablebase data) is not the achilles' heel.  If you want to strike at the
>>>>heart of a chess program, simply remove the data from the eval function.  Now
>>>>we'll see who plays crappy chess.  Essentially, what you will have is my
>>>>retarded move generator chess program.  The GM's won't have much problem with
>>>>that, but neither will anyone else for that matter.
>>>
>>>You still don't get it. It's not a question of crippling a chess program, not as
>>>far as I'm concerned, and it involves other considerations than the simple ones
>>>you present. Of course a human brain is responsible for the code involved in a
>>>chess program and the same thing applies for opening books and endgames tables,
>>>so it has no bearing on the discussion at hand whatsoever. Opening books and
>>>endgame tables are simply not a product of the programmer and rarely something
>>>produced by the program itself. A chess program should play chess on its own
>>>terms, not through more or less random exterior additions and attachments. You
>>>might say it's a question of existentialism. What constitutes a genuine computer
>>>chess program?
>>>
>>>Best wishes...
>>>Mogens
>>
>>This is getting old.
>>
>>"Opening books and endgame tables are simply not a product of the programmer and
>>rarely something produced by the program itself."
>>
>>RAM is not a product of the programmer and rarely something produced by the
>>program itself.
>>
>>Hard Disks are not a product of the programmer and rarely something produced by
>>the program itself.
>>
>>The rules of the game are not a product of the programmer and rarely something
>>produced by the program itself.
>>
>>EGTBs and the operating system are not products of the programmer and rarely
>>something produced by the program itself.
>>
>>Etc. Etc. Etc.
>>
>>I have a BUNCH of tables in my code that I wrote separate programs to generate
>>since it is a pain in the butt to generate a 4K table by hand. I did not create
>>them by hand, but I still created them.
>>
>>Every aspect of a computer program is put there by the programmer. Where the
>>programmer acquires a piece of software, hardware, or data is irrelevent. It was
>>the PROGRAMMER who put it all together and came up with the overall package.
>>
>>Not some random GM from 80 years ago who played a game. Not the customers. Not
>>you. Not me.
>>
>>THE PROGRAMMER.
>>
>>Who gives a rat's rear end how he put together his program. The two important
>>things for most people are:
>>
>>1) What features does the program have?
>>
>>2) How well does the program play chess?
>>
>>Now, these two can be segregated further such as elements of the GUI, does the
>>program play a strong endgame, etc. But, the bottom line is that it does not
>>matter much what elements make up the internals of a program. A given program is
>>what it is and talking about whether it should have external elements such as
>>opening books and endgame tables (which by the way are no different than the
>>tables in my code which where generated by an external program) is kind of
>>silly.
>>
>>This entire thread is basically ludicrous and just an exercise in jaw movement
>>(or typing movement, whatever).
>>
>>KarinsDad :)
>
>Ok, as long as you want to play comp vs. comp matches this is ok.
>
>But please think about the following! Not even the World Champion himself does
>play the whole ECO down to move 30 in less than 2 seconds. Are you really
>convinced that this is a proof for the ability to "play chess"? Every good GM
>has a selective opening repertory. But e.g. FRITZ plays down the lines of any
>opening even on lower levels, say on 1600.

I think that opening book is part of the ability to play chess.
I think that trusting the ECO down to move 30 is a mistake because there are
mistakes in the ECO.

bigger opening book is not always better.

Uri



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