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Subject: Re: Which of the programs have the most knowledge programmed into it?

Author: David Blackman

Date: 01:35:52 07/11/00

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On July 10, 2000 at 18:55:11, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>On July 10, 2000 at 14:56:31, Christophe Theron wrote:

>>The program that knows the most about chess, and has the most relevant
>>knowledge, is the one that stands the highest in the rating lists.
>>
>>
>>    Christophe
>
>I don't think this is a very good definition, although nobody ever defines it
>when they ask which program has the most.  I think that what people mean when
>they say "knowledge" is that a program with more knowledge plays more like a
>strong human and less like a typical computer, since everyone would agree that a
>GM human typifies "knowledge".
>
>People want "knowledge" in a program because they think they can learn from
>seeing it expressed.  They want knowledge because they want to ask questions of
>something knowledgeable and get answers.
>
>This has little to do with which robot whacks the other robots.  Computers can
>play chess in a vacuum, if desired.  It's an interesting thing to do, and lots
>of people are interested in doing it.  But other people are interested in
>interacting with the program themselves.
>
>bruce

I get the impression that the program most used by players of master strength or
better is Fritz (in various versions, 3 and later). These people are definitely
looking to learn something from the computer. Usually they want to learn from
the computer if there is a shallow tactical mistake in the opening novelty they
just invented.

Most people (except Christophe) would say Fritz doesn't have much knowledge. But
it expresses what it knows very well. There are other programs that are just as
good and interesting as Fritz, but none that stand out as being a lot better.

I don't know exactly why Fritz would be popular with stronger players. I guess
it might be some combination of:

Is thrown in "for free" with some of the best chess databases, and strong
players want databases even more than they want a chess engine.

Is up there with the strongest programs, and is particularly fast and reliable
on tactics.

Is well known.

Has quite a nice user interface with plenty of useful features.



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