Author: Dave Gomboc
Date: 19:07:49 08/22/00
Go up one level in this thread
On August 22, 2000 at 20:36:52, Will Singleton wrote:
>On August 22, 2000 at 18:45:59, Andrew Williams wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I've just got back from my second (and last unfortunately) visit to WMCCC.
>>Again, some brief thoughts in no particular order:
>>
>>Internet Access
>>===============
>>
>>I talked to a guy in the "press room" and he seemed quite friendly and
>>suggested that James Robertson could use a spare computer to post a report
>>to the internet. A report from James has appeared on Frank Quisinsky's site,
>>but I don't know if he used the press room to post it. As far as I could
>>determine, there was no internet access from the playing hall itself (which
>>is mostly laid out for human mind sports of all kinds). The press room is
>>a little way off and it wouldn't be possible to provide "live" updates. The
>>odd thing is that the Alexandra Palace is a spectacular venue (I'd guess that
>>the human participants at the Mind Sports Olympiad are pretty happy).
>>Unfortunately, it is nowhere near as good for Computer games as (say) a good
>>university would be, because that would provide: (a) A large number of machines
>>on-site (I'd guess you could run a uniform-platform event, albeit perhaps not
>>with the latest equipment). AND (b) Excellent internet access for the
>>participants. I would stress that the organizers of WMCCC are working hard and
>>enthusiastically to make the event a success.
>>
>>
>>Round Four
>>==========
>>
>>I saw some of Round 4 today (I think you can find results on Frank Quisinsky's
>>page). I had to leave before most games were concluded, however.
>>
>>Vincent Diepeveen was very unhappy, because Diep allowed its rook to become
>>trapped, giving Zchess a relatively easy win. I think Franck Zibi was rather
>>pleased, but he was too polite to show it while Vincent was so upset.
>>
>>Crafty's book was working OK. When I asked Graham Laight if it had played moves
>>out of the book, Alexander Kure (operating Nimzo) interjected: "yes, but just
>>not the right ones". Graham said that Crafty came out of book with a score of
>>-1.5 (or something), but for a while it looked like Nimzo was struggling to
>>make progress.
>>
>>I had a nice chat with Frans Morsch, while Matthias Feist was operating Fritz
>>against Junior. He said that Fritz "thinks the world of its position", but
>>was concerned that it wasn't making any progress in improving it. Frans said he
>>didn't like blitz games, but Matthias was keen to enter Fritz in Wednesday
>>afternoon's blitz tournament. All the while, a young kid was using Amir Ban's
>>mobile phone to relay the moves to someone (Shay Bushinsky?).
>>
>>When I asked how his game was going, Stefan Mayer-Kahlen commented, "badly, but
>>before it was terrible!". This was a little while before Shredder found its way
>>out of a very sticky situation against Rebel.
>>
>>I think I embarassed Jonathon Schaeffer a bit by saying how much I enjoyed his
>>book about Chinook! ("One Jump Ahead", highly recommended).
>>
>>I'm a little ashamed that I didn't mention Bruno Bras (programmer of Pacque
>>Expert) yesterday. Apropos of nothing at all, he kindly gave me a free copy of
>>his program on CD. Thanks, Bruno. Tony Werten's Xinix seems to have recovered
>>from its problems in Round 1 and had a nice win against Pacque Expert.
>>
>>I wish I'd been able to have a quick chat with Rudolf Huber about SOS. I'd have
>>been interested to hear his thoughts on MTD(f).
>>
>>I hope I've not mis-represented anyone in my two brief reports from WMCCC.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>Andrew
>
>Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great show, what with all the varied
>events going on, and interesting people to talk with. Was Schaeffer competing,
>or just hanging out?
>
>Did you learn anything about the lack of reporting from the site? I seem to
>recall that a previous WMCC had a good website, with pgn available after each
>round plus standings etc. Or maybe that was chessbase, can't remember. Do you
>think they were relying on third parties to cover things? Was there a concern
>from the participants about the info blackout?
>
>Will
Jonathan is there with several grad students from the U of A to compete in
Awari, Lines of Action, Hex, Poker, and possibly one or two other competitions.
Dave
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