Author: Stefan Meyer-Kahlen
Date: 00:19:00 10/02/00
Some strange and false statements about my person and my program Shredder have recently been published. I think that it is necessary to make some facts known: 1. The following statements by Marcus Kaestner are FALSE: * Marcus Kaestner claims on his homepage and the cover of the latest issue of his magazine to have tested a beta version of Shredder5 and the latest beta version of Shredder in his magazine, on the cover he evens calls it just “Shredder5”. * Marcus Kaestner has claimed here to have tested the London version of Shredder and found it inferior to other programs that also have competed in London. * Calling me stupid for not allowing to publish the ChessBits rating list, where Shredder 4.16 is supposed to be “the clear number 1” doesn’t make much sense to me as I can’t know a rating list which hasn’t been published yet. 2. The CORRECT facts are: * Marcus Kaestner was a beta tester of Shredder until beginning of June 2000 when I found out that he has copied beta versions to third parties. * The last beta version of Shredder he received was version 4.16 from beginning of June. * The version playing in London was Shredder 4.24. * Shredder 4.24 and 4.16 differ significantly, e.g. the evaluation function of Shredder 4.16 is still very similar to the commercial version Shredder4 which is certainly no longer true for version 4.24. * There is still a long way to go to complete Shredder5. * To call version 4.16 or even versions prior to that a “Shredder 5 Beta” or even “Shredder 5” is definitely INCORRECT. * I don’t have access to preprints of ChessBits so I have no idea about the content of the latest issue as long as it hasn’t been published yet. I can only judge from the cover and Marcus Kaestner’s announcements. * Marcus Kaestner has found other programs to support, e.g. he was operating Tiger in London and was responsible for Rebel and Tiger playing the Belgrade Gambit in London against Shredder as he knew that previous versions of Shredder have handled this opening not very well. Luckily for me the London version of Shredder has improved also in this regards, * I was personally insulted by Marcus Kaestner on his homepage several times. 3. Conclusions: * I simply ask Marcus Kaestner to stop claiming having tested beta versions of Shredder5, the London version of Shredder or even a current beta version of Shredder and to stop his personal aggressions immediately. * I have no idea why Marcus Kaestner is acting like this except for pushing his magazine and trying to harm Shredder. * I don’t want to deal with Marcus Kaestner again for obvious reasons. This whole story is no fun for me and I don’t like dealing with lawyers and these endless discussions in the Internet. It keeps me from working on Shredder. * If the good reputation of my program and our legal rights need to be defended I and my distributor Ossi Weiner will certainly do so. Stefan Meyer-Kahlen (author of Shredder)
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