Author: Ossie Weiner
Date: 02:27:23 03/10/98
For many years the SSDF rating list has been a trusted source of information for computer chess enthusiasts. It used to be the basic principle of this non-commercial organisation that chess computers and chess programs were tested only in exactly the same form which was also available to the public. This straightforward principle made the SSDF ratings valuable for all interested parties. For the first time now the SSDF has allowed a company called ChessBase GmbH to supply a special hardware/software configuration which is not commercially available. That means special privileges have been given to ChessBase in comparison to other chess software suppliers. It has always been usual to give equal conditions to everybody, but now we find this principle of fairness violated in the latest SSDF rating list from 22.02.1998. The following points are making a suspicious impression: a. It's known that ChessBase had autoplayers available latest in September 1997, whereas the SSDF received it only in beginning 1998. What has ChessBase been working on in these 2 - 3 months? b. Unlike all other chess programs Fritz 5 has been tested with a special Powerbook loaded onto the hard disk for speed increase. These Powerbooks are normally not supplied with Fritz 5. c. Fritz 5 is being tested with endgame databases. Has this also been the case with other programs such as MChess Pro 7.1 and Shredder 2.0? d. We have been informed that the exe-file used in these tests is different from the commercial Fritz 5 exe-file. Why is the SSDF tolerating this? e. Fritz 5 is not being tested with a standard auto232 interface, but with a very special hardware/ software configuration supplied by ChessBase. This setup opens the door to various manipulations such a special tuning to different opponents. It also requires a min. RAM size of 64 MB, a privilege nobody else has demanded or been granted up to know. f. Some experts have calculated only the handtested games of Fritz 5 where the achieved rating is almost 200 Elo points lower. Only coincidence? There is the big danger that the SSDF rating list will become worthless in the future, unless the SSDF is returning to their basic principles: All chess programs have to be tested in the commercially available form WITHOUT tolerating special requests of any manufacturers. That means that the Fritz 5 special version has to be removed immediately from the rating list. Only games may be counted which have been tested by hand, not by the mysterious autoplayer configuration. As soon as a sufficient number of games has been tested in a regular manner the results shall be published again. Of course also autoplayer games are acceptable, but only if it's done in a commercially available form, to which every computer chess friend in the world has access. Of course we can't exclude that Fritz 5 is really that strong and it will achieve first place on the rating list also with regular testing methods. In such case nobody will object to such a well-deserved result. But currently the possibility can't be excluded that this program may drop by as much as 100 Elo points or even more, and for that reason it's also in the best interest of ChessBase GmbH to stop all negative rumours and present their program to a FAIR TEST. Signed by: Chrilly Donninger Richard Lang Stefan Meyer-Kahlen
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