Author: Slater Wold
Date: 00:51:15 03/07/01
I am fairly new to computer chess, I guess I might have a year or so into it. However, I have been playing chess for about 2 years. Computer chess, is a beautiful mix. An ancient pastime being played with 20th century technology. It is amazing. I was recently reading a post from Severi Salminen, where I got the feeling, he was upset that Robert Hyatt's program, Crafty, was open source, and that so many people went to it, as their "bible" of computer chess. (This might just be me.) I think his point was, that people should more/less "reinvent the wheel" (or at least try) instead of relying on someone else's work and/or ideas. Instead of replying to that post, I think I will take the time to extend my deepest of thanks, to all the programmers who have helped me out, and I am sure, have helped out thousand others, along their journey, to help *our* science. I recently had an issue with my Fritz 6, that I could not figure out. I went to their web site, and filled out a "questionaire" on my problem. 5 days later, I had a very short, and sweet, explanation. _WHENEVER_ I have any questions about Crafty, I can post the question on CCC, or e-mail the crafty mailing list, or even, e-mail Bob, and within _24_ hours, I have a very detailed explanation (or a simple one, whichever it warrants). The sad part is, I paid $60 for Fritz, and nothing for Crafty. Crafty is the hands down king, of open source programs. I don't know a lot of people who would dispute that fact. I often wonder how much stronger Crafty would be, if it wasn't open source. Would it be as strong as Fritz or Junior? Perhaps stronger? I once saw Crafty (on Hyatt's machine) beat Deep Fritz on a dual Pentium III 973mhz machine, 4 times in a row. I was in awe. In the chess computer community, I am sure that a lot of people do not know who Frans Morsch, Amir Ban, and Shay Bushinsky are. But I guarentee almost everyone knows Hyatt's FTP site address by heart. Tell me where Frans, Amir, or Shay, will allow you to download 3/4/5/6 piece tablebases, on their or Chessbase's computers. They won't. As a matter of fact, they will charge you a rather large sum of money for them. Hyatt, gives them all to us, for free. (Not to mention, Chessbase programs don't even have 6 piece support.) I am not sure if I am wild about the fact that people rip off Crafty. Modifying it a tad, and then playing it as their own program. But plagerism has been around a long time. And I am sure it's not going to go away anytime soon. But I am sure that Hyatt had an idea, that people would do this the day he opened Crafty's source to the public. I am not sure what the technical limits would be, of modifying Crafty enough to make it "yours" but I am sure that a lot of programs, a lot more than Robert, you or I know of, that are nothing more than Crafty's, with someone else's ideas in them. Robert Hyatt gives the computer chess community so much. He is an assistant professor, he is a moderator here @ CCC, he hosts the crafty mailing list, he answers all his e-mail regarding crafty, he offers us his hard work, his years of knowledge, his dedication. And never asks anything more than to not play "Crafty" on ICC or FICS more than 4 times in a row. (A wish that most people don't respect.) Mr. Hyatt, I thank you. For everything you do, for everything you give. For helping the newbies, to the development of one of the best chess programs ever. For sharing your secrets, to hosting an FTP site where we can get your program, tablebases, and more. Thank you so much sir. What you give, is priceless. Also, I would like to thank Bruce Moreland, Ed, Christophe, and all the other programmers, and veterans who help us all out everyday. Your dedication, and help is also greatly appreciated. Deeply Appreciative, S.W.
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