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Subject: Re: Netherlands and Germany -- unusual proportion of good chess programmers

Author: Tony Werten

Date: 04:01:33 03/26/01

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On March 25, 2001 at 06:41:12, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On March 24, 2001 at 05:22:16, Tony Werten wrote:
>
>But most important is that we have 2 tournaments a year,
>one in germany, one in netherlands where computers play each other
>and where programmers can talk with each other.
>
>You learn most by going to such a tournament. Next one is
>from 18-20 may in Leiden.

Right. First time I participated my program barely knew the chessrules, second
time it played decent chess. ( I wonder what it will do the third )

Tony

>
>>On March 22, 2001 at 19:55:55, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>
>>>I am wondering something.
>>>
>>>For instance, for Israel and Russia, there is a very large proportion of
>>>excellent chess players.  A cursory scan of the GM list will show that those of
>>>Russian descent or Israeli descent have a very, very high proportion of GM's --
>>>way out of proportion to the general population.  Now, I'm not going to ask
>>>about that here, because it would only be topical on GCF.  On the other hand...
>>>
>>>It seems to me that there is a huge proportion of excellent chess programmers
>>>from Germany and the Netherlands.  Considering the population of the countries
>>>and the number of programmers writing excellent chess programs, the proportion
>>>is as enormous as the previously mentioned GM proportions.
>>>
>>>Does anyone have any sort of explanation as to why this is so?  Educational
>>>system?  Cultural focus on this topic?  What?
>>
>>I think it's a combination of things. The ones that come in mind are:
>>
>>- A lot of people in Holland know the chessrules. They may not all be able to
>>play a decent game, but they know the rules. If you go to a bar, they probably
>>have a chessboard behind the bar ( and a 10x10 checkersboard, and some dice )
>>
>>- A couple of years ago it was very easy to go to university ( and learn some
>>programming skills, before you got kicked off ) Everybody who wanted to go to
>>university got a scolarship.
>>
>>- Over 75% of all households have a computer (10% have 2 or more )
>>
>>- Over 50% of all households are connected to the internet.
>>
>>None of these things are a guaranty for good chessprograms but they all help. (
>>Specially  the first 2 )
>>For Germany it is/was about the same.
>>
>>cheers,
>>
>>Tony



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