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Subject: Re: IBM would risk 37 billion dollar

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 08:40:50 03/30/01

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On March 30, 2001 at 09:51:47, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On March 30, 2001 at 09:17:59, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On March 30, 2001 at 08:44:47, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>
>>>On March 28, 2001 at 23:14:30, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On March 28, 2001 at 16:38:31, Rajen Gupta wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>chinook ckeckers, (the checkers equivalent of deep blue)is ready to face all
>>>>>comers on its web site(admittedly a single processor version, but the same
>>>>>software)why cant deep blue or even deep blue junior do the same? is it because
>>>>>it is scared of being exposed for what it really is?
>>>>>
>>>>>rajen
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Why would they be afraid to expose it as an incredible chess-playing
>>>>machine?  Can't we figure that out from the Kasparov match?
>>>
>>>As you know stocks and shares have dropped past months/weeks quite
>>>a bit. Still IBM is worth 167.3%
>>>
>>>After match IBM stock went up most likely because of Deep Blue 22% in 1997
>>>right after winning match.
>>>
>>>So letting deep blue lose on the web now from all commercial progs
>>>and a bunch of chessplayers who will figure out its weaknesses
>>>would be risking 22% x 167.3 = 36.806 billion dollar
>>
>>
>>
>>First, Deep Blue would not lose on the web to all commercial programs.  Some
>>might tend to report things optimistically.  IE "My program beat Deep Blue"
>>when it should be "My program beat deep blue one game out of 23."
>
>Ok first of all from chesstechnical viewpoint i would be amazed if
>deep blue at slow level would ever get further as a draw against me.

Didn't you say something like that for the Dutch tournament?  I would
_never_ say that a program could at best draw me.  I know that even very
old programs can bite me from time to time.



>
>Note i assume it is possible to play slow level against it as i
>see it on average wasted like 30 seconds a move, which probably
>means it either had a hell slow operator or it needs like zugzwang
>quite some time to communicate to the processors to start the search.

There is _no_ communication delays to mention.  At the beginning of a search,
they do sometimes have to download evaluation tables to the chess engines, but
this is only done when the values need to be changed.  Hsu didn't like to play
5 second per move games because a couple of seconds were lost doing this.  But
only a couple of seconds.  Any other time lost is simply operator time.  The
machine was strong enough, and the match was so visible to everyone, I suspect
they chose to be _very_ careful in move input/output rather than trying to save
every last second and produce too many "take-back" situations that would
subject them to criticism.




>
>So i definitely doubt it.
>
>But let's approach it from how IBM will approach it. It will be
>a business decision, and those decisions are usually taken by managers
>who probably never heart of the 'en passant' rule (i'm not implying
>that most readers of CCC therefore know the rule).
>
>Managers think in terms of numbers. The number is quite convincing
>to NEVER ever again let Deep Blue live when it is interesting to let it
>play. It's obvious that in 2001 programs are hell better now as in 1997.

So?  IBM's SP is also a lot faster now.  And Hsu re-designed the chip yet
again although he didn't build one.  So DB _would_ be a lot better today as
well.



>
>Like any commercial program of today will beat the hell out of this deep
>blue thing. If it's not book, then it's because of pawn structure, if it's
>not because of that, then it'll be exchanging some crucial pieces in the
>middlegame etcetera.

I don't know of any commercial program today that can "beat the hell" out of
my program on good hardware.  And I wouldn't begin to claim that I would have
any real chance vs DB at all.  I might draw a game here and there, and I might
win a rare game if I am lucky.  But Crafty at 20M nodes per second is not going
to be a serious threat to them.  Although it would be an overwhelming threat to
anything else.  For a comparison, bring your program on a single cpu machine and
try crafty on my quad to see how you do.  Then figure that Crafty could run 20x
faster on a big Compaq machine, and think about how you would do against that.
And then DB is somewhere way beyond that rainbow...





>
>However this is all of no concern of business men. They see a 37 billion
>dollar risk.
>
>Even if that risk would be 0.05 as you say (though i think it's more
>like a 100% sure risk) then count the win versus lose problem.
>
>I'm bad in math, so are the business men, so they will do next
>math:
>
>  overall risk: 22% of stocks/shares = 37 billion
>
>  working risk: 0.05 x 37 billion    = 1.85 billion risk
>  working win : ??   x ??            = 0
>
>What can they WIN with it? What is their working win?
>Their working risk is arguably 0.05.
>
>Most likely it's more like 60%.
>Things go bad in this world economically now because of big crises in Japan
>(or whatever).
>
>So SUPPOSE intel goes play them. With DIEP at a 32 processor Xeon.
>Very cheap for them to do. They have plenty of 32 processor Xeons idling
>day and night and by dealing a blow to IBM they might want to
>risk giving me a bit of system time, which i of course will blindfolded
>accept.

There aren't any 32 processor xeon machines.  There are 8-way xeon
machines however.  But even using 4 of those would leave you 100x slower
than DB.



>
>If i start winning bigtime suddenly they will write the sponsor name
>with big capitals suddenly and ask a few TV teams to get some free
>drinks.
>
>They by accident film how IBM technology is getting kicked ass by Intel.
>
>No here the more likely scenario to happen one day.
>
>A manager proposes this idea to play again with deep blue for
>'commercial purposes'. A manager who thinks even simpler as i do
>(as i would play just for the sake of chess) is doing the above math,
>and he fires the person(s) who proposed the idea!
>
>>Second, I doubt anyone would argue that with the current positive impression
>>the general public has about the Deep Blue project, IBM would be foolish to do
>>_anything_ to tarnish that image.  When the "shine" wears off, DB might re-
>>surface, I don't know.  But at present, when you are on top, there is no need to
>>return to the ring too quickly.
>
>My point is that they will never get back. If they do expect a big bunch
>of managers to get fired.


They will get back _if_ it seems to be financially rewarding.  When the name
"deep blue" has faded from memory, reviving it would be worthwhile, most likely.



>
>>>
>>>Last Trade
>>>Mar 29 ยท 95.04 Change
>>>0.00 (0.00%) Prev Cls
>>>95.04 Volume
>>>0 Div Date
>>>Mar 10
>>>Day's Range
>>>0.00 - 0.00 Bid
>>>N/A Ask
>>>N/A Open
>>>0.00 Avg Vol
>>>9,203,545 Ex-Div
>>>Feb 7
>>>52-week Range
>>>80.0625 - 134.9375 Earn/Shr
>>>4.44 P/E
>>>21.41 Mkt Cap
>>>167.3B Div/Shr
>>>0.52 Yield
>>>0.55



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