Author: Jonas Cohonas
Date: 10:26:12 04/14/01
It’s a well-known fact: the German chess program SHREDDER is not only the reigning, Absolute (we get it) Computer Chess World Champion and a three times Microcomputer World Champion but, with a recent series of additional tournament wins, SHREDDER has been beyond any doubt world’s most successful(computer) chess tournament program over the past 5 years. With this in mind, Stefan Meyer-Kahlen of Düsseldorf, in late 2000 challenged the winner of the London Braingames World Championship tournament to a match man against computer. Following Vladimir Kramnik’s surprise win over Garry Kasparov, we were informed at the beginning of this year that ‘Braingames’ has come to an agreement with the Government of Bahrain, where in October 2001 a tournament is to take place between the two world champions, Kramnik and SHREDDER. Negotiations regarding the details of this match have been going on for some time. It came therefore as no small surprise when Stefan Meyer-Kahlen received an invitation for a so-called ‘Braingames Computer Chess World Championship’ which – out of the blue – was to serve as a qualifying round for the match against Kramnik. Furthermore (and much to Stefan’s astonishment), this qualification tournament was to be held in closed session, ie excluding the public as well as the programmers concerned, in the private residence of a Spanish computer chess tester. As an entry fee, each programmer was to pay no less than US$ 5,000. It is quite clear that the reigning Absolute Computer World Champion has no interest whatsoever defending his title at this kind of ‘living-room tournament’. An official title can be defended only at a regular and public World Championship tournament under the auspices of an official and independent organisation, such as the ICCA. Is there any confirmation that the above statement is non-biased? Regards Jonas
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