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Subject: Re: Hatred and its consequences

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 06:43:47 04/23/01

Go up one level in this thread


On April 23, 2001 at 04:20:45, Robert Raese wrote:

>On April 21, 2001 at 22:46:06, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On April 21, 2001 at 10:17:48, Ed Schröder wrote:
>>
>>>On April 21, 2001 at 09:47:25, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>On April 20, 2001 at 15:10:29, Amir Ban wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Well, shame on you for a dreadful title.
>>>>>
>>>>>To the point: Shredder is as far as I am concerned still comp world champion,
>>>>>whether or not he plays the qualifiers, and if he plays, whether or not he wins.
>>>>>That being said, and at the risk of appearing dense, what does it have to do
>>>>>with it ?
>>>>>
>>>>>It's not even clear why he's not playing. The news that his objections are being
>>>>>addressed were ignored, if not by him then certainly by this forum.
>>>>>
>>>>>This newsgroup is crazy.
>>>>>
>>>>>Amir
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I think "greed" _is_ the issue.  Otherwise I can't imagine why program
>>>>authors would not simply say "Hey, Shredder holds both the WMCCC and WCCC
>>>>titles.  It certainly has earned the right to challenge/play Kramnik."
>>>>
>>>>Instead we have the present debacle where everyone (well, almost everyone)
>>>>that sells a program is lining up or wanting to line up to qualify for a
>>>>chance to play Kramnik.  I'd love to play him.  I could certainly put together
>>>>a hardware system that would give me really good odds vs any microprogram that
>>>>currently exists.  But as a charter member of the ICCA, I also respect the
>>>>titles they award.  We _all_ used to respect these titles.  When we challenged
>>>>Levy in 1984, we did so as the current WCCC champion.  When Hsu beat him in
>>>>the late 80's, they did so holding both ACM titles.
>>>>
>>>>This nonsense of "the title is nearly a year old" doesn't cut it.  Until the
>>>>next event, Shredder should be the choice.  And since he has been the choice
>>>>for at least two years running, that should hold some weight.  It does for
>>>>some.
>>>>
>>>>But apparently not for everybody.  If we continue down this childish course,
>>>>then one month after a WMCCC or WCCC event, someone could begin to dispute
>>>>the title with "but my program is now improved since that event and it is no
>>>>longer clear that the current champion could beat me..."  Heck, this could be
>>>>done one week (or one day) after the tournament ends.
>>>>
>>>>I guess the title means nothing today.  Which is a real shame for those of us
>>>>that _started_ the ICCA to head off this kind of stuff and put a serious
>>>>organization in place to handle such things...
>>>>
>>>>If it isn't about "greed" (as in publicity wanted for a specific program)
>>>>then why aren't all the amateur programs lining up and demanding a shot?  As
>>>>I said, given the right hardware I would be quite happy to play a match with
>>>>_anybody_ and would be pretty sure I would win.  Yet _I_ think Shredder is
>>>>the right program to play Kramnik.  Because he won the two tournaments I think
>>>>are most important.
>>>>
>>>>I think that ignoring that is just a form of "sour grapes"...
>>>>
>>>>However, in looking back over the history of microcomputer chess tournaments,
>>>>this _has_ been a pretty common theme.  I suppose that is why the older ACM
>>>>events were more fun.  No commercial programs.  No odd stuff...
>>>
>>>
>>>I think this is too one-sided.
>>>
>>>I agree with you that world-champion vs world-champion is the way to go.
>>>
>>>But.... since it has been decided elsewhere the match is about the "best
>>>program" (which is always debatable) I think that some programmers have
>>>the right to be become a bit greedy as you put it.
>>>
>>>It makes quite a difference in fact it is the difference.
>>>
>>>Ed
>>
>>
>>As I said.  Ignore the ICCA.  Ignore the WCCC and WMCCC tournaments.  That is
>>where this is headed.  And it spells the end for the usefulness of these events.
>>Should we now disband the ICCA and stop wasting the time???
>
>BGN event is for a different purpose that the events held by ICCA.  BGN is
>cashing in on an idea.  ICCA is a serious tournament to find out what chess
>program is #1.
>
>I don't think the illusion presented by BGN fools anybody who knows about
>computer chess.  And for this community, whose opinion really matters?  Joe
>Public on the street, who will give it a passing thought and forget about it?
>


Can you spell Deep Blue?  99.9999999% of the people on planet Earth now think
that "chess is solved since DB beat Kasparov."  So it _does_ matter what the
general public thinks.  And what they will think about this match is dead
wrong...  Just is they are wrong about computer supremecy in chess yet..





>Nobody here is going to say, "DeepFritz won BGN candidates, thus it is the best
>program."

No.. But the press is.  It _already_ is saying that a match between the two
best programs in the world is being used to choose Kramnik's challenger...



>
>That is what the ICCA was created for... to decide the matter legitimately, in a
>way that is endorsed by the entire computer chess community.  The public is
>irrelevent to that.  And I am not a programmer, but I think if I were the
>respect of my collegues would matter FAR more to me than the fleeting opinion of
>John Q. Public, who will believe anything he sees on TV and knows nothing of
>computers OR chess.
>
>Can anyone say what effect this event will have on the BUYING public?  If the
>machine  wins, will that necessarily translate into a windfall for the
>commercial interests represented in the event?  If the program LOSES and loses
>badly, will the public interest in computer chess be decreased?  Who knows?  If
>someone does, I'd like to hear about it.....




It will make a difference. 99.9% of the "computer chess customers" have no idea
about what really goes on in computer chess, what CCC is, or anything else.



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