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Subject: Re: chess computer ratings

Author: Mike S.

Date: 08:51:02 09/23/01

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On September 23, 2001 at 11:13:14, José Carlos wrote:

>(...) Besides, I belive the "scale" (if we can
>use this term) is smaler in human world than in comp-comp world, meaning that a
>small difference between two versions of a program (or two different programs,
>of course) can appear over and over in games, translating into more and more
>rating points.

This would be the case only if it's not just a small, but also a decisive
difference, furthermore many programs have position learning.

But there's another aspect of this type of speed/strength estimation: The faster
program can't be +60 elo (or whatever the value is) stronger at every move in a
game. Actually, many moves will be the same on 400 MHz and on 800 MHz, if this
is the only difference of the conditions. In some positions, moves will be
different but not necessarily stronger (i.e., if there is a number of moves
within a narrow margin of evaluations). Btw. I've heard experiments have been
made, showing that approx. 16% of moves are different if the search is one ply
deeper.

So I think there is a very small number of moves, maybe only one or two per
game, where the higher speed is decisive for the result. Humans are certainly
more flexible in time consumption, and probably can adapt better to that than
programs. Furthermore, the higher speed affects only parts of a programs
performance. Opening book, egtbs, and parts of what can be described as
knowledge (in human terms) of the program, is the same at all cpu speeds and
time settings.

Regards,
M.Scheidl



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