Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Computer Chess is pointless

Author: Bas Hamstra

Date: 15:54:20 01/08/02

Go up one level in this thread


On January 07, 2002 at 14:52:49, Uri Blass wrote:

>On January 07, 2002 at 14:42:35, Bas Hamstra wrote:
>
>>On January 07, 2002 at 12:06:24, Uri Blass wrote:
>>
>>>On January 07, 2002 at 11:44:44, Bas Hamstra wrote:
>>>
>>>>On January 07, 2002 at 10:29:12, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On January 07, 2002 at 07:35:14, Bas Hamstra wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On January 07, 2002 at 07:08:08, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On January 06, 2002 at 21:17:43, Bas Hamstra wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>...because the fastest hardware simply wins. You can invent all kind of
>>>>>>>>ingenious tricks, but it's nothing compared to faster hardware. On 2x faster
>>>>>>>>hardware Tao just crushed GT 3x in a row and won the latest 10 15/0 games at
>>>>>>>>FICS against strong opponents on slower hardware. Come on, the only fair way to
>>>>>>>>compete is on equal hardware. I don't want to buy a computer twice a year just
>>>>>>>>for CC tournaments, that's ridiculous. IMO the competition would be much more
>>>>>>>>satisfying on equal hardware. Factor 2 hardware difference means hard to win for
>>>>>>>>any program against a not too bad opponent. Anything above that makes the
>>>>>>>>chances *way* too small to be fair. Yet that is quite normal in tournaments and
>>>>>>>>you won't hear anyone about it. Program X played this AMAZING knight sac
>>>>>>>>againtst program Y!! Hardware differences seem to be simply ignored. And that's
>>>>>>>>crazy, in fact.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Bas.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Then why didn't Zugzwang win IPCC99. It is not a bad program at all.
>>>>>>>In tests it completely annihilated the commercial programs they tested
>>>>>>>against.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Zugzwang was at like 512 alpha processors and getting millions of nodes
>>>>>>>a second. I can't even remember how much, but zugzwang is already a slow
>>>>>>>program on a PC...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>...it was using (making use of message passing and thereby losing many
>>>>>>>factors of speed but it is worth it) global hashtable and was having more
>>>>>>>Mhz and bigger hashtables than anyone else.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>This though the 17 ply searching Cilkchess at like 256 (or 500?)
>>>>>>>sun processors wasn't searching undeep either. Yet it lost chanceless from
>>>>>>>8 ply searching Lambchop.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>How do you explain that?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Yes, I expected this.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>a) The probability that the "best" program wins a tournament is far smaller then
>>>>>>you would expect. We once did some math and simulation, the shocking conclusion
>>>>>>was that the probability that the best program wins the tournament was only 50%
>>>>>>or something near that.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>b) CilkChess is a bad program. If you practically only do piece square then even
>>>>>>17 ply won't help you.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The server or the SSDF gives better data (more) to draw conclusions from. Both
>>>>>>indicate that hardware is an enourmous factor.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Best regards,
>>>>>>Bas.
>>>>>
>>>>>The ssdf does not say that hardware is an enourmous factor
>>>>
>>>>Are you serious? When has there EVER been a program in the top-3 that was not on
>>>>the fastest chip?
>>>>
>>>>>A1200 against K6-450 is more than2 times faster and
>>>>>Crafty on A1200 is not better than the best programs
>>>>
>>>>What does this prove other than that it is hard to overcome a factor 2? It
>>>>hardly occurs! Clearly a BIG factor...
>>>>
>>>>>on K6-450.
>>>>>If your program is really better than GambitTiger
>>>>>when the hardware difference is only 2:1 then
>>>>>you may do it a commercial program.
>>>>
>>>>On 2 to 1 hardware advantage I fear not a single program. But that's easy to say
>>>>because that holds for everyone with a not too crappy program. Better at 2:1? I
>>>>don't know, it would certainly be an interesting experiment to test it.
>>>>
>>>>Bas.
>>>
>>>By your definition most of the programs
>>>are too crappy programs
>>>
>>>see http://home.hccnet.nl/leo.dijksman/index.html
>>>
>>>The programs in the second devision and lower devisions are
>>>most of the programs and I expect all of them to lose a match
>>>of 10 games against Tiger when the hardware difference is 2:1
>>>against Tiger.
>>>
>>>I expect even most of the programs in the first devision
>>>that includes Crafty to lose a match against Tiger
>>>in the same conditions.
>>>
>>>Uri
>>
>>I have seen the programs. Tell me why you expect that, maybe we can solve the
>>problem. Are you willing to take a bet? My money is on YACE bigtime. Let's say
>>8-2 for YACE if the books are about equal.
>>
>>Bas.
>>
>>Bas.
>
>
>8-2 for yace is not ralistic.
>
>Even if you take the same program against itself on
>2 times slower hardware you are not
>going to get an average result of 8-2
>
>7.5-2.5 is 200 elo difference and being 2 times faster
>gives only 70 elo advantage.
>
>Uri
>
>Note that yace is a strong program

Well, sorry I picked a program from you list :-)

And yes, a result 8-2 with one program playing itsself at 2:1 is quite possible,
why do you say that? The ELO formula is nice, but A will see everything that B
does, and MORE.

Let's say we take the latest Fritz and play 100 5/0 games. Now, with the ELO
formula in the back of our heads, what do you predict?


Bas.












This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.