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Subject: Re: World Computer Chess Championship in North America.. revised

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 22:10:51 07/16/02

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On July 16, 2002 at 19:15:03, Dann Corbit wrote:

>Maybe we could have a competition for free airfaire, by continent for the
>amateur programs.  I don't think you neeed one for the USA or Canada, but
>perhaps have a contest for regions like:

Hmmm, I think that once again this is counter-productive (maybe). On the one
hand, this is a North American tournament promoting computer chess in North
America. If we fly in people from all over the world and North America ends up
not even being a vast majority, that's not good. I think something like this
should only be attempted if all North American participants that would like to
participate have been taken care of. I would much rather see 50 engines from
North America and zero from outside it than see 10 from North America and 30
from outside it, even if it means that there are no commercials present.

This discussion stems from a lack of any declaration of what the motive is. Is
the motive to promote computer chess in North America and generate more interest
here? Or is it to hold the best tournament possible with the strongest
participants and promote computer chess world wide? Or are we just trying to
send a message to ICCA that computer chess isn't dead outside of Europe? I think
all of these (and probably others I didn't mention) will drastically affect the
decisions that get made.

If our goal is to promote computer chess in North America, then we should fly in
North American authors first, and people outside North America second. If our
goal is to have the strongest tournament, then we fly in people according to
their ICC ratings, past accomplishments, and so on, and have a bigger prize
fund.

I personally think our goal should be to promote computer chess here first, and
I think if it generates enough interest in the long run, things like WCCC will
come here naturally. Think about the Russian chess establishment. They supported
players and allowed them to become the best they could be. It became an
attractive offer, being able to play chess and get paid handsomely for it. The
entire country became interested in it as a result. If the U.S. paid top chess
players nice salaries and supported chess, the U.S. would probably produce more
top flight players. I think the same line of thinking applies to computer chess.
If we support the advancement of computer chess here in North America, then
eventually there will be more interest, engines will become stronger and
stronger, and from there it's a snow ball effect.

I guarentee you that there are people out there who have considered becoming
interested in computer chess. There are programmers all over, and if this was
promoted here at home and word got out that there was a large computer chess
event in your country, you might be inclined to give it a try. Things like CCT
have certainly been motivators for me personally. The thought that "hey, that
looks fun...and I could participate too!" is one that I really like. I can watch
baseball on TV and enjoy it, but I know that I'll never be out there playing in
the big leagues. Computer chess is something that I can enjoy AND PARTICIPATE
IN, and so it will hold my interest for the long term. In short, I think we
should promote computer chess here in North America before trying to spread it
to the rest of the world.

Russell



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