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Subject: Re: North American Open 2003.

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 11:32:11 07/17/02

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On July 17, 2002 at 14:13:57, Sune Fischer wrote:
[snip]
>I would love to see a G/5 rating list compared to a G/120 list, I think most
>good engines does about equally well in all time controls.

This is a common contention.  I have heard it said by such experts as Christophe
Theron and Gian-Carlo Pascutto.  However, it is clearly and transparently wrong.

Assertion:
No two chess programs with non-identical search and evaluation have *exactly*
the same branching factor.

If this assertion is true, then it is transparently false that chess programs
play with the same level of excellence at all time controls.

Or, stated another way, for every chess program, at *some* point, the branching
factor of that program will totally dominate the play of the program.

Draw a curve of:

C0 * exp( C1 * x)
verses
C2 * exp( C3 * x)

and as long as constants C1 and c3 are not identical, at some point the equation
with the smaller constant in the exponent will dominate.  If (by chance) C0 or
C2 is also smaller for the smaller exponent modification, it is possible that
one program will always be better everywhere [within reason].

However, the assertion that the entire family of curves never have intersections
is [with no doubt whatsoever] utterly false.



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