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Subject: Re: Its TIME to put GM V Computers to rest (somewhat O.T.)

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 11:03:39 08/08/02

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On August 08, 2002 at 13:45:22, Russell Reagan wrote:

>On August 08, 2002 at 06:07:57, Roger Brown wrote:
>
>> Russell, let us use a chess argument here.  Are you saying that if a player
>>rated 2000 went on a rampage in an Open, shredded the field of players all rated
>>higher than him/her over the course of several days and several games and met a
>>GM (say 2600) in the finals, winning by a half point, he/she wouldn't be the
>>best player?
>
>What if the GM had a momentary slip and hung his queen and gave the 2000 player
>an easy win? The GM would beat the 2000 player the vast majority of the time.
>Clearly the GM is the better of the two players, but the 2000 player was better
>for one game, and you can't conclude anything based on one game. Sometimes you
>can't conclude anything over a long match. I think that is the only point he was
>trying to make, that no matter what the outcome of both of the tournaments in
>October, it won't "prove" anything.

Indeed.  On the other hand, we should also recognize [and not forget] that the
contests do mean something (more than nothing).  In a one game match, a 1-0
result would have us tend to believe that the winner is stronger.  Of course the
error bar is unmentionably large.  A 7-0 result would be pretty strong evidence
that the winner was stronger.  Still not a certainty, but more likely.   The
more data we gather, the more certain we become of the conclusion.



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