Author: Shaun Graham
Date: 18:52:31 08/15/98
Below is a report from I.M. Larry Kaufman on Hiarcs 6 off the ICD page. Now
he states that on a fast pentium Hiarcs 6 is GM strength. Why would he as an
Expert on chess,an international master who owns and plays the program say this,
unless he believed it to be true from his own experience? Is the author of
Hiarcs paying him to say such things(i doubt it)? Now of course we could get
some other I.M. to say the opposite, regardless though, Kaufmans testimony
increases the evidence that comps are GM strength. For the simple reason that
most I.Ms would simply like to claim that they(IMs) are stronger, that they have
the edge(now of course i haven't taken a poll, but considerable experience leads
me to believe that indeed this statement is true). Also, If you read the latest
ccc opinion poll, it appears that the enlightened majority of the readers of
this group hold the same comps are GM strength.
"How strong is Hiarcs 6? Well, Hiarcs 5 was second on the last Swedish ("Ply")
rating list, lagging behind Rebel 8 by about 25
points, roughly the amount believed to have been lost by the bug. So even if the
improvements in Hiarcs 6 don't amount to anything,
it is likely to end up rated more or less on a par with Rebel 8, the current
leader. THIS SHOULD PUT IT IN THE LOWER PART OF THE
GRANDMASTER RANGE when running on a fast Pentium. This was more or less
confirmed by a widely publicized match between Hiarcs
6 and Canadian International Master Deen Hergott (FIDE rating 2390) played under
standard tournament conditions, which was won
by Hiarcs 6 by a 4-2 score, which equates to a performance rating of FIDE 2510.
To obtain the Grandmaster title, a player must be
FIDE rated at least 2500 (as well as obtaining three "norms"), so this result is
not out of line with the Grandmaster claim made by
Canadian computer chess writer Al Tomalty.
Hiarcs also scored 4-2 in the just completed Aegon tourney, half a point less
than the
top computer scores (Kallisto, Rebel, and Chessmaster 5000 scored 4 1/2) but
still a good showing. The games are played at a time
limit just slightly faster than the usual 40/2, and the human opponents of the
machines are mostly masters, IMs, and GMs."
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