Author: Frederic Louguet
Date: 13:31:51 10/07/02
I'd like to make a few comments about the recent french computer chess championship. First, I must say that this is a really great and friendly tournament. All the programmers had a great time, and there was a lot of suspense. Good playing conditions too. I only regret that Christophe Theron was not there himself (it's been a long time since we saw each other Christophe !), and that Virtual Chess III did not participate. It seems that some Chess Tiger fans are upset by the result. So I'd like to clarify a few points : 1) The time control was 20 minutes + 5 secs. It was the only way to do a round robin tournament (11 rounds, 12 programs) in two days. 2) Chess Tiger was running on a P3 (1 Ghz), while its strongest opponents had better hardware. However, Tiger has won tournaments in the past with an even bigger handicap. It is a really great program but, hey, it is not unbeatable...yet ! And one should not underestimate the progress made by other, less well-known engines. If Tiger was so superior to all the others, I believe it should have been more evident in a 11 rounds tournament. You just have to replay the games : I think that Chess Tiger was simply not agressive enough to win. 3) There are a lot of strong french chess programs (Chess Tiger, Chess Wizard, AnMon, Pharaon, Chinito, Capture, Dragon, TCB, Nejmet etc.). It means good competition, and it means progress. For everyone. 4) I read in some other posts here that Chess Tiger was running on inferior hardware "to give a chance to the others" or "to make the tournament more interesting". These comments are not appropriate. I can tell you that Chess Wizard does not need a 1.75X faster computer to be competitive with Chess Tiger, or Ruffian... :) 5) In another post, GCP said "Then again, IIRC, CT easily won all previous French Champs, so in that case it's understandable they wanted to make the competition a bit more open." Not true. Chess Tiger won exactly ONE French championship in year 2000 with 8/9, Chess Wizard was second with 7.5/9 (not so "easy"). Chess Wizard won the french championship in 1996, 1998 and 2002. The Massy tournament in May is NOT the french championship. I believe the most interesting games of Chess Wizard are against Chinito and Dragon. The ending against Jester was also interesting. Against Chess Tiger it was a quick draw, I had hoped for a real fight, maybe next time... [Event "Massy CDF2002"] [Site "ATHLON2000"] [Date "2002.10.06"] [Round "9"] [White "ChessWizard"] [Black "Chinito"] [Result "1-0"] [TimeControl "1200+1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. g3 c6 5. Qc2 dxc4 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qc2 Bb7 8. Bg2 Nbd7 9. a4 c5 10. O-O b4 11. Be3 Rc8 12. Qd3 c4 13. Qc2 c3 14. bxc3 bxc3 15. Rc1 Bb4 16. Qb3 Nd5 17. Bg5 Qa5 18. Ne1 Ba6 19. e4 Bc4 20. Qd1 N5b6 21. Be3 O-O 22. Na3 Rfd8 23. Qc2 Nf6 24. f3 Rd7 25. Nd3 Bxd3 26. Qxd3 a6 27. Bf1 Ra7 28. Nc2 Be7 29. Ne1 h5 30. Qc2 Rb7 31. Bf2 h4 32. gxh4 Nbd7 33. Nd3 Rbc7 34. Rab1 Ne8 35. Be2 Nef6 36. Kh1 Nh5 37. Rg1 Rb8 38. Rxb8+ Nxb8 39. Qb3 Nd7 40. Rc1 Bf6 41. e5 Be7 42. Be1 Qb6 43. Rxc3 Qxb3 44. Rxb3 Kf8 45. Rc3 Rxc3 46. Bxc3 Ke8 47. Nb4 Bxb4 48. Bxb4 Nb8 49. Bc4 Nf4 50. Bd6 Nc6 51. Bxa6 Nxd4 52. a5 Kd7 53. Bb7 Nc6 54. a6 g6 55. Bb8 Nd3 56. a7 Nxa7 57. Bxa7 Nxe5 58. Kg2 Kc7 59. Ba8 Nc6 60. Bxc6 Kxc6 61. Kg3 Kb7 62. Be3 Kc6 63. Kf4 Kd5 64. Kg5 e5 65. Kf6 Kc4 66. Kxe5 1-0 [Event "Massy CDF2002"] [Site "ATHLON2000"] [Date "2002.10.06"] [Round "10"] [White "Dragon"] [Black "ChessWizard"] [Result "0-1"] [TimeControl "1200+1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. Ba3 Nd7 11. bxa5 Rxa5 12. Bb4 Ra8 13. a4 Bh6 14. a5 f5 15. Bd3 Nb8 16. Na4 Bg7 17. Re1 Na6 18. Bc3 Bd7 19. Bc2 fxe4 20. Bxe4 Nf5 21. Ra2 Qf6 22. Rd2 Ra7 23. h3 Nh4 24. Nh2 Qg5 25. Ra2 Bxa4 26. Rxa4 Nc5 27. Bd2 Qf6 28. Ng4 Qf7 29. Be3 Nxe4 30. Bxa7 Nc3 31. Qb3 Nxa4 32. Qxa4 h5 33. Nh2 b6 34. Qc2 bxa5 35. Ra1 c5 36. Rxa5 e4 37. Nf1 Nxg2 38. Kxg2 Qf3+ 39. Kg1 Bd4 40. Bxc5 dxc5 41. Ra2 Rf5 42. Qd2 e3 43. Ra8+ Kh7 44. Nxe3 Rg5+ 45. Kf1 Bxe3 46. Qxe3 Qd1+ 47. Qe1 Qd3+ 48. Qe2 Qxh3+ 49. Ke1 Qc3+ 50. Qd2 Re5+ 51. Kd1 Qb3+ 52. Kc1 Qxc4+ 53. Kb1 Qf1+ 54. Kc2 Re2 55. Ra7+ Kg8 56. Ra8+ Kf7 0-1 [Event "Massy CDF2002"] [Site "ATHLON2000"] [Date "2002.10.05"] [Round "3"] [White "ChessWizard"] [Black "Chess Tiger 15"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [TimeControl "1200+1"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O a6 10. g4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 12. fxe5 dxe5 13. Qg3 Bd6 14. Be3 Bxg4 15. Rd3 Bf8 16. Bd4 Bd6 17. Be3 Bf8 18. Bd4 Bd6 19. Be3 1/2-1/2
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