Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 19:28:13 10/07/02
Go up one level in this thread
On October 07, 2002 at 16:31:51, Frederic Louguet wrote:
>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.
I was in France this summer, but my family had the priority. So I did not come
to Paris.
If I had, I would have tried to see Ernest and to see you as well.
>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.
Mmh... Let's replay it ten times and see what happens... :)
You know what I mean. I don't think it is a good idea to draw conclusions on
such a tournament.
The interest of the tournament is the community of french programmers. The
discussions we have by email before the championship is a big part of it (for me
at least, because I cannot come in person).
>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.
That is true. Chess Wizard has always been a tough competitor. El Chinito has
become strong too.
And there is Capture, Pharaon, Anmon, and...
Frankly there are many good programs in France.
>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.
Yes I agree with you. I wonder how people can believe something like that...
The reason that Tiger has run on inferior hardware is that I cannot come in
person (I live more than 6000Km away from Paris!), and so I rely on Ernest
Bonnem to operate the program.
Ernest has done a very good job. I cannot demand that he buys a new computer
every year just to to well in the french championship! So Tiger participates
with what Ernest has, or can find.
> I can tell you that Chess
>Wizard does not need a 1.75X faster computer to be competitive with Chess Tiger,
>or Ruffian... :)
You should try Chess Tiger 15? ;-)
Christophe
>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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