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Subject: Re: What Makes a Chess Engine Better Vs Humans?

Author: Robert Henry Durrett

Date: 09:10:15 09/02/98

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On September 02, 1998 at 00:54:10, Serge Desmarais wrote:

<snip>

>Note: The bug reported by Bob Hyatt that did not change anything against humans
>but a lot against computers were in games played in ICC : mostly 5 minutes
>blitzes (sometimes with an increment of 2-3 seconds) and maybe a few 15 minutes
>games? Most GMs in ICC avoid other kind of games than blitz games. Even against
>a computer or program that has a grave bug, I don't feel that with 2-3 minutes
>on the clock and just taking less than 10 seconds to move, a GM would have had
>time to "refute a weak play". GMs were being beaten by computers in blitz games
>on much slower computers than the actual ones (even on 486 computers!)... And
>again, in the Aegon tournaments, it was still a bit too fast for a GM to show
>his full strenght (for most of them).
>
>Serge Desmarais

(1) I agree 100% with the above paragraph except as noted below.
(2) One should not underestimate the speed with which the top GMs find good
moves in blitz games.  Maybe the top chess engines are even faster, at least at
finding the tactical content of the position, but the top GMs also see the
strategic content of the position with lightning speed too!  The only problem
they may have is that they may not have enough time to research and analyze the
tactical content to come up with a sound concrete plan to implement their
strategic ideas.
(3) For several months, now, I have been watching blitz games between the top
GMs and top performers on ICC.  [Key in "games *R19-C-B-d-w" to see a list of
the top performers who are playing a game, and key in "ga *T-w-d-C" to see a
list of the top titled players who are playing a game.  Then key in "follow X"
where X is the ICC handle of the player you wish to follow.]  In fact, I find
these games to be so interesting that I have quit playing regular blitz games
there on ICC entirely.  I get so much more out of playing what I call "solitaire
blitz."  This is a form of chess where you try to guess the GM's move before he
makes it.  I find this to be loads of fun!  But one thing becomes crystal clear
right away:  These guys are fast!!! Really, really, really fast!!!
(4) I am GREATLY impressed by the speed with which the top GMs find the most
important ideas in a position. This speaks all the more for the chess engines
which win games against those guys.



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