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Subject: Re: Why does the Chess Genius programs play strong on 486 machines?

Author: Serge Desmarais

Date: 20:02:49 09/08/98

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On September 08, 1998 at 07:31:12, odell hall wrote:

>Could someone give me a technical reason why Chess genius plays so much better
>on 486 machines than all the other programs. I have been pleasantly surprised by
>results against others programs running on much faster hardware (pent pro 200).
>These results have been so surprising that I have decided not to upgrade to a
>pent. Among the victims of genius 5 on 486, is crafty 15.8 running on mmx233,
>Rebel 9 (pent pro 200) and CM555 (pent mmx233) all the games were played at game
>in 30. I realize that statistically i am suppose to win some of the games, but i
>have been winning almost half!!, against much faster machines. However when i
>play my rebel 9 on the 486 it never wins, but draws often.



First, it depends on the number of games played. It is possible to win or draw
against programs that are up to 734 rating points higher (1% of wins/points
statistically, according to the Elo table). Did you play the games in ICC? As
Robert Hyatt reported, one good thing of being manual in ICC is that YOU can let
the program thinks longer in complicated situation, and shorter for obvious move
(more flexibility).

Secondly, Genius is a good program at fast time controls (according to Komputer
Korner, it is the #1 program at blitz time controls and against other
programs/computers. But IF you decide to upgrade to a faster/more memory
machine, that would DEFENITELY make the program stronger.


Finally, Genius has a more "positionnal" style of play that makes it avoid too
risky moves and try to keep everything under control. So, it mainly avoids
tricky and tactical melee that could lead to a lost position beyond its horizon.


Serge Desmarais



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