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Subject: Re: 9 rounds will not always give you the "best" program

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 13:51:00 01/20/03

Go up one level in this thread


On January 20, 2003 at 16:38:47, James T. Walker wrote:
>On January 20, 2003 at 14:42:10, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>On January 20, 2003 at 11:39:27, James T. Walker wrote:
>>>Neither will 90 rounds.  I've seen some discussion about the
>>>times/rounds/playoffs of CCT mostly looking for ways to improve the format.  In
>>>my opinion as a spectator the format is great.  I even liked the playoff format.
>>> I believe a world championship was decided in a similiar manner not too long
>>>ago.  Nobody should expect a swiss system event to produce the strongest player
>>>as the winner every time.
>>
>>
>>The Swiss system produces two data points:
>>1.  The strongest player
>>2.  The weakest player
>
>Sorry Dan but I have to disagree with you (as usual).  The Swiss system produces
>a winner and all other spots down the list.  Each one can be a data point.
>Since you can run the same tournament next week-end and get a different winner
>it does NOT produce the strongest player.  It produces a winner for that
>tournament only.  So what!  It's why we play the game.  Also just because one
>program finished last this time does not mean it is the weakest and will repeat
>next week.  (Unless it is so weak it is doomed to that position all the time)

I think you missed my point.

No contest can truly tell us which program is strongest.  Not even a trillion
rounds of round-robin.

However, for a given number of games, a swiss tournament tells us more about
which player is strongest (and weakest) than any other format does.




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