Author: Steven Edwards
Date: 12:13:38 09/17/03
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On September 17, 2003 at 14:40:11, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On September 17, 2003 at 09:55:43, Russell Reagan wrote: >>On September 17, 2003 at 00:39:13, Steven Edwards wrote: >>>At the following link: >>> >>>http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/?nm=compx&r1=&r2=&q1=&q2=&st=&Find=Find >>> >>>You can see a list of current and some of the past computer program members of >>>the United States Chess Federation. >>> >>>Note that the most recently played regular rated tournament game was by one >>>Crafty over six years ago. Alas, it appears that tournaments which allow >>>program participation are no longer to be seen. >> >> >>A quick look at the Tournaments section gives me the impression that there are >>tournaments that computers can paticipate in, and that there is simply no one >>participating. >> >>Out of 11 national events, there are 0 that are marked as NC (no computer). I suspect that this is because the organizers forgot to mark "NC" on the tournament notice submission. >Note that the missing (NC) does not mean computers are allowed. A computer >author must still contact the local organizer / TD and get permission to >play. They can say "no" if they so choose. This is common. Near universal, I'd say. Also, I haven't seen any marked "C" in a very long time. >>Out of 21 state events (I just checked one of the 50 states) 9 are marked as NC. >>It is worth noting that most of the ones that are not marked as NC are either >>blitz tournaments (in which an operator probably doesn't want to participate) or >>FIDE rated events, which means the computer participant cannot win any of the >>human prizes. I'm not sure of the USCF rules regarding computers, but I've >>emailed my local chess club. The USCF rules also prohibit a program from winning any prizes. >>I also wonder how well computer participation goes over with the human >>participants. Imagine what would happen if I took my computer program to my >>local club every week and smashed everyone it played. Many people would probably >>just stop coming to that club, and I'd probably have a group of chess players >>waiting to gang tackle me outside after a few months of this. At one time programs were welcome. Greenblatt's MacHack program was the first to play in an otherwise human tournament many years ago and it was a newsworthy event. His program was even given an honorary membership in the Massachusetts Chess Association. But once programs became much stronger than the average tournament player, the common attitude among human players changed. It seems that many enjoyed playing against a program only if the program was somewhat easily beatable. It would be possible to sneak a program into a human tournament using technology similar to that used by clandestine blackjack card counting computers designed for use in (against?) casinos. Wireless communication via 802.11 or Bluetooth would make it easy. But not only is this dishonest, it is also useless as the scientific results of the competition could not be published without disclosing the scheme.
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