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Subject: Re: List - Ruffian - ?

Author: Jorge Pichard

Date: 05:30:41 11/29/03

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On November 29, 2003 at 08:17:31, Palmer wrote:

>I just remembered that some time ago there was a discussion here on CCC if
>ruffian is a crafty clone or not.
>Here some comments form robert hyatt to that topic:
>
>...I agree. The real test is in tactics. It is not easy to make a copy of
>Crafty either better or worse at tactics, but particularly making it better is
>non-trivial. It's far easier to twiddle with a few eval terms to make it
>play significantly different...
>
>...In the case of Ruffian, I'm not sure it is anything at all, other than
>a very unlikely happening.
>Ruffian could be any of the following, in decreasing order of probability:
>1. A copy of a freeware engine with some changes or additions.
>2. A copy of a commercial engine, aided by a hex editor to change strings
>to disguise what has happened.
>3. A copy of a commercial engine, modified, after someone found access to
>the un-released source code somehow.
>4. A program written by a current commercial (or amateur) author and released
>anonymously, for reasons I wouldn't try to guess.
>5. A completely new program, developed by a completely new author, sight-
>unseen by anybody until very recently.
>It _could_ be any of those. I don't have an opinion yet, except that the
>above list is written in decreasing probability order....

05. Interview team:
The unbelievable results of your program caused a lot of wild speculations in
all chess computer fora. Some spoke of a Crafty clone while others suspected
that Ruffian was a Fritz clone. After the release of your program last week the
speculations have calmed down and people have stopped looking for such
explanations. At least openly. Are you angry, offended or indifferent regarding
such allogations (sorry to say but there have been published quite a few clones
in the past) from people who cannot understand why Ruffian is so strong? Do you
understand the underlying behaviour?

Per-Ola Valfridsson (Ruffian):
I can understand if some people was suspicious until ruffian was released. If
someone compares Ruffian with Fritz, I take that as a compliment




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