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Subject: Matches/tournaments on one PC- can we trust them ?

Author: Sirotovich

Date: 13:21:37 01/29/04


My question is for all computer programmers, who read this news.

Dear Chess Friends !

Please open our eyes ! Does it make ANY sense to run engine vs. engine matches
or round tournaments  on one machine ? From my point of view, it is  a waste of
time and the results wouldn’t reflect the real strength of weakness of each
particular engine.

I have bought my first Fritz 5 when it was just release many years ago. Since
that time I run many eng. vs. eng. matches and round tournaments with different
time control. Very often the results were too good to be trusted.  Many  days
and nights my PC worked non-stop and I just wanted to find which engine was the
best !? The one I bought just now for $100 or another 2-year old one, which
probably didn’t cost anything at that time.  For example, the old man Hiarcs 6
could win 4 round tournament ahead of its latest version to say nothing about
the other young and expencive rivals from Fritz, Shredder of Junior group !? I
foresee your questions about my PC. It is a good one with a lot of memory and
processor power.

I read many results here when Fritz beat Shredder, Crafty beat Junior, Tiger
beat Hiarcs, or absolutely the other way around !? Nearly everyday someone
provides new results, which  conflict with results sent by another peson.  Can
we trust all these results, if they ware achieved on one machine ? When 2
engines played ONLY 100 games, someone definitely wouldn’t be happy with this
result and he would propose to play 1000 games !? If another person managed to
organize 1000-game match, they would definitely propose him to play 10,000
games.
I understand, it is a good fun to watch when 2 Grandmaster strength engines
perform a real spectacle for us, but do we need to take these results seriously,
if we don’t have another computer to connect them together ?

Please help me or other friends to safe our time and energy or a battery life !?

Best wishes

Anatoli Sirota



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