Author: Didzis Cirulis
Date: 06:38:22 12/03/98
Go up one level in this thread
On December 02, 1998 at 14:52:39, Christophe Theron wrote: >On December 01, 1998 at 15:02:48, John Merlino wrote: > >>On November 30, 1998 at 02:03:43, Christophe Theron wrote: >> >>>On November 30, 1998 at 00:16:47, Reynolds Takata wrote: >>> >>>>I attempted to play CM3000(in micro chess layout) against CM4000, CM5500, and >>>>CM6000. CM3000 was actually winning about 30% of the games! I expected that it >>>>wouldn't win any, as i have found CM3000 positionally weak, though the tactics >>>>aren't too bad. These games were on one comp running both progs, how much >>>>effect should this have? >>> >>>If you play programs on one computer, you should disable thinking on opponent's >>>time on both, or else the result means nothing. >>> >>> >>> Christophe >> >>The main problem is verifying that both engines are getting equal CPU time. >>Unfortunately, this is highly unlikely because Chessmaster 3000 is a DOS >>application and 4000 and 5500 are Windows applications. Due to the way Windows >>switches back and forth between DOS applications, it is very unlikely that both >>programs are getting relatively equal time to think, regardless of whether you >>have both engines thinking during their opponent's time. >>Windows tends to give a higher priority to DOS applications, which accounts for >>CM3000's unexpectedly high win percentage. >>Turning off "deep thinking" will not make a difference as far as CPU time goes, >>because Windows switches back and forth between apps very quickly. What it WILL >>do, however, is make the engines play worse overall. And, I imagine that this is >>unintended. >> >>jm > > >You can play a DOS program against a Windows program giving equal chances to >both programs. You can also play 2 DOS programs. > >It will work with most programs except some bad behaviour Windows programs. > >The MAIN thing is to disable permanent brain (or deep thinking, or thinking on >opponent's time) in BOTH programs. > >Then just set up the properties of your DOS box to: >* Run the DOS program full screen and switch between the programs with Alt-Tab >* Give the DOS box maximum CPU time when it has the focus (sensitivity slider >all the way to the left). >* Give the DOS box NO CPU time when it is in the background (always suspend when >in the background). > >When you use these settings, Windows will give 97% CPU time to the program that >gets the focus, and will not switch back and forth between apps as you say. You >should of course close any other program. > >However this does not work with some bad written Windows programs. For example >Genius5 will steal 30% of CPU time to the DOS program. To solve this, use the >DOS version of Genius5 and use the settings described for a DOS box. > >Before doing a match, you should ensure that no program runs slower. Use a test >position at a given depth, and run the program on this position: >1) when it is alone in the system >2) when the other program is open in the background > >If you follow these rules, you can play fair matches manually using only one >computer. I do this very often, and believe me I am much concerned about >fairness, as I use these matches to decide if Chess Tiger plays better or not. > > > Christophe If you are interested, I could explain HOW to do calculations for the fair matches of two chess programs on one and the same PC. Email me or wait until this information appears in a subsection of my Computer Chess Site. http://www.konts.lv/usr/Didzis/index.html I am doing the testing of Chess Tiger for Christophe... :-) Didzis Didzis
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