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Subject: Re: Hydra Mystery Remains Unsolved

Author: Thorsten Czub

Date: 06:07:54 02/17/04

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On February 17, 2004 at 08:41:16, Bob Durrett wrote:

>
>
>The fact is that Hydra whipped a bunch of conventional chess computers at
>Paderborn.  That fact is indisputable.
>
>How???
>
>How could Hydra, chugging away at the clock rate of a slow snail, win against
>the high-nps conventional machines?
>
>They say "nps isn't everything."  But could the truth be "nps isn't anything"?
>
>Maybe conventional wisdom ["The Earth is flat"] isn't right after all.
>
>Does anybody understand what happened?  I feel that the results were monumental!
>
>Bob D.

I do not really see your conflict.

The Hydra software/hardware is an expensive solution to play chess.
Why do we have only ONE solution like this ?

because all other efforts to build such a special chessmachine are out
of the market . most often the hardware was overtaken in the moment it was
designed by the usual pc's.

the development on the pc-market is IMO too fast for a hardware solution of
chess.

If the programs would not rely that much on search, they would not have those
problems in a moment they have to play against a much faster opponent.

Thats the weakness of todays most chess programs. they rely heavily on the
search. in the moment there is a program with a superior search (due to
whatever: algorithm or hardware) the normal chess programs get outsearched.

why do they rely that much on search ? because this has been the most succesful
way to get to the top 'til the moment.

I believe things can change. maybe the next generation of chess programs is not
that much relying on search to cope with machines like hydra too.




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