Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: The game is on!

Author: Steven Edwards

Date: 19:23:06 03/16/04

Go up one level in this thread


On March 16, 2004 at 21:05:40, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>On March 16, 2004 at 06:32:55, Steven Edwards wrote:

>>A few points on the 1800 Elo number in the primary goal set:
>>
>>1. The only test suite data we have for Paradise is just under a hundred
>>positions from the first one hundred positions from WAC.  I think its
>>performance was somewhat under 2000 Elo because of its time limit of forty-five
>>minutes per move, and that is one reason for the 1800 Elo figure in the primary
>>goal set.
>
>45 minutes on a machine from 20 years ago is about how long, on today's
>hardware?  Three seconds.  Besides, IIRC, Wilkins only gave it that kind of time
>because it was being interpreted as it ran.  Your stuff will be compiled, or at
>least JIT-compiled, won't it?

Nope.  ChessLisp is interpretation only at this point.

>>2. A second reason for the 1800 Elo figure is that I suspect that, unlike the
>>case with most programs, incremental improvement is going to be strongly
>>correlated with the chess skill of the improver (me).  I haven't played OTB
>>chess in some 20 years and I don't think I could do much better than 1800 if I
>>were to try it today.
>
>This is a serious consideration.  I guess my off-hand reply is that assuming you
>get something working, it will be much easier for chess-playing friends who are
>stronger than you to explain what reasoning to add, or even add it themselves.
>The ability to easily integrate human knowledge is a major point of the
>exercise, yes?

Thanks for volunteering!  Seriously, some collaboration over the net may be
useful.

>>4. A difficulty here is getting any kind of an OTB rating.  To my knowledge,
>>there haven't been any "computers allowed" USCF events in my area for a long
>>time.  There were a good number back in the late 1980s when I deployed my
>>program Spector, but not today.  My idea here is to get some local TDs to allow
>>computer entry by helping to sponsor a prize fund, and this might be a budget
>>breaker.  (Note: this is the reason for the caveat in #18 and #19.)
>
>Now even I think you're dreaming! ;-)  Either that, or you'll be organizing a
>lot of tournaments yourself.  In most cases, you could bring your program in on
>a hand-held and a director will refuse it entry.  You might be able to swing it
>if you're an active chess player yourself -- people would be less hostile to a
>program written by their friend (or at least acquaintance).

Back in Spector's day, I worked with TDs by chipping in extra prize money of my
own for anyone who could draw or beat my program.  So there is hope.



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.