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Subject: Re: Hardware and WCCC limits?

Author: Richard Pijl

Date: 10:22:12 05/19/04

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On May 19, 2004 at 12:46:54, Matthew Hull wrote:

>On May 19, 2004 at 11:50:17, Richard Pijl wrote:
>
>>>
>>>
>>>All the other participants were programmed with the advanced idea of
>automated >>play.  The programmer's presence was not required.  For instance,
>crafty plays >>in the weekly Grand Prix qualifier completely unattended.
>>>
>>>
>>>It's too bad DIEP was not programmed to play by itself.  Then you could have
>>>participated in both events through the wonders of technology.
>>>
>>>
>>>Oh well.  Perhaps those advanced features will grace the next version of
>DIEP. >>
>>>
>>
>>You do not seem to grasp the idea behind participating in a tournament.
>
>
>I have participated in many tournaments, in person and online.  Yes, in person
>is better for human competition, though not as convenient as online.
>
>
>For computers, these issues are irrelevant.  They don't care.  Their play is
>not affected.

The authors care. And they are the ones that join.

>>
>>It is not about playing games.
>>It is not about winning prizes.
>>It is not about pleasing spectators
>>
>>It is about meeting the other participants.
>>It is about fair competition with minimized fraud possibilities.
>
>
>Like throwing a drawn game to the eventual winner who wins by a half point, and
>the operator admits it and nothing is done, and the real winner is deprived of
>his trophy?
>Yeah, I guess you're right.

It's even easier when playing online. And guess what: Nobody will find out about
it. Just resign a game and blame it's a bug of the program.
And all the other options for cheating are a lot more easier when playing
online. Cloning, operator intervention, changing settings, etc.

>
>
>>(hitting the
>>'move-now' button or changing engine setting mid-game is easy when you can't
>>been seen by your opponent)
>>
>>I've participated in the last two CCT-tournaments. I also join in the
>grand-prix >cycle on ICC. I think it is a nice way of organizing a tournament.
>But chat >online is limited, and channel 64 is (during CCT) usually spammed by
>nitwits. >I've also participated in 3 CSVN tournaments, 2 Dutch championships
>and one >tournament in Paderborn, all requiring presence of the
>author/operator. I also >visited (as a spectator) Maastricht 2002 twice, and
>Paderborn 2003. I had to >skip Graz 2003 because of my daughters birthday that
>was during the tournament. >If I have to chose between participating in an
>on-site tournament and an on-line >tournament I'll choose the on-site
>tournament if my funds are sufficient.
>
>I see. let's limit the competition to persons of financial means.  Good idea.
>
>
>
>>There you'll have the possibility of really meet all the heroes of computer
>>chess,
>
>
>Like Bob Hyatt, Bruce Moreland, etc.
>
>Great.
>
>
>
>>drink a beer with them and have dinner with them. I don't see that
>>happening in an online tournament.
>
>
>I can appreciate how ejoyable it must be to dine with rich people who can
>afford to attend.  That's nice for you.  But I don't see what that has to do
>with a world championship which exists in a cheap and accessible medium, yet is
>consigned to an exclusive, expensive format that stifles world participation.
>
>

Consider an athletics event where the athletes perform in their local stadium
and watch eachother on a video screen. There is no reason for them to travel as
the current state of technology is able to do precision timing and a ranking
could be made. Would that be a world championship?
A worldchampionship in any sport requires travel. And yes, money is needed for
that. Contenders for a title should have no problem finding the sponsors to
cover for (part of) the costs.
And amateurs, that don't even have to be the top, can get a contribution by the
organization to make it easier for them to join.

Note that I'm only defending the on-site aspect of the WCCC. I also think the
event is too long, and would welcome a fair distribution of the event over
locations to give everybody the opportunity to join an on-site event.
I'm lucky to live in the Netherlands where it is relatively easy to attend 3
events every year. I wish that would be possible for more authors.

Richard.



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