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Subject: Re: The computers versus humans battle !

Author: Anthony Cozzie

Date: 08:22:16 06/05/04

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On June 05, 2004 at 08:20:53, Jorge Pichard wrote:

>On June 05, 2004 at 06:40:48, Tord Romstad wrote:
>
>>On June 04, 2004 at 18:39:13, Jorge Pichard wrote:
>>
>>>Since computer can hold and remember more Opening than any Human and they are at
>>>the level of the very best human players such as Kasparov, Anand and Kramnik'
>>>the need for Fischer Random Chess will become more popular in the next 5 years.
>>
>>I don't see why the computer's perfect memory would contribute to the popularity
>>of FRC.  Of course humans and computers have different skills.  The computer is
>>obviously superior at remembering concrete and exact information, and at
>>calculating
>>quickly.  The human is superior at pattern recognition and long-range planning.
>
>Frederic Friedel is one of the key mem at Chessbase, and produces a sucessful
>magazine in Germany, (Computer Schac und Spiele = Computer Chess and Games). He
>put forward an interesting view of the computers versus humans battle. His
>feeling is that in certain percentage of chess positions that are liable to
>arise in practice - maybe 20%- the computer is far stronger than the best
>humans, and will win practically the whole time. Equally, there is a percentage
>of positions where the computers will stand no chance against the top players-
>also perhaps 20% at the moment. While the game is in the 60% no-man's-land in
>the middle, things are very finely balanced, and the human's task is to reach
>the good 20% rather than stumble into the bad 20%. The computer, of course, is
>oblivious to this struggle, though the programmers may try to bias it toward
>playing human-hostile chess.
>
>Frederic's view, therefore, is that while these percentages will become worse
>for the humans as computers get fasters, there will still be scope for humans to
>steer the game into the, say, 5% of positions where the computer has no chance,
>while avoiding the 40% where the computer rules supreme. At some point, though,
>this will cease to be possible, as the slightest, most imperceptible inaccuracy
>(in the sense of allowing a computer-friendly position) will throw the player
>into the abyss.
>
>Jorge

He's almost certainly right.  5 years ago, no one cared about anti-computer
chess.  GMs have held off the flood by adapting, but they can only adapt so far.
 And computers are getting better at closed positions; it is just a matter of
adding more knowledge.  I say: who cares.  I don't see the need to change the
game of chess just because computers are good at it.  If it bothers you, learn
to play Go . . .

anthony


>>There are some games where the computer's strengths are the more important
>>(like othello), some where the human's skills are more important (like go), and
>>some which are somewhere in between (like chess).  Why does the fact that
>>computer
>>players are competitive in chess make the game less attractive for humans?
>>
>>And by the way, I don't think FRC is any more difficult to play for computers
>>than
>>classical chess.  If some of the top programmers spent some time implementing
>>FRC, the top engines would be just as competitive there as in classical chess.
>>
>>I personally find FRC to be one of the least interesting chess variants I have
>>ever
>>seen.  If you want to abandon classical chess, why not switch to some of the
>>many more complicated chess variants which really add something new to the
>>game?  There are lots of such variants, including Chess with Different Armies,
>>shogi, hexagonal chess and Gothic chess.  And unlike FRC, all of these chess
>>variants really *are* more difficult for computers than classical chess.
>>
>>>Even a player such as former world champion Garry Kasparov who has incredible
>>>memorization capabilities, complained that he could not always remember his
>>>opening preparation. Therefore, it will become justifiable to match the very
>>>best human against the very vest FRC program.
>>
>>Neither Kasparov nor Kramnik would be very interested in such a match, I
>>think.  Leko would probably be willing to play, though.
>>
>>>Probably very soon Shredder and Hiarcs will also be available in FRC.
>>
>>Why do you think so?  There is currently no market demand for a professional
>>FRC engine.  Right now, there are several hundred engines which play classical
>>chess, and less than ten which play FRC.  I happen to be one of the few engine
>>authors which have written engines for both games.   Every week, I get about
>>50 e-mails from users with feedback about my classical chess engine.  I get
>>almost no feedback at all about the FRC engine.  Richard Pijl and Volker Anuss,
>>who have also written FRC engines, have been kind enough to play a few
>>games and send them to me, and you played a few games which you posted
>>here, but that's all I have received so far.  It took more than a week after the
>>release of my FRC engine before anybody could even confirm that it worked
>>(I couldn't test it, because I don't run Windows).
>>
>>The truth is that there is almost zero interest in FRC.  From a commercial
>>point of view, adding FRC support to Shredder or Hiarcs would be a complete
>>waste of time.
>>
>>Tord



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