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Subject: Re: WCCC Hardware Uniformity

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 20:45:59 07/07/04

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On July 07, 2004 at 19:27:11, Bryan Cabalo wrote:

>After all, we are just testing which chess search program is better, right?

No. This is not the intent. The intent doesn't even have anything to do with
determining who is best. You can't determine that in such a short event. It is a
competition among computerized chess playing entities, hardware and software
combined. You can't seperate the two.

Even if the goal _was_ to determine the best chess playing software, you
couldn't do it. Every chess programmer has a slightly different philosophy and
has focused his efforts on different areas. Some work on multiprocessor search,
while others focus their efforts on search and knowledge. Some use bitboards to
get a boost on 64-bit hardware. Some, like Gerd Isenburg (author of Isichess
which is currently participating in the WCCC) have written a lot of assembly
code that is aimed specifically for a certain processor (the Opteron in this
case). How can you fairly choose what "equal hardware" will be used? An equal
hardware event doesn't tell you anything more than an open hardware event.

If you still think it's such a good idea, then tell us what "equal hardware"
should be used. Then I'll tell you why your choice isn't fair.



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