Author: Ed Schröder
Date: 23:27:23 07/12/04
Go up one level in this thread
On July 12, 2004 at 19:58:20, Amir Ban wrote: > >Let me first thank those who sent their support during the tournament or posted >their greetings after it. It is well appreciated. > >Time to say some random things about Junior, the event, and computer chess. > >Having the Championship at home was different, in some expected and some >unexpected ways. I'm pretty used to these events by now, and I found that when >away from home, isolated from family, work and current tasks, they are an >about-right balance between the hectic and the relaxed. This time, with the >tournament hall a half-hour drive from home, it was almost more than I could >handle. I need a rest. > >The organization was a pleasant surprise. Playing conditions were superb. There >were far more plugs and connections than necessary. Technical support was very >competent. Commentary by Boris Alterman was first class. > >Nevertheless, there were some disappointments: PR work was not evident. The >media were simply not there. Some media coverage would have attracted the >crowds. As it was, the nearby auditorium they reserved for spill-over crowds (my >daughter counted the seats: 320!) remained unoccupied. > >The traditional closing banquet was waived this time, in favour of speeches and >glasses of wine. A pity. The opening promise by David Levy for social events did >not materialize. > >The starting point for Junior in this tournament was Graz, from which I returned > with a sense of failure, realizing that I have failed to progress beyond J8 >levels. Still, that was almost good enough to win, so there was hope. > >I had quite a few major things mapped out to be tried. Most of them were >abandoned after a week or two of work showed they were not productive. > >In the midst of this open brain surgery we decided to pull out something to play >in CCT6. It proved to be quite entertaining, but hardly ready for big time. > >Meanwhile Shay adopted a testing strategy that proved particularly unflattering >to the new Junior, indicating it had slipped by a 100 or so rating points. I was >skeptical about that, but decided to continue on the current path, trusting good >results to follow. That proved exceptionally difficult. As a matter of fact, >until weeks before the championship it was not clear that we were not heading >for a rude embarrassment. What changed this was that at some point Boris started >telling us that he liked what he saw. > >Going into the first round, against Jonny, it seemed we have after all achieved >nothing. Deep Junior was in imminent danger of losing for several moves, grossly >misevaluating and apparently blind to tactics. However, it did manage to pull >together the position and successfully negotiated a draw. > >After that game I threw away a feature I always knew was dubious to get the >DeepJuniorEY version, which played the bulk of the tournament, and performed >very well. In the last day we threw in the EM version, which was apparently >superior, based on inadequate testing. That was a gamble, but the idea was to >try it out in the last two rounds before the expected playoff. EM did not fail, >but there was no playoff for it to play ... > >Book work is tremendously important in these tournaments. It sometimes seems as >if Boris is in charge, while I and Shay are delegated to the role of >technicians. The symbiosis between Boris and Junior has grown and matured since >the early days, when they hardly understood each other. That was the state of >things at Paderborn '99, when Boris brilliantly planned a Sicilian line into >which Fritz blindly followed. He "forgot" to tell Junior about it, who failed to >understand what was expected of him, started playing elsewhere, and lost. > >The games between Junior, Fritz and Shredder were all sharp tactical draws. In >Shredder-Fritz there were even some vaguely ridiculous fireworks just to force >the obvious draw. Falcon-Shredder was similar, and probably the most spectacular >game of the tournament, with some even more spectacular unplayed variations. The >top programs now make you feel that going out of the opening they can see >virtually till the end. Frightening thought. > >Junior and Shredder were obviously in top form for this championship. Shredder >always gives the impression of near perfection, so it's very hard for me to >judge whether it has made progress. Fritz, on the other hand, has clearly not >gone in the right direction. After Graz, where it played in superb consistent >style, it seemed to have lost its footing to the wobbly performance that ruined >some of its previous tournaments. > >Among the newcomers, the performance is mixed. Quite clearly, Jonny is the one >who made the most progress. The promise of Sjeng, on the other hand, will have >to wait for next year. Falcon has made progress, but lacks the consistency and >solidity to convert it to results. > >Among the rest, Diep deserves mention. It had a good result, and there is >obvious talent invested there, but the inconsistency that always characterized >it was apparent in this tournament too. There is a FAQ in computer chess of >whether it helps if the programmer is a good chess player. My answer (strictly >IMO) is probably unexpected: It hurts. When you are a good player, you tend to >think about the problem in all the wrong ways. Anyway one thing that is clear to >me is that you have to be a very good programmer. No shortcuts there. > >Amir Nice review Amir. In events like these with 5-6 programs who do not differ more than 100-150 elo points some luck is needed. Forcing that bit of luck in an 11 round tournament is all about having the "details" right, I think you know what I mean by that. Looking at the games it was obvious for me Junior and Shredder played the best chess, both having the most constant and balanced chess knowledge inside, Junior tempting the fate by spectacular play within risky but well thought-out bounds. Congrats with your new achievement, the Junior team deserved it. My best as usual, Ed
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