Author: Werner Kraft
Date: 08:49:28 04/20/05
Yosemite System I have a new suggestion how to make human vs machine competition again more interesting. One could imagine a system , where a man plays against machine using himself independent computer help ( Kasparovs "advanced chess " - a notebook with opening library eg. If he uses only "little" assistance , that would be A0 - using more , plenty , all the help in the world that would mean A1, A2 , A3 ... A. Infinity. Experts will have to work out , how you will define different levels / increasing amount of assistance. If now a human chooses to play against a machine without assistance , that would be " free chess ". What could that mean in the world of computer chess ? E.g you have a system like IBM "Deep Blue". Everybody knows that the configuration defeated Kasparov. If Kasparov now would have used some "modest " computer assistance himself - let us say A2 , and won the tournament, that would mean : Kasparov vs Deep Blue , won , under A2 conditions. If now the next one - Kramnik - wins against Deep Blue using less aid then his predecessor , then this would mean : Kramnik won vs deep Blue under A0 conditions. The first one who wins against Deep Blue using no Aid at all could proudly say of himself : Won against Deep Blue in Free Chess conditions. Of cause that means that you have access to the original program and computer configuration. The point is : You can win at any time against any system – using plenty of computer help. But this could be almost a worthless victory. The less aid you need , the better. Victory under “ Free “ conditions is of cause the best victory. Does that mean , you can win one day even against a computer with zillions of parallel processor, using state of the art programs, under “free “ conditions ? Definitely – but it may take some time. I have to explain that I am mainly a rock climber , and not a chess player .( But I did play for quite some time at lower club player level, and on the internet ). The Mecca of rock climbing is the Yosemite National Park in California, USA. There is the El Captain - a 1000 meter high, vertical / partly overhanging granite wall. There are some of the hardest long climbing routes in the world. In the past people could only aid-climb up there ( using things like pitons, copperheads etc ). Aid climbing therefore means that you use artificial assistance to climb up a very steep, demanding rock wall. Now , depending on how much aid/ assistance you use ( more exactly - how challenging , demanding the climb is ) there are several grades: A0 - A5 . Quite superficially explained: A0 means using very little Aid, A5 means plenty of it. Then there is " free climbing " - climbing up a wall without using artificial anchors. The interesting point now is , that some extremely difficult routes that where climbed on El Capitain using plenty of Aid are now climbed "free " - without aid. Author : Werner Kraft , London, 20th April 2005 There is no “ copyright “ or anything else on this article – Please post it to as many chess sites as possible – otherwise the idea never goes through. Thanks !
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