Author: Will Singleton
Date: 14:11:20 02/18/99
Go up one level in this thread
On February 18, 1999 at 16:11:47, Peter Kasinski wrote: >Last May, I decided to write a chess program. >A computer professional and a bona fide computer chess addict I always felt I >ought to give it a shot. Surely some chess skills (currently 2263 on ICC) would >help me, and who the hell are these guys who dominate the Swedish list anyway >:-). > >I took TSCP as a starting point and after 3 months (after hours, such as life) I >started to think of a name for my program. My code still had sections exactly as >Tom left them (interface changed very little, for one), but I felt I had changed >enough. Search was rewritten, move generation and q-search changed, null-move, >hash tables, selective extensions, the works. > >At the time I received hints and answers form this forum. These helped me >immensely. I also received direct pointers to Bob’s code (one email came from G. >Mueller) which I thought was disappointing if only because of the assumption >that I couldn’t think of it myself. But in reality I felt intimidated and >discouraged by Crafty. It didn’t take long to realize that no satisfaction could >come as a result of implanting this stuff into my program. I ended up coding a >poor man’s hashing algorithm and hell it felt great. I took Pedestrian to ICC >and (operating it manually) played some games. I was wiped by the Amateur but >Will was nice and offered encouragement. My rating stayed around 2000 and given >a LONG list of bugs and no endgame knowledge I knew I could improve it. When it >called the Shirov mate-in-14 in under 60 seconds (PII-333) even my wife smiled. > >After the initial outburst of energy I took a break and didn’t do much in the >last few months. Now with the Voyager case I don’t know if I want to anymore. >Even before I thought of all these beginners who enter the list at stratospheric >heights but somehow it didn’t turn me off as much as this recent affair. To me >the idea that anyone could come up with Crafty as their first chess project is >preposterous. How reassuring it was to listen to Amir (on Junior CD) saying that >when he was around 17 he had thought about writing a chess program but decided >that it might have been too difficult and wrote a mate-in-2 solver instead. > >I have tons of respect for Bob. But Crafty is not a realistic staring point for >beginners. Bob’s contribution to our community can hardly be overstated, but I >would rather read his answers than look at Crafty. On the other hand some people >will use it to gain an unfair advantage over the very beginner it is supposed to >help. > >PK. > >I would like to close with this suggestion for an opinion-poll question: > >What would be the rating of Crafty if Bob had access to the source code of >Hiarcs 7 and CM6000 for, let’s say, 45 minutes? Peter, That's an interesting question, but we could be more direct. How about "Should Crafty's source code be distributed freely, or taken private?" I'm sorry I was the last to play you on ICC, but I just looked at the game, and I was lucky to escape with the win. You clearly outplayed Amateur in the opening and middle. And you also beat Radon and Flambe. After only a few months of development, I think that's pretty good. I agree it's discouraging that people would use Crafty as a starting point, but you have to remember that they aren't getting any real satisfaction out of it. I do this because I like to compete, and see my creation get better over time. And I compete against people who have written their own stuff, and against humans. So, it's really up to you. If you want to do it, realizing it will take time, then do it. Will
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