Author: Peter Kasinski
Date: 06:10:50 02/19/99
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On February 18, 1999 at 17:11:20, Will Singleton wrote: > >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 I think you'll see me around Will. One of these days I'll ask you to include me in your under 2600 club :-). Last few months were busy for me and I had other reasons to stay away from serious after hours coding. thanks, PK.
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