Author: Keith Hyams
Date: 00:20:10 08/20/05
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On August 20, 2005 at 01:51:20, Kurt Utzinger wrote:
>Our RK 2005 (90m+30s) was perhaps our last big tournament.
>Due to lack of interest of the chess computer community I do
>not think that we shall again have the spirit to ever start
>such a long lasting tourney. In almost all cases very few
>or even no comments - contrary to a lot of dumb and short
>blitz tourneys that are published every day. It's indeed
>somewhat a frustrating disappointment. We are going to
>concentrate on testing new engines. This seems to be much
>more interesting for all people.
>Regards
>Kurt
Hi Kurt,
They are not “dumb time limits” they are just time limits. In the same way that
many people feel that for an engine to be classed as high strength it has to
perform well in both open and closed positions, some people also feel that for
an engine to be classed as strong it has to perform well at all time limits.
Is a 100 metre sprint “dumb” compared to a 1500 metre race? Is a high jump
competition a better indication of athletic ability than a pentathlon?
Many programmers devote a substantial part of their testing to blitz games. One
reason for this in addition to the one above is the size of “error bars”. In
order to get meaningful error bars in the region of +20 and -20, you need to
play about 600 games. This is simply not feasible for most of us at long time
limits.
Your contribution here is extremely valuable for a number of reasons. One of
them is that you are one of relatively few people who can and will play longer
matches and the feedback that you provide is therefore very valuable. I visit
your website very frequently to keep track of them. Although I don't email you
every week saying “Well done Kurt another 12 interesting and informative long
games”, that does not mean that I don't find the material that you publish
valuable.
Keith
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