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Subject: Re: Ratings chessprogrammers in Netherlands

Author: Peter McKenzie

Date: 22:38:46 02/27/99

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On February 27, 1999 at 21:36:15, Christophe Theron wrote:

>On February 27, 1999 at 14:48:30, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>
>>On February 27, 1999 at 11:46:11, Christophe Theron wrote:
>>
>>>On February 26, 1999 at 22:09:32, Peter McKenzie wrote:
>>>
>>>>On February 26, 1999 at 13:16:01, Christophe Theron wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>It is clear to me since several years that being a good chess player is a
>>>>>serious handicap for anybody trying to write a top level chess program.
>>>>>
>>>>>Every rule has its exceptions, so I guess you can find some. But can you list
>>>>>strong chess players that wrote good chess programs? I'm not even sure Larry
>>>>>Kaufman can be included in the list, because he does not program.
>>>>
>>>>Interesting theory, of course Hans Berliner is the obvious exception to it.
>>>
>>>Are you sure? Hitech was a nice program, but it was a long time ago. How would
>>>Berliner's program compare to current strong programs?
>>
>>Pretty well, I'd imagine.
>>
>>>    Christophe
>>
>>Dave Gomboc
>
>I'm still not sure. Last time (to my knowledge) Hitech played in the World
>Championship, it was in May 95 in Honk Hong, on a fast supercomputer.
>
>It finished in the 6th place. Ranking of the first places were:
>
> 1. Fritz (4/5, 5/6)
> 2. Star Socrates (4/5, 4/6)
> 3. Deep Blue, Frenchess, Junior (3.5/5)
> 6. Rebel, Genius, WChess, Zugzwang, Hitech (3/5)
>11. Cheiron, Virtua Chess, Schach 3 (2.5/5)
>...
>
>Several microprocessor based programs (on P90 and P120 I think) did better or as
>well as Hitech which was computing 120000 positions per second. The micros were
>far from this (except Fritz maybe, but with a much simpler evaluation).
>
>I think Hitech could be overplayed by current programs/processor combinations,
>unless they have improved their hardware.

Is this relevant?  Hitech was one of the very best computer chess players of its
day, its creator was a strong chess player (former world correspondence
champion), so we have a counter example to your statement of "It is clear to me
since several years that being a good chess player is a serious handicap for
anybody trying to write a top level chess program."

The fact that todays Micro programs may or may not be better than Hitech has
nothing to do with whether Berliner is a strong chess player or not.  Techniques
have advanced since Hitech was developed (around 1985).  I think that if
Berliner had continued to work on Hitech it may well still be one of the best.

Actually the exact meaning of your statement is unclear to me.  Do you mean that
"it has been clear to you for several years that being a good chess player is a
serious handicap...", or that "it has been true for several years that being a
good chess player is a serious handicap...".  If you mean the second one, what
has changed in the last several years (ie. since Hitech) ??

Christophe, do you think the more knowledge based approaches to chess programs
are inferior?  I personally think there is more than one way to write a good
chess program, witness the big speed difference (but similar strength) between
Hiarcs and Fritz.

>
>BTW, does anybody know if Berliner is still working on his chess program?

I assume he isn't, perhaps he is getting on in years ... maybe retired?

Peter

>
>
>    Christophe



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