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Subject: Re: To Everyone....Karpov Still Has a Point

Author: Majd Al-Ansari

Date: 23:50:30 10/10/05

Go up one level in this thread


On October 10, 2005 at 10:09:24, Uri Blass wrote:

>On October 10, 2005 at 09:43:00, chandler yergin wrote:
>
>>On October 09, 2005 at 17:53:29, chandler yergin wrote:
>>
>>>On October 09, 2005 at 07:44:08, Majd Al-Ansari wrote:
>>>
>>>>On October 08, 2005 at 14:26:42, chandler yergin wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On October 07, 2005 at 11:52:04, Roger D Davis wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On October 06, 2005 at 19:51:47, Terry McCracken wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On October 06, 2005 at 19:35:23, Roger D Davis wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On October 06, 2005 at 11:53:05, Terry McCracken wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>He may be dismissing computer chess too lightly, but I've watched players on ICC
>>>>>>>>>who were NOT GMs and obtain winning positions against these "silicon brutes",
>>>>>>>>>and often they're losses are on time. The games were 15/0  or small time
>>>>>>>>>increments. These favour machines, still I've seen them burn but escape due to
>>>>>>>>>the bell.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>There are  people here who do in fact beat programs, and we know this to be
>>>>>>>>>true.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Anand never took the matches between Kramnik and Fritz too seriously or Kasparov
>>>>>>>>>matches with Deep Junior or Deep Fritz. If you really look at those games, you
>>>>>>>>>can see both Kramnik and Kasparov dominating these beasts, but for what ever
>>>>>>>>>reason they messed up in even and also won positions, more than once.
>>>>>>>>>So those matches don't mean as much as you think. Sure the machines were strong,
>>>>>>>>>but in no way better than either of these grandmasters.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Hydra is the only _real_ exception, and even here, GM Nichols with a computer
>>>>>>>>>was beating it at corr. GM Topolov had it beat and let it slip to a draw.
>>>>>>>>>There's a stronger ver. now but I suspect a top GM on a good day who plays
>>>>>>>>>computers often, could win a game, even a match, but I suspect after GM Adams
>>>>>>>>>poor performance we might not see such an event. What a shame.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Machines are NOT completely dominating the top humans or very experienced
>>>>>>>>>computer players, at least not yet.  Say what you will, but the losses are often
>>>>>>>>>due to oversights that make the machines look better than the actually are.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>That's my two cents.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Terry
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Maybe humans should be allowed to take back an oversight when they play
>>>>>>>>computers. At least 1 oversight per game. More than that and they deserve to
>>>>>>>>lose.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Roger
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>You are joking yes? Well that would really favour the grandmasters;-)
>>>>>>>I also think their egos wouldn't let them accept these terms.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Terry
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Well...people are saying that computers just can't play at a GM level because
>>>>>>the GM loses interest and messes up the game. So give them 1 take back. They'll
>>>>>>still lose. Not all losses are due to dramatic errors like overlooking a
>>>>>>combination.
>>>>>
>>>>>I think you missed Terry's Point:
>>>>>"Sure the machines were strong,
>>>>>but in no way better than either of these grandmasters."
>>>>>
>>>>>"Hydra is the only _real_ exception, and even here, GM Nichols with a computer
>>>>>was beating it at corr."
>>>>>In fact he won both games.
>>>>>"GM Topolov had it beat and let it slip to a draw."
>>>>>Remember, Opening Books are based on games played.. played by Grandmasters,
>>>>>the Top 99.9 % in the world. So, in reality, in the Opening, they are playing
>>>>>against themselves. A small mistake in the Opening by humans, therefore has
>>>>>serious effects in the middle and endgame.
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Then it becomes much harder to argue that computers aren't GM strength. If you
>>>>>>bend over backwards to accommodate human players and they still lose, well...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Roger
>>>>>        Ratings are an indication of 'performance' not true strength.
>>>>>Look at Topolov's performance Rating 3158 !
>>>>>Show me a Computer that comes close!
>>>>>Hmmm?  Anyone?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Well, Hydra's methodical destruction of Michael Adams must give it a rating that
>>>>is just as impressive as Topolov's performance.
>>>
>>>If you ran a Blunder check on the Games, you can see Adams played poorly.
>>>
>>>  I am afraid that even the
>>>>mighty Topolov will have no chance against Hydra.
>>>
>>>Would be a very interesting Match indeed..
>>>I'd still bet on Topolov
>>>;)
>>>
>>>
>>>  With regards to the
>>>>correspondence games that Hydra lost.  You have to realize that Hydra was not
>>>>"on" all the time between moves.  On the other hand you can be assured that the
>>>>world champion correspondence player would have several extremely powerful PC's
>>>>working overtime, and he most likely would have forced some lines on some
>>>>computers for analysis.  A professional correspondent player such as Nichols
>>>>would have forced the most promising lines using several of his favourite
>>>>engines.  He would probably choose the results of different engines analysis for
>>>>different positions.  That kind of effort would be the equivalent of a super
>>>>computer far stronger than Hydra in calculating terms.
>>
>>Sorry, Correspondence players use their own Brain!
>>Stephen Ham & Peter Berger I'm sure would be insulted by your comments.
>>They use Computers O-n-l-y to check for obvious blunders.
>>Ask them!
>>cy
>
>It may be correct for stephan ham but he is not a top correspondence player.
>
>I believe that top correspondence players usually use computers to analyze
>positions for many hours.
>
>It does not mean trusting blindly the computer moves but they may analyze what
>happens after the computer move and compare with what happens after the move
>that they prefer.
>
>If there is an interesting forced line they may analyze for a long time with
>computer after the forced line to help them to evaluate the final position of
>the forced line.
>
>Uri

Exactly !!! Thanks Uri that is exactly what I meant.  Ofcourse correspondence
chess players use their brain and their chess knowledge.  But good CC players
will be able to use moves that they think are best and let computers do a
tactics check that they are sound.  This combination will greatly diminsh the
sharp claws of any calculating monster.  A good CC might think that a certain
computer move is just not correct because it doesn't feel right (I remember a
Bishop move moving back to its original place right in the opening by Fritz in
Bahrain when I was sitting in the giant screen they had there and Kramnik
quickly took advantage and one nicely).  A good CC player would never have used
that move even if the computer had given a huge + score.  So the use of many
good computers as a help cannot be ignored.  The combination of a good CC player
with computer aid would IMHO be conservatively rated over 3000 ELO if the time
factor was eliminated as a measure (for the CC player) and placed on a normal 40
move in 2 hours for the opponent.



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