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Subject: Re: Interesting statistic regarding length of matches

Author: Greg Simpson

Date: 01:51:17 10/20/05

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On October 20, 2005 at 03:53:50, Graham Banks wrote:

>In EVERY match of the 32 played to date, the engine that was first to 10.5 (best
>of 20 games) was also first to 15.5 (best of 30 games).
>
>If this trend continues, it will be good proof that 20 game matches are long
>enough in most cases to show up the stronger of the two participants.
>
>Any comments?

I don't find the trend surprising.  Some of these engines are quite a bit better
than others, so it makes sense that the better program would usually be first to
10.5 and 15.5.  If there a large difference in the strength of the programs,
twenty games will usually be enough; if there is a small difference thirty often
won't be. Still, in intermediate cases the thirty game matches will make a
significant difference.

All that said, I was slightly disappointed when you changed to thirty game
matches, mainly because I liked the inferior programs to have a slight change to
win: it made the matches more interesting.  Now that we've seen them, I also
dislike that so many matches are effectively decided long before all the games
are finished.

Not that it makes a big difference either way, all the tournaments have been
fun.  My vote would be to go back to twenty game matches though.



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