Author: Will Singleton
Date: 14:08:47 06/07/99
Under 2600 Club
June 7 1999
Program ICC Blitz Change Games Platform Author
Hossa 2680 +210 315 P/350 Steffen Jakob
PostModernist 2597 +36 38 K6/300 Andrew Williams
Arasan 2595 +1 49 K6/400 Jon Dart
Amateur 2542 -64 47 Mac/300 Will Singleton
LambChop 2530 -29 6 P/133 Pete McKenzie
XXXXII 2523 P/266 Martin Zetner
EXchess 2472 -3 4 Cel/400 Dan Homan
Grok 2453 37 P/300 Peter Kappler
Galahad 2419 -16 29 K6/400 James Swafford
InmiChess 2334 +18 11 Cyrix/233 Werner Inmann
Inactive List
TDChess 2578 P/400 Jon Baxter
Rajah 2496 P/166 V. Manohararajah
BugChess 2326 P/450 Erik van het Hof
Stobor 2519 K6/350 Tom Kerrigan
Pedestrian 2195 P/450 Peter Kasinski
Gromit 2569 K6/350 Frank Schneider
WildChild 1877 P/200 Brian McKinley
Rival 2248 P/266 Chris Moreton
Rookie 2557 P/360 Marcel van Kervinck
SSEChessII 2395 P/400 Sam Slutzky
Graduated List
ZChess 2635 Cel/450 Franck Zibi
ICC account names that differ from the program name:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArasanX (Arasan), jlong (Galahad).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notable
Some interesting developments this week. Hossa went a bit wild, zooming
up over 2700 and ending up topping the list at 2680. This is a pretty
phenomenal performance, ranking ahead of some crafty clones on fast hardware.
Steffen reports that he modified his formula to restrict blitz play to
high-rated humans only, with 0 increment, just to see how high the rating
would go. I think we pretty much have to accept now that with fast hardware,
even a medium-strong program will beat all but the best GM players.
Amateur showed unusual strength in standard games, rising to 2491 at one
point, playing all comers. It's odd, because one would expect the blitz
rating to be much higher than the std, as is normal with computers. It's
not unprecedented, though. SapphireII on fics is about 2050 blitz, and
2150 standard. But it's 25mhz, which might have a greater impact in
faster games.
Another development has to do with this club. Several programs are
starting to pop thru the 2600 barrier, sometimes briefly, but the trend
has been to go up. With HW speeds jumping up soon, and the software
improving, it appears that 2600 is no longer a viable limit. Instead of
going to a higher number, like 2700, I figure it's time to change it a bit.
I'm going to implement an automated system that will track many more ICC
accounts, some running the same program on different HW, but still
focusing on amateur accounts that feature a single program (will exclude
the engine-of-the-day accounts). I'll post this new list on my website
(which I haven't developed yet), and perhaps cross-post it here.
So, I'm glad to have been able to stimulate some discussion and provide
some encouragement for the "occasional" chess programmer. Thanks for
participating in the Under 2600 Club, and I look forward to the new
Chess Amateur's ICC Rating List.
--------------------------------
Hossa was the games-played leader again this week, and tops the list, as
mentioned. New personal highs were recorded by Hossa (2717), Grok (2507),
and Arasan (2649). Talking about Grok, Peter reports squashing a
couple of bugs, which has resulted in better play (as I can attest).
Grok played some very strong games, so you might want to check out what
is probably the best Java program there is.
InmiChess and EXchess became active, while Rajah and Rookie took a nap.
----------------------------
u2600 Game (not) of the Week
Some might find this game of interest. A standard 15 15 game between
Amateur and Hossa, with some wild exchanges, and tense positional play
afterwards. But the end will kill you; it did me!
[Event "ICC 15 15"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "1999.06.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Amateur"]
[Black "Hossa"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2455"]
[BlackElo "2192"]
[Opening "English: four knights, kingside fianchetto"]
[ECO "A29"]
[NIC "EO.02"]
[Time "00:08:40"]
[TimeControl "900+15"]
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Nd5 e4 6. Nxb4 Nxb4 7. Nh4 Qe7
8. Nf5 Qc5 9. Ne3 d6 10. Qb3 Nc6 11. Bg2 O-O 12. d3 Nd4 13. Qc3 exd3 14.
Qxd3 Ng4 15. Bd2 Rb8 16. b4 Qb6 17. Be4 Ne5 18. Bxh7+ Kh8 19. Qe4 f5 20. c5
fxe4 21. cxb6 Kxh7 22. bxc7 Ra8 23. Rc1 Rf7 24. Nd5 Bg4 25. Be3 Nxe2 26.
c8=Q Nd3+ 27. Kd2 Bxc8 28. Kxe2 Be6 29. Nc7 Bg4+ 30. Kd2 Rc8 31. Nb5 Rxc1
32. Rxc1 Nxc1 33. Kxc1 Rd7 34. Bxa7 Be2 35. Nc3 Bf3 36. Kd2 Kg6 37. Ke3 Kf5
38. h3 d5 39. Kd4 Kf6 40. Bb8 Kf7 41. Bf4 Bg2 42. h4 g6 43. a3 Bf3 44. Na4
Rd8 45. Nb6 Ke6 46. Bc7 Rd7 47. Nxd7 Kxd7 48. Bb8 Ke6 49. Kc5 Bg2 50. Bf4
Bh1 51. Be3 Bf3 52. a4 Bd1 53. a5 Kd7 54. Kxd5 Bf3 55. Ke5 Ke7 56. Bc5+ Kf7
57. b5 Bg4 58. a6 bxa6 59. bxa6 Bc8 60. a7 Bb7 61. Kd6 Kf6 62. g4 Kf7 63.
Kc7 Bd5 64. Kb8 Kf6 65. Be3 Ke6 66. Bg5 Bc6 67. h5 gxh5 68. gxh5 Kf5 69. Be7
Ke6 70. h6 Kf7 71. Bd6 Kg6 72. Bf4 Kh7 73. Bd2 Kg6 74. Kc7 Ba8 75. Be3 Bd5
76. Bg5 Kf7 77. Kc8 Kg6 78. Kb8 Bc6 79. Be3 Bd5 80. Bd2 Bc6 81. Bc1 Kh7 82.
Bf4 Bd5 83. Kc7 Kg6 84. Be3 Kf6 85. Bf4 Kg6 86. Bd2 Ba8 87. Kc8 Bd5 88. Be3
Ba8 89. Kb8 Bd5 90. Bg5 Bc6 91. Kc7 Ba8 92. Kb8 Bc6 {Game drawn by
repetition} 1/2-1/2
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