Author: Ratko V Tomic
Date: 20:40:28 10/13/99
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> I have read several of your post where you say that you can positionally > outplay several programs, At 2100 uscf this seems unlikely, Positionally outplaying doesn't mean winning a game. While my USCF rating is quite old (from 1982-83 while I was a graduate student in theoretical physics at Brown University) I had to quit playing (and working on chess all together) due to lack of time, possibly before my rating in USA maxed out (my younger brother had achieved master rating, and still plays in his local team competitions (in Yugoslavia) and my younger sister used to be a strong player as well. Before coming to school in USA, I played often with master candidates (which would be near USCF master) in the clubs over there and didn't feel they had that much of an edge. One neighbour (Branko Damjanovic) was a junior champion of Yugoslavia, and IM at the time I played friendly games with him (he later became a GM and one of the leading players there). Now that was a strong player and, frankly, none of the programs comes close in the strength I can perceive. He could, of course, see tactically everything I could see, plus much that I hadn't a clue about until it would strike, and also positionally he would outplay me completely in every game, no matter how much beer he might have consumed that evening. With programs, they generally see tactically more than I do, but not always, depends on type of tactics, and strategically, provided I look up the book moves (that programs display, so I don't blow the opening, I haven't studied openings last 15 years), I judge that most of the time I come out for good part of the middle game positionally ahead, until some tactical shot turns the situation around. With Hiarcs and somewhat with Rebel 10b, there is more equal positional struggle (and Hiarcs can completely outplay me positionally in maybe 20-30 percent of games), but Fritz 5.32, Junior 5 and CM6k, they're weak positionally in my judgment (even though I have a strong negative score against all of them, I maybe win 2 points out of 10 games; the time settings are usually 15-30 seconds/move on average, i.e. without sharp time limit; my score is worse against Rebel and Hiarcs, better against the others). > although you > may be a expert at anti-computer play if there is any real definition > of this term , I wouldn't say that I am an anti-computer "expert", although I have played almost exlusively against computers since mid 1980s. What I am comparing is not my expertise against programs, but the perceieved strength I recall from playing against really strong human players and against the nominally stronger programs. My perception is that the very strong players were stronger than me in every aspect of the game, while programs are stronger only in some aspects. For me the chain is as strong as its weakest link, so the IM strength human player rated at 2450 is for me stronger than the program showing 2600 (self-)rating. > I would be interested in playing you a short match on > ICC running chessmaster 6000, I would love for you to demonstrate to me > your computer chess prowness!!! I had CM6k on my computer (for over a year), although I probably played fewer than couple dozen games against it in all this time. While my kids (the oldest 3 kids, ages 7, 9, 12; the younger two are ages 1 and 3, too young to be taught chess) play with it often and love it. I find it one of more boring programs (with the oddest, most computer-like moves) out of about half a dozen of most recent ones. If its UI weren't as annoying I might have played it a bit more. In any case, what exactly would I have to prove in such match? That I can win 2 points out of 10? Or outplay it positionally (by whose judgment) in at least 5 out of 10 games? Why would I bother? I have roughly 30 wins and 60 draws, as saved games, mostly against Fritz & Hiarcs (since they save it automatically, I wouldn't have bothered otherwise). That's from about the last month and half I had the latest programs (with the first week of AutSave.cbh erased during one of the fresh re-installs of Fritz when it started playing the same opening line over and over). I also delete all "uninteresting" games; all losses to the programs are on the cheap shots and generally "uninteresting," of course:). I can email you that saved stuff if you wish to see, but going personally into public competitions, sorry, but not interested at this time (twenty years ago, I might have taken it up). Maybe my program some day will do that, if I can get something similar to the Botvinnik's approach to work (which still hasn't gone beyond separate evaluation functions).
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