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Subject: Re: Crafty rating on ICC

Author: Amir Ban

Date: 06:30:41 10/28/99

Go up one level in this thread


On October 28, 1999 at 09:20:17, walter irvin wrote:

>On October 28, 1999 at 06:27:10, Amir Ban wrote:
>
>>On October 27, 1999 at 14:28:15, James B. Shearer wrote:
>>
>>>On October 27, 1999 at 11:13:57, Amir Ban wrote:
>>>
>>>>On October 27, 1999 at 00:30:45, James B. Shearer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On October 26, 1999 at 12:54:02, Amir Ban wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>I got noplayed by crafty last week. I think it was playing more than 4 games in
>>>>>>a row rather than disconnecting. At the time crafty's rating was 3146, so it
>>>>>>seems it's rating jump is a result of noplaying ban. Crafty & clones typically
>>>>>>gain around 200-300 points when they don't play other computers. I didn't
>>>>>>realize crafty's noplay list is so long, but looking at it it effectively
>>>>>>doesn't play top computers any more (ferret is hardly around these days).
>>>>>
>>>>>        The bit about 200-300 points is hard to believe.  In fact I don't
>>>>>believe it.  If this were true the crafty clones would be continuously pumping
>>>>>rating points from the human pool to the computer pool.  To maintain balance
>>>>>some computers in the computer pool would have to be pumping just as many points
>>>>>back into the human pool.  Which computers do you think are doing this?  I've
>>>>>been playing crafty clones to inflate my rating but apparently this is all wrong
>>>>>and I should be playing some other computers.  Which are they?
>>>>>                             James B. Shearer
>>>>
>>>>Mofongo, eggsalad, counterplay, wyrm and others. Some of them don't exclude
>>>>computers in their formula, but they noplay me, and have always done so. I don't
>>>>know who else they're noplaying.
>>>>
>>>>To find them, simply look at the top of the blitz list for crafty clones. To
>>>>find those that play with everyone, look much lower in the list.
>>>
>>>         This is not responsive to the point I was making.  Suppose crafty
>>>clones A, B and C play with everyone and have rating 2700.  According to you
>>>they would have rating 2900-3000 if they just played humans.  This means that
>>>when A, B and C do play humans they will be picking up lots of rating points (as
>>>their rating tries to move from 2700 to 2900-3000).  For their rating to stay at
>>>2700 they must be losing the rating points they are picking up from humans to
>>>some of the computers they are also playing.  Suppose they are losing points to
>>>computers X, Y and Z.  Then X, Y and Z must also be losing the rating points
>>>they are winning from A, B and C back to the human pool (else the rating of X, Y
>>>and Z would rise to the point that X, Y and Z stopped winning rating points from
>>>A, B and C).
>>>          So the question I am asking is what are names of programs X, Y and Z
>>>whose ratings would shoot up if they noplayed humans?  If A, B and C actually
>>>exist then conservation of rating points means X, Y and Z must exist also.  As a
>>>human I want to play X,Y and Z and grab some of those rating points.
>>>
>>
>>Your argument is too complicated for me to follow. It sounds like you are
>>assuming that ICC ratings are in some sort of equilibrium and drawing
>>conclusions based on that.
>>
>>I don't think theres any sort of equilibrium there. For one thing, it's not
>>closed, and players are always entering and exiting the system. Besides, rating
>>averages show huge drifts over time. I think blitz ratings are drifting
>>perpetually higher, and in three years we will see above 4000. Another thing
>>wrong with your argument is that the lower rated crafties will not be popular
>>with humans since they have alternatives with same version & CPU but much higher
>>rating.
>>
>>Your conclusion, that there are no free rides at ICC, is certainly false. Anyone
>>who's interested enough can boost his rating several hundred points by careful
>>opponent selection. There's one or two crafties that have done exactly that.
>>
>>
>>>>Last year there were several top computers playing regularly on ICC, and the
>>>>standard 'high' rating was in the 2900's. Now serious comp-comp competition is
>>>>almost disappeared from ICC and crafty, the only one still around, has gone up
>>>>around 200-300 points.
>>>
>>>          Maybe crafty got a lot better and has driven the competition from the
>>>field of battle.
>>>                                James B. Shearer
>>
>>Maybe, but I can also get a much higher rating than I could hope for last year,
>>so maybe not.
>>
>>Amir
>
>Amir i dont see why you are getting so excited about crafty's rating . junior
>has nothing to prove .junior proves every year at the world championships that
>it is a top notch program . now with deep junior  multi processor it has to be
>one of the most sought after programs .i would not worry if i were you .

Thanks.

The argument here is not crafty's rating but by how much crafties gain by
playing against humans only.

Amir





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