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Subject: Re: Shredder is World Champion, the rest is details

Author: Enrique Irazoqui

Date: 05:19:17 01/26/00

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On January 26, 2000 at 08:08:47, Albert Silver wrote:

>On January 26, 2000 at 07:17:05, Enrique Irazoqui wrote:
>
>>About being "World champion, the rest is details", it's a classic case of
>>hypostatization, which is "to attribute real identity to a concept."
>>
>>1. We create a Swiss tournament of 11 rounds and name it World Championship.
>>2. Program X wins the tournament and becomes World Champion.
>>3. We are to believe that program X is the best because it is the World Champion
>>and the rest is details.
>>
>>If this 11 round tournament would have given another name, for instance ICCA
>>championship, steps 2 and 3 wouldn't cross anybody's mind.
>>
>>With this I don't intend to attack Shredder 4, Junior 4.6 or Fritz 3, all fine
>>programs and none of them the best, but to question the meaning of a name.
>>
>>No human would become world champion after playing a total of 11 games in his
>>life, and I don't think programs should either.
>>
>>Enrique
>
>Not that I disagree with your arguments, but if one does create a championship
>in which all participants are in agreement with (why participate if not?), then
>I don't think you can discredit the winner

I don't have the slightest intention of "discrediting the winner". My point was
another one and I made it before the ICCA championship: "world champion" means,
to many, the best there is; an 11 round Swiss tournament is not the right way to
determine which program is the best.

> with complaints about luck just
>because you don't like the outcome.

It is not a matter of likes and dislikes, but of forced believes, namely that a
a chess player, human or program, must be considered World Champion after
winning only one tournament of 11 rounds. It has never been acceptable in human
chess and I fail to see why it should be any different in computer chess.

Enrique

> Why not just do away with the championship
>and declare whomever one likes as WC? Everyone had their shot, and luck or not,
>Shredder won. One may disagree that Shredder is the undisputed strongest program
>available, but not that it is the WC.
>
>                                      Albert Silver



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