Author: Roger
Date: 21:28:34 02/04/00
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On February 04, 2000 at 21:25:07, Marc Plum wrote: <snipped> > >The rules of chess, however, do not require the 50 move rule to be applied in >all situations, although this has become the norm. Rule 10.12 of the FIDE laws >of chess permits the number of moves to be increased for certain positions, if >these positions and the extra number of moves required has been announced in >advance of the tournament. I have not heard of this being done in practice, but >the possibility is there. > >It seems to me that a sensible special rule for computer tournaments would be to >extend the 50 move rule for any position where a program's tablebases showed a >clear win. The reason for the 50 move rule is most likely to keep a player from >torturing his opponent endlessly in a drawn positions. Ideally, however, this >should not affect the outcome of a provably winning position. > <snip> >Marc I think the fifty move rule works just fine, and I'd be in favor of having it standardized across computers and humans. Chess tends to be a slow game much of the time anyway, and spectators often complain that the game is boring. I think extending the fifty move rule tends to make chess less exciting in computer-computer matches. Yeah, there might be some virtue in watching program A grind out a win against program B, but I'm not sure that's the kind of chess that we players ought to encourage in our programmers. Instead, programmers should be concentrating on developing coherent STYLES of play that make the game more fun and accessible, not trying to hit an endgame tablebase with a mate in 82 coming out of the middle game. My advice to anyone who doesn't like the fifty move rule would be not to allow positions in which it applies. In fact, DECREASING the fifty move rule to something like THIRTY moves, for humans and computers, would tend to make the game more exciting, in my opinion. Roger
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