Hiarcs wins 3rd World Chess Software Championship

[hgm]

I wonder why the Yokohama game events, sponsored by "Brain & Mind Sports Organization" with ICGA president David Levy involved, in ICGAJ mentioned as "Brain & Mind-Sports Computer Olympiad" i.e., the 17th Computer Olympiad, is called "Games Tournament 2013" on their current site. Problems with IOC?

Indeed. It seems the Japanese National Olympic Committee has trademarked the word Olympiad in Japan for its exclusive use. They threatened to sue.

[Leto]

A "champion" with no feats against relevant opponents is no true champion. That there were no relevant participants could indicate that something is foul about the tournament.

[mclane]

A "champion" with no feats against relevant opponents is no true champion. That there were no relevant participants could indicate that something is foul about the tournament.

it indicates that the opponents are either clones or not willing to spend time and effort to win a championship.

[mclane]

Well, apparently Robert thinks differently...

No amount of talking has ever made anyone World Champion. That's for sure.

True. On the other hand, winning a tournament where no top 10 engines are competing certainly doesn't make you one either. It is a joke.

nonsense. its not the fault of the participants that others have not the backbones to participate.

[Modern Times]

Anybody has the right to call something a World Championship. The ICGA is just one that does it. Just because it has been doing it for several years or is affiliated to FIDE does not make it "Official", or any more worthy than anyone else.

[gerold]

A "champion" with no feats against relevant opponents is no true champion. That there were no relevant participants could indicate that something is foul about the tournament.

it indicates that the opponents are either clones or not willing to spend time and effort to win a championship.

A big Plus on that.

Best,
Gerold.

[gerold]

Wow. That was tough. Hiarcs drew versus Junior in the last round, and defended its title as World Chess Software Champion.

Congrats to Mark Uniacke and Harvey Williamson!

Thanks for the post. And thanks to Mark and Harvey. Nice work.

Best,
Gerold.

[S.Taylor]

Yes, i KNOW that Hiarcs 3 is the first among equals with the old school engines.

Those like Shredder, Fritz, Genius, Junior, Tiger, Gandalf, Chess master etc.

[IanO]

That is how it works in the real world. Communities of people conducting a certain activity tend to create an association handling their interests, to prevent chaos. (Like every idiot in Hong Kong or elsewhere starting their own 'World Championship' in their backyard.) For Chess this association is FIDE, for chess programmers it is ICGA.

ICGA is a pretty democratic organization. If the programmers don't like how things are handled, they just have to snap their fingers, and they will be handled differently. Things are as they are by majority consensus of the members. Like it should be.

Of course chess programmers that are not members, or don't raise their voice to be heard, will have no influence. And people that are not Chess programmers at all, have no say whatsoever. (Sorry Ray...)

Seems to me there are just a lot of people here that are sour that the World does not automatically shape itself in the form they would prefer, without them having to make any effort whatsoever to make that happen.

Indeed. If you would like a different championship format, then you should join the ICGA and lobby for changes. Obviously, there have been changes in the past, hence the hardware limitation in 2009, spurring the separate Software championship. Join and start lobbying!

One of the goals of the ICGA is to spur computer games research by attracting researchers who want to try out their new ideas. One could argue that the ICGA is failing in the chess domain: why has participation been dropping? Have any grad students competed in the past few years? Why was there only one chess-related paper at the conference (and that on drei-Hirn techniques)? What is the overall age of the chess participants compared to those in the other game tournaments? Do any of the other games tournaments require a physical board? (I know the computer Go events have had multiple protocols over the years, even one over serial cables before ethernet!)

If I were running the ICGA, I would be doing all I could to gain new blood, for fear of having to discontinue the chess events in a few years due to lack of participation. Perhaps it is time for them to start a separate ICGA Online Championship and see if that gets better participation. Or maybe start their own rating list.

[S.Taylor]

Wow. That was tough. Hiarcs drew versus Junior in the last round, and defended its title as World Chess Software Champion.

Congrats to Mark Uniacke and Harvey Williamson!

Now perhaps Hiarcs should play a match with the other champion, Houdini 3 [or Houdini 4 beta], for absolute champion!

(If we are claiming a different criteria for non derivative/clone champion, then ALL programs participating must undergo critical analysis, before a non-unified championship winner is named. Also, if we are claiming a free program champion, or open scource champion or whatever, then Hiarcs too should be scrutinized if it is a free program or a commercial program).