TCEC stage 3 , New Houdini starts with a bang

[Harvey Williamson]

Sensible decision.

Sensible but only if all others are treated the same.

[Graham Banks]

Sensible decision.

Sensible but only if all others are treated the same.

Of course.

[IanO]

What was wrong with Komodo's settings? People should at least be entitled to a proper explanation by the organizers.

The differences can be found in the initial game comment.

Before:

Code: Select all

BlackEngineOptions: Use Syzygy=true; Syzygy Probe Depth=2; Syzygy Probe Limit=6; Dynamism=110;

After:

Code: Select all

BlackEngineOptions: Contempt=7;

To summarize, removing custom Syzygy probe options and "Dynamism" (whatever that is), and adding Contempt 7.

It would be nice to hear from Mark what the effects of these changes are likely to be.

[Leto]

Why the first game between Houdini 200716 - Komodo 10.1 is restarted ?

The TCEC operators used incorrect UCI settings for Komodo so the game is being replayed.

Sensible decision.
One game means little in the overall scheme of things and it is best to have all engines set up correctly.

Agreed. Good thing this issue was caught in the first game and not later.

[Nay Lin Tun]

Also, the complaint was made 4 to 5 hours into the game. Complaint should have been dismissed. It should have been made earlier.
I'm sure nothing would have been said if Komodo was actually winning !
The Conspiracy theorists just got a big boost !

Yes of course, complaints always come from the losers not from the winners.If the organisers would like to blame the wrong settings, that settings must be in public before the game start! Who knows K team would like to try with the new setting that was used in the previous game and only when the game was dead lost, the drama started. A couple of things come to my mind
1. Complaints should be done before the game start and should be invalid when the game has decisive outcome
2. No transparency in private setting
3. The setting were not obviously wrong as a general sense{eg,people can sense as a wrong setting if only 1 core was used instead of 20}
4.No one knows whether the other engine authors might complaints due to the wrong setting or other reason and whether those complaints were refused.
5. The replay rule was already announced before the game but it was supposed to be an obvious bug , and Komodo did not play as a bug game.(there was intense fight in the whole game until one side got advantage)

P.S-->there was a public poll by someone whether the game should be replayed or not, and most spectators voted as no.
http://www.strawpoll.me/10816599/r

[mjlef]

Also, the complaint was made 4 to 5 hours into the game. Complaint should have been dismissed. It should have been made earlier.
I'm sure nothing would have been said if Komodo was actually winning !
The Conspiracy theorists just got a big boost !

Yes of course, complaints always come from the losers not from the winners.If the organisers would like to blame the wrong settings, that settings must be in public before the game start! Who knows K team would like to try with the new setting that was used in the previous game and only when the game was dead lost, the drama started. A couple of things come to my mind
1. Complaints should be done before the game start and should be invalid when the game has decisive outcome
2. No transparency in private setting
3. The setting were not obviously wrong as a general sense{eg,people can sense as a wrong setting if only 1 core was used instead of 20}
4.No one knows whether the other engine authors might complaints due to the wrong setting or other reason and whether those complaints were refused.
5. The replay rule was already announced before the game but it was supposed to be an obvious bug , and Komodo did not play as a bug game.(there was intense fight in the whole game until one side got advantage)

P.S-->there was a public poll by someone whether the game should be replayed or not, and most spectators voted as no.
http://www.strawpoll.me/10816599/r

How can complaints be made before the game starts? The settings are not visible until the game starts.

I did not know Komodo was playing in the first game. I was at a Movie at 3 pm European Time when the game started. After the game, I ate, came back to the hotel, and called Larry a few times, did some compiles. I did not check TCEC until all that was done.

When I did check TCEC, I saw Komodo's score was for white a bit over 1. I checked the settings by right clicking the gear and immediately so no Contempt = 7 setting, and that Dynamism was set to 110 instead of the default 115 for Komodo 10.1

I emailed Anton, Martin and Larry to tell them about the wrong settings. Anton answered as follows (my email under Anton's reply):

>>
Dear Mark,

I am CC-ing Martin, this must be replayed if what you say was not set.

2016-07-23 21:11 GMT+03:00 Mark L. <xxxxx>:
Martin and Anton,

I looked at the TCEC settings for Komodo and they look wrong. We asked that Contempt be set to 7, and it is not mentioned (so I assume it defaults to 10). And the Komodo 10.1 setting for Dynamism is 115, not 110.

Can you please fix them?

Mark
>>

I never asked for the game to be replayed. Anton knew immediately is should be due to the settings errors.

The Komodo team had nothing to do with the wrong settings. We did not switch any programs

Taking a poll serves no purpose. TCEC has rule and plays fair. I respect them for that.

[mjlef]

What was wrong with Komodo's settings? People should at least be entitled to a proper explanation by the organizers.

The differences can be found in the initial game comment.

Before:

Code: Select all

BlackEngineOptions: Use Syzygy=true; Syzygy Probe Depth=2; Syzygy Probe Limit=6; Dynamism=110;

After:

Code: Select all

BlackEngineOptions: Contempt=7;

To summarize, removing custom Syzygy probe options and "Dynamism" (whatever that is), and adding Contempt 7.

It would be nice to hear from Mark what the effects of these changes are likely to be.

Contempt = 7 is pretty important. We lowered the Contempt for this stage because the average opponent rating is higher than the last stage. Using a higher Contempt would have encouraged Komodo to try to avoid draws harder, and to keep more pieces on the board at some sacrifice of positional play. Dynamism also was wrong and our testing showed in Komodo 10.1, the higher setting was better.

TCEC has been very accurate at settings in the past, but we are all only human and some errors can occur. When they are found it should be corrected and replayed, which is what they did, and swiftly too.

There will be lots of games in this Stage.

[gotogo]

TCEC nepotism for you. TCEC had more than ample time to set all engines up correctly!

I'm sure Robert won't be happy, furthermore you guys may have just ruined it for everyone with Houdini!

I hope for a Stockfish and Houdini final!
Everyone was excited then the game was took from Houdini!

[APassionForCriminalJustic]

Komodo team steals from Houdini!
I guess The TCEC sponsors are happy about outcome!

Who knows if TCEC changed some setting in Houdini?
Does Komodo retain game info in hash and change strategy after a loss?
Could this have been a setup all along?
As much as ARB is a pain in the @ss he now has some merit!

Why is it Mark always gets his way when he whines?
Does TCEC find games that favor Komodo over other engines?
I don't trust TCEC outcome anymore?

The operator didn't have the settings correct. There is no conspiracy... some of the settings affect Komodo ELO-wise by quite a bit... the operator is to blame for NOT ensuring that Komodo’s settings were correct. As far as I'm concerned... the first game was a fluke anyways... why couldn't houdini repeat another victory? Haha.

[APassionForCriminalJustic]

TCEC nepotism for you. TCEC had more than ample time to set all engines up correctly!

I'm sure Robert won't be happy, furthermore you guys may have just ruined it for everyone with Houdini!

I hope for a Stockfish and Houdini final!
Everyone was excited then the game was took from Houdini!

Time or not, tcec screwed up... and what is this houdini to the final crap? Houdart only just started improving houdini... we all know that Komodo is stronger... get some brains...