TCEC Season 7 - Main Thread

[Henk]

Perhaps you need a real strong chess player in your team to keep up with Stockfish.

[Ozymandias]

As for Robert Houdart it is unfortunate the way he abandoned the community, it is simply unprofessional. I could understand his disappointment when he thought he couldn't keep up with Stockfish, but Komodo's ability to keep up with Stockfish puts his argument in doubt.

Either way a simple "thank you for supporting me but I am leaving the community to pursue other goals" would have been appreciated.

Not defending anyone, but do we know if Houdart's behavior is one of a kind? Was he the only programmer not answering? Is Martin also asking about updates from Stefan or Vasik?

[Martin Thoresen]

Is Martin also asking about updates from Stefan or Vasik?

I am, yes. Stefan politely replies every time I email him. Vasik never replies.

[JJJ]

http://www.chessdom.com/tcec-season-7-takes-off-soon/ UPDATED Houdini? Interesting..

Is this true Martin ?

[Leto]

http://www.chessdom.com/tcec-season-7-takes-off-soon/ UPDATED Houdini? Interesting..

Is this true Martin ?

Doubt it, otherwise Martin would have said so.

[Jesse Gersenson]

[snip]
If Houdart wanted to provide a development/beta version of Houdini 5 he could have simply replied to one of my 4-5 emails sent to him the last few months. I have not had a single reply from him, which is sort of unprofessional. And besides, TCEC will not wait for engines to be released - there will always be new versions released.
[/snip]

Let me re-write that, "If Houdart wanted to provide a development/beta version of Houdini 5 he would have." Robert didn't want to make a public statement and didn't want to participate in this season's TCEC. Where is the confussion?

Martin, you're welcome to feel slighted he ignored your emails but do you need to slander him by calling the guy 'unprofessional'? Ignoring emails from an invitation-only tournament with no prize fund seems fair. TCEC has no contract with Houdart and Robert, has no professional obligation to TCEC.

As important as one may think the TCEC tournament is, it's far-fetched to think all engine authors must be at TCEC's beck-and-call.

That all said, I really do look forward to this year's tournament and appreciate your organizing it.

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi Martin,

hm ... but Houdini comes from the work the Fire programmer do.
Which one is the clone?

http://users.telenet.be/chesslogik/images/6xyk.jpg

I understand nothing, playing strength alone isn't all. Each programmer can find out improvements ... have a look in ICE ... in my opinion no reason to Support "Houdini".

But it's your tourney!

Allways the same ...
In two years nobody will speak about Houdini, Houdini and Rybka ... now we have two of this examples. A third will come and the Situation will be the same. Again, that is allways the same.

Such People, working with sources of others ... such people coming and going. So many examples we have in computer chess. Seems to be an event for so many computer chess fans.

Not very important ...

Enough nice development are included.
Good luck for all participant programmers and thanks for the work you do for us!

Best
Frank

[Martin Thoresen]

Martin, you're welcome to feel slighted he ignored your emails but do you need to slander him by calling the guy 'unprofessional'? Ignoring emails from an invitation-only tournament with no prize fund seems fair. TCEC has no contract with Houdart and Robert, has no professional obligation to TCEC.

I'm sorry, but whenever I encounter commercial companies simply ignoring questions or requests, I call it unprofessional. The point isn't to get a yes or no, just a reply with whatever they decide. Simply some common courtesy, which seems to be a "myth" these days.

[Leto]

Hi Martin,

hm ... but Houdini comes from the work the Fire programmer do.
Which one is the clone?

http://users.telenet.be/chesslogik/images/6xyk.jpg

I understand nothing, playing strength alone isn't all. Each programmer can find out improvements ... have a look in ICE ... in my opinion no reason to Support "Houdini".

But it's your tourney!

Allways the same ...
In two years nobody will speak about Houdini, Houdini and Rybka ... now we have two of this examples. A third will come and the Situation will be the same. Again, that is allways the same.

Such People, working with sources of others ... such people coming and going. So many examples we have in computer chess. Seems to be an event for so many computer chess fans.

Not very important ...

Enough nice development are included.
Good luck for all participant programmers and thanks for the work you do for us!

Best
Frank

Very interesting chart, did you make it or did you use a tool? Are there instructions on how to interpret the chart?

[Adam Hair]

Hi Martin,

hm ... but Houdini comes from the work the Fire programmer do.
Which one is the clone?

http://users.telenet.be/chesslogik/images/6xyk.jpg

I understand nothing, playing strength alone isn't all. Each programmer can find out improvements ... have a look in ICE ... in my opinion no reason to Support "Houdini".

But it's your tourney!

Allways the same ...
In two years nobody will speak about Houdini, Houdini and Rybka ... now we have two of this examples. A third will come and the Situation will be the same. Again, that is allways the same.

Such People, working with sources of others ... such people coming and going. So many examples we have in computer chess. Seems to be an event for so many computer chess fans.

Not very important ...

Enough nice development are included.
Good luck for all participant programmers and thanks for the work you do for us!

Best
Frank

Very interesting chart, did you make it or did you use a tool? Are there instructions on how to interpret the chart?

The assumption is that the closer two engines are to a common node (where the branch separates), the more closely they are related. In general the assumption is correct, though exceptions can be created.