Just because somebody invented the wheel doesn't mean that others shouldn't use it.Rolf wrote:Ryan Benitez wrote:It seems there is some sort of entitlement system here that people need praise or credit. If this is the case then people should not be given praise or credit for crating a GPL engine they should be given praise and credit for contributing to the GPL itself. The amount of credit would be proportionate to the amount of contribution. This said the GPL may not be compatible with competitive chess tournaments because the GPL is all one project. Two GPL engines with 2 or more contributors may have no code in common but they do have equal rights to the code in the engines as they are both part of the GPL project. If the engine has only 1 GPL contributor I see no problem pulling back the GPL status for the given event. Beyond that things get far too confusing and I am happy that I am not the one who makes the rules in tournaments.
I see no problems with GPL. But progress, such research and tornaments, Ryan, have nothing to do with one another. You can do your research as much as you want, but you have nothing to do with general tournaments where original programmers show their progs. You dont have your own program but a (possibly and hopefully legal) tunes and experiences new version of a known program of someone else. The same applies to Toga or Strelka. You have just a forbidden strength so to speak. That problem should have been decided long before but until now such versions never have been so strong. Simple as that. Now you must decide for yourself. Are you feeling humuliated, then you have a personal edge in the practice other than sober almost scientific research. But if you are interested in progress then cant feel insulted by my arguments.
I'd imagine that most top engines "borrow" ideas from each other that have probably been discovered by way of disassembling the exes of others and looking at the code. And that is far more secretive and naughty than those who at least do things "legitimately" and openly.
As for who and what are allowed in various tournaments, that's purely the prerogative of the organisers and sponsors.
I find it a real scandal that people like Ryan and Thomas (amongst others) should be vilified for contributing to the enjoyment of our hobby in a perfectly legitimate way.
It's almost as if we have a subgroup of Luddites in the computer chess community.