Gerd Isenberg wrote:Junior is World Computer Chess Champion again. Draw versus Jonny!
Congrats to Amir Ban, Shay Bushinsky!
Also congrats to Johannes Zwanzger for Silver, no loss - but one draw too much - next time Jonny!
[pgn]
[Event "WCCC 2013"]
[Site "Yokohama, Japan"]
[Date "2013.08.17"]
[Round "10.3"]
[White "Junior"]
[Black "Jonny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
The thing that seems lost in this discussion is that these tournaments are not about the authors or about the engines but rather about the public at large. World championships are meaningless without public acclaim and hoopla, i.e. publicity and widespread consensus that the event actually means something and has an interesting story to tell. This ICGA tournament is an artifact of a bygone age and is in no meaningful sense a "world championship" except in the hermetically sealed minds of the organizers, a handful of participants and some arch-traditionalists who cannot imagine a different status quo.
What would a real world championship look like? It would be covered by chess sites the world over. There would be mainstream media publicity. The competition would attract television crews. Big names in OTB chess might show up to offer live color commentary in various languages.
And what would be the substance of the competition? The very best chess engines on the biggest hardware teams of individuals could pull together, each team likely sponsored by a major university or a corporation, playing for a substantial prize fund. Can you picture it? It sounds utterly fantastic compared to this shabby gathering in Yokohama, doesn't it?
Adam Hair wrote:If some other tournament is established that has superior support from the engine authors, then it should be considered the "World Championship". At the moment, there is no such tournament.
Nelson Hernandez wrote:The thing that seems lost in this discussion is that these tournaments are not about the authors or about the engines but rather about the public at large.
You got it exactly the wrong way around. Most Chess-program authors don't give a hoot about the public at large. The ICGA is NOT a consumer testing organization. It is there for and by the programmers. And we (programmers) in a majority think it is a good idea to meet yearly, and have a contest to determine who did best.
Adam Hair wrote:If some other tournament is established that has superior support from the engine authors, then it should be considered the "World Championship". At the moment, there is no such tournament.
CCT
That.
I don't see who you are trying to fool here other than yourself. CCT would be just as much criticized as WCCC for the very same reason. Houdini and the other clones (oops, derivatives ) would not be there. People can use books and their own hardware. There is only a limited number of games.
An on-line event has been proposed that would not suffer from some of these advantages. Exactly one (yes, 1!) person showed up that was interested to participate. And he was not even an author, just someone who wanted to operate a free engine.
Nelson Hernandez wrote:The thing that seems lost in this discussion is that these tournaments are not about the authors or about the engines but rather about the public at large.
You got it exactly the wrong way around. Most Chess-program authors don't give a hoot about the public at large. The ICGA is NOT a consumer testing organization. It is there for and by the programmers. And we (programmers) in a majority think it is a good idea to meet yearly, and have a contest to determine who did best.
To be fair, it is more accurately NO LONGER a consumer testing agency. In the heyday of dedicated computers, when Fidelity and Mephisto were multi-million dollar companies, there were indeed commercial sections of the championship, with rules favoring the companies (multiple entries allowed and restricted to microprocessors, most notably), and designed to give a nice certification to put on the product packaging.
And I disagree. The WCCC is the closest we have to a media friendly title. The rating lists may be more statistically accurate, but they don't enter the historical record like the World Championship tournaments. Find me a single news outlet that reports that a new program has gone to the top of the rating lists. On the other hand, many journals have reported the results of the WCCC, simply because it is News (an annual Event; with a title).
I see the reasons for why some authors still like this annual event. I just think the titles that are handed out are not the real deal. The organizers should drop the word "World" from the titles as it is mis leading. Call it the ICGA Chess Champ etc. I am lucky that I know what is what, but some dumb Joe Blogs could get confused and think that he owns the best chess software in the World when he buys Junior or Hiarcs.
) would not be there. People can use books and their own hardware. There is only a limited number of games.