WCCC 2025

[CRoberson]

Last year, I was told there would be such an event with a new format and that it would be in conjunction with ECAI 2025.
Any news on the new format or how to apply? I looked at icga.org and found nothing. Maybe somebody here knows something.

[pijl]

There will not be a WCCC 2025. Unfortunately we were not able to get it organized.

[CRoberson]

Hi Richard,
Oh sad news; I was looking forward to it.
So, what are the details of the summer CC tournament that you, Erdo and Rof were talking about?

Charles

[chrisw]

If they’ve given up on it (likely), we could self organise. Obviously only worth doing if it involved personal attendance for personal communication, the idea of having a few connected hubs scattered around the globe, maybe. Just requires some tech enthusiasts to work up some 21-st century software and some organiser names to give a bit of perceived legitimacy. Dunno, just an idea.

[flok]

What has wccc to give that e.g. CSVN tournaments don't give?

[Dann Corbit]

People who want to know what engine is strongest will look at CCRL and CEGT and similar engine measuring bodies.
People who want to see a rocking contest will watch TCEC.

The WCCC and WMCC are dead and gone. For some time, it was a sort of European championship, but it is not even that anymore.
The best engines generally do not even bother to show up.

I think a contest that might catch attention would be one that is organized by engine authors. The TCEC contest has jaw dropping hardware that I guess is well out of the reach of most programming teams. But a contest by the authors where they get to meet up in person would probably have some appeal. The hard part would be making it fair, interesting and well publicized.

Another thing that might be interesting is another team engine. Stockfish and LC0 are both dominating right now. What they have in common is that they are public team projects. Such a thing could make all the chess contests more interesting.

On the other hand, it would be hard to motivate a large group of programmers to work for free for a long duration like the SF and LC0 teams.

[towforce]

If you got the best engines at the WCCC, you'd just get a bunch of draws.

From the 1970s to, say, 2010, computer chess events were unique events to visit. You didn't have to be quiet like you would at a human chess event. You could talk to the programmers while their engines were thinking, with everyone openly discussing how it was all going.

The 40 year window has now closed.

[flok]

If you got the best engines at the WCCC, you'd just get a bunch of draws.

From the 1970s to, say, 2010, computer chess events were unique events to visit. You didn't have to be quiet like you would at a human chess event. You could talk to the programmers while their engines were thinking, with everyone openly discussing how it was all going.

The 40 year window has now closed.

Not totally: the CSVN tournament in Leiden, The Netherlands is exactly what you describe there. A diverse group of absolute beginners and advanced programs and let's not forget the group who let their (often modified) appliances battle. Everybody chatting and often a chinese dinner and lots of drinks. This weekend (3 + 4 May) the game is on! https://csvn.nl/