Four tournaments, actually: Twice in Mainz, and twice in Łódź. I had great fun on all four occasions. I remember you well and found you a very enjoyable person to talk to, too.pijl wrote:First: Tord did participate in person in at least two tournaments. Once in Mainz (where I met him and found him a very enjoyable person to talk to), and once in Poland (where I did not participate).
Speaking only for myself: Cost is not a big issue. Time is somewhat an issue, but the most important factor to me is that the dark sides of the competitive side of computer chess have become increasingly visible to me in the years since I played those OTB tournaments. I believe competition in computer chess does far more harm than good, and I no longer want to be part of it. There is a slight chance that I'll come to some WCCC or similar event in the future, but if I do, I'll intentionally use some simple toy program that has no chance of finishing near the top. I'll be there to interact with the other programmers, not to try to win.Second: There are reasons not to join as well that may be more important. Both tournaments where Tord joined had favourable conditions for participants (i.e. expenses paid) and did not take more than a few days. Cost and time may be a big reason not to join in a tournament.
Regarding Stockfish in particular, by the very nature of the project, it's a non-competitive program. It's designed to show that cooperation and sharing are at least as effective as competition and secrecy for driving progress in computer chess. Having it compete in a WCCC seems totally wrong to me.
This being said, I miss hanging out with chess programmers. If something like an informal rapid or blitz tournament for chess programmers (not their programs) is arranged some time, I would love to participate. Some kind of meetup or conference with no actual tournament would be fun, too.
