Battle of the Goths 2012 (live broadcast)

[Evert]

I have not really analyzed the stats of the test games (only scanned them for time losses, false claims, illegal moves and such), but I admit Sjaak seems to be playing weaker than I expected. I can't detect any irregularities, though.

Nothing jumped out in the games to me either.

I don't know if it can hurt Sjaak much that we are running 32-bit.

It can.
Sjaak uses 128 bit integers to represent boards with more than 64 squares. This isn't so bad in 64 bit with SSE instructions to handle them, but it probably hurts more than it does for normal chess when going to 32 bit...

I do notice that Sjaak thinks quite long (with 25+1) over the first few moves, which could leave it at a disadvantage when it later gets into critical positions.

That could also be an issue, athough I don't think I've changed the time control algorithm over what it was for Spartan, so it should have had the same problem there.
I'll have a look anyway.

[hgm]

After two cycles (Gothic and Capablanca) the cross table is:

Code: Select all

                              Spar Nebi tscp Fair Sjaa Here
 1. Spartacus                 #### 10=1 1111 1111 1111 1111   92%  18.5 (166.0, 142.8)
 2. NebiyuChess               01=0 #### 0011 1111 1111 1111   77%  15.5 (178.0, 105.8)
 3. tscpgothic                0000 1100 #### 0111 1111 1111   65%  13.0 (188.0,  75.5)
 4. Fairy-Max                 0000 0000 1000 #### 1110 111=   37%   7.5 (210.0,  30.3)
 5. Sjaak                     0000 0000 0000 0001 #### 1101   20%   4.0 (224.0,  12.0)
 6. Heretic                   0000 0000 0000 000= 0010 ####    7%   1.5 (234.0,   7.8)

An appreciable gap is forming between numbers 3 and 4, which incidentally coincides with the the qualification threshold. Only Fairy-Max was so far able to bridge that gap, by stealing away a point from TSCP Gothic.

Now we started a cycle of Bird Chess.

[hgm]

Cross table after 3 cycles (Gothic, Capablanca and Bird):

Code: Select all

Cross table, sorted by score percentage, Buchholz, SB

                              Spa Neb tsc Fai Sja Her
 1. Spartacus                 ### 10= 111 111 111 111
                              ### 111 111 111 111 111   95%  28.5 (369.0, 333.8)

 2. NebiyuChess               01= ### 001 111 111 111
                              000 ### 111 111 111 111   78%  23.5 (399.0, 234.8)

 3. tscpgothic                000 110 ### 011 111 111
                              000 000 ### 110 111 111   60%  18.0 (432.0, 144.0)

 4. Fairy-Max                 000 000 100 ### 111 111
                              000 000 001 ### 001 =11   38%  11.5 (471.0,  72.3)

 5. Sjaak                     000 000 000 000 ### 110
                              000 000 000 110 ### 111   23%   7.0 (498.0,  30.5)

 6. Heretic                   000 000 000 000 001 ###
                              000 000 000 =00 000 ###    5%   1.5 (531.0,  12.8)

The final cycle of the qualifier has now been started, and will be played from the Carrera position. Basically it is already decided who qualifies, but as the mutual results will also count for the playoffs, 12 of the games are still of importance.

[mar]

Congratulations to Spartacus, Nebiyu and TSCPgothic for qualifying.
A pity that i haven't fixed the bugs in Heretic sooner, i believe it might have fought for the third place...
Thanks for the tourney hgm and good luck to all engines in the final group.

Martin

[hgm]

Indeed, it seems that the current Heretic could have made th playoffs easily. Too bad, but I cannot change the rules during the tourney...

Code: Select all

                              Spar Nebi tscp Fair Here Sjaa
 1. Spartacus                 #### 10=1 1111 1111 1111 1111
                              #### 1110 1111 1111 1101 1111   91%  36.5 (668.0, 578.3)

 2. NebiyuChess               01=0 #### 0011 1111 1111 1111
                              0001 #### 1111 1111 1111 1111   81%  32.5 (700.0, 457.3)

 3. tscpgothic                0000 1100 #### 0111 1111 1111
                              0000 0000 #### 1011 1100 1101   52%  21.0 (792.0, 253.0)

 4. Fairy-Max                 0000 0000 1000 #### 111= 1110
                              0000 0000 0100 #### 1100 0111   34%  13.5 (852.0, 136.8)

 5. Heretic                   0000 0000 0000 000= #### 0010
                              0010 0000 0011 0011 #### 0011   21%   8.5 (892.0, 136.3)

 6. Sjaak                     0000 0000 0000 0001 1101 ####
                              0000 0000 0010 1000 1100 ####   20%   8.0 (896.0,  90.5)

I started the second division now.

[mar]

Indeed, it seems that the current Heretic could have made th playoffs easily. Too bad, but I cannot change the rules during the tourney...

I started the second division now.

Sure rules are rules. It wouldn't be fair anyway.
Good luck to engines in second division.

[hgm]

After the Battle of the Goths has finished I will do a gauntlet with Heretic 0.2 versus all playoff partcipants, to get ratings. There is a slight chance I will also be able to add the commercial program Gothic Vortex to that. (If Ed Trice sends me the sources, and I manage to convert it to WB protocol.)

[mar]

After the Battle of the Goths has finished I will do a gauntlet with Heretic 0.2 versus all playoff partcipants, to get ratings. There is a slight chance I will also be able to add the commercial program Gothic Vortex to that. (If Ed Trice sends me the sources, and I manage to convert it to WB protocol.)

That would be great, thanks. Looking forward to see the results. I can only say Bihasa is out of reach for sure, it wiped the floor with Heretic badly, which I of course expected
But there's still a lot of room for improvements. Btw. good luck convincing Ed. I wonder how strong Gothic Vortex is...

[George Tsavdaris]

After the Battle of the Goths has finished I will do a gauntlet with Heretic 0.2 versus all playoff partcipants, to get ratings. There is a slight chance I will also be able to add the commercial program Gothic Vortex to that. (If Ed Trice sends me the sources, and I manage to convert it to WB protocol.)

That would be great, thanks. Looking forward to see the results. I can only say Bihasa is out of reach for sure, it wiped the floor with Heretic badly, which I of course expected
But there's still a lot of room for improvements. Btw. good luck convincing Ed. I wonder how strong Gothic Vortex is...

I have tried matching Heretic 0.2 with Gothic Vortex but it is getting killed since it doesn't know how to castle in Gothic Chess and its King always remains in the center.

I can only make it recognize Capablanca Chess. Is there a way to make it castle in Gothic Chess?

[mar]

After the Battle of the Goths has finished I will do a gauntlet with Heretic 0.2 versus all playoff partcipants, to get ratings. There is a slight chance I will also be able to add the commercial program Gothic Vortex to that. (If Ed Trice sends me the sources, and I manage to convert it to WB protocol.)

That would be great, thanks. Looking forward to see the results. I can only say Bihasa is out of reach for sure, it wiped the floor with Heretic badly, which I of course expected
But there's still a lot of room for improvements. Btw. good luck convincing Ed. I wonder how strong Gothic Vortex is...

I have tried matching Heretic 0.2 with Gothic Vortex but it is getting killed since it doesn't know how to castle in Gothic Chess and its King always remains in the center.

I can only make it recognize Capablanca Chess. Is there a way to make it castle in Gothic Chess?

Hi George,
There is no king safety at all in Heretic (to honor its name - only material + mobility) but castling moves should have higher move-ordering priority. It's true that I haven't seen Heretic castle in a single game (even where appropriate). I guess the only difference between capablanca and gothic is the starting position, so the problem is that Heretic won't castle when it should rather than it can't castle in gothic?

Martin