Moderators: hgm, Rebel, chrisw
No way. I was asked as a substitute in case of odd participants. Now that I see a programmer with a double entry I will withdraw as there is no need any longer.Eelco de Groot wrote:The list as of last Friday from Theo van der Storm is up at http://www.csvn.nl/index.php?option=com ... &Itemid=28
Ed Schröder with Pro Deo is back!
Perhaps I should register CTD too? That program would probably have the youngest operator in the tournament thenhgm wrote:Well, I explicitly inquired if the rules allowed it. It seems they do as long as it are totally unrelated programs, as uMax and Joker are.
And as we now have a working version of the 1st Chess program written by Mark Uniacke when he was <=16 maybe we should enter that!?pijl wrote:Perhaps I should register CTD too? That program would probably have the youngest operator in the tournament thenhgm wrote:Well, I explicitly inquired if the rules allowed it. It seems they do as long as it are totally unrelated programs, as uMax and Joker are.
Richard.
hgm wrote:Well, I explicitly inquired if the rules allowed it. It seems they do as long as it are totally unrelated programs, as uMax and Joker are. Unfortunately 2 times 0 is still 0. It seems all other contestants have at least 400 rating points more as the last measured rating of my engines.
I am a bit disappointed about the Dutch participation. Has micro-Max really scared them away?
Where is Bright?
Where is SpiderChess?
Where is ANT?
Where is Neurosis?
Where is Zzzzzz?
Where is Brutus?
Where is J.S.BAM?
Where is BikJump?
Where is POS?
Only because of their absence micro-Max will now end in the lower half of the ranking!
I did not intend to do the running. My daughter will be present during the tournament and might be interested in doing some operating work. I should ask her before registering thoughhgm wrote:Well, the more the merrier. But operator-running is expressly forbidden, each program should come with its own operator.
Hi,Stan Arts wrote:Personally I have some healthproblems right now and also since moving out on my own last August such a tournament is rather costly. (not just the hotel but also having to get better hardware.)
Besides that, we say in Holland: De beste stuurlui staan aan wal, still I'd like to comment that IMHO the CSVN focusses too much on making it a strong tournament instead of making it a fun programmer tournament. Now you see operators for most of the commercials but I don't want to play against commercial programs not operated by their programmer (or a VERY close teammember atleast) , because those games tend to have a mutual lack of interest, then I can better stay at home as well. I think CSVN should try harder to encourage amateur programmers, there are enough in Holland to make 30-40 participants or something, but for example in the CSVN magazine you can read nothing about amateur programs while there are a lot of interesting Dutch programs and programmers and I would much like to read interviews and technical stories and such. Reading how a 1200 Elo program started out is also about 1200x more interesting to me then reading about Rybka vs Rybka in playchess.
Stan
hgm wrote:Well, I explicitly inquired if the rules allowed it. It seems they do as long as it are totally unrelated programs, as uMax and Joker are. Unfortunately 2 times 0 is still 0. It seems all other contestants have at least 400 rating points more as the last measured rating of my engines.
I am a bit disappointed about the Dutch participation. Has micro-Max really scared them away?
Where is Bright?
Where is SpiderChess?
Where is ANT?
Where is Neurosis?
Where is Zzzzzz?
Where is Brutus?
Where is J.S.BAM?
Where is BikJump?
Where is POS?
Only because of their absence micro-Max will now end in the lower half of the ranking!
Very interesting. i think the tournament should be open to all. I know I am operating one of the favourites but I am very happy to play all engines and authors. I was totally enthralled by my conversation with you in november and your 'matchbox'hgm wrote:Stan, I completely agree with your opinion about CSVN and 'ComputerSchaak'. I can say that my attempts to enter micro-Max were not really encouraged at first. To say that they were luke-warm would be a gross over-statement. When I proposed to enter it I actually got the reaction:
"We appreciate your enthousiasm, but you really should look at it from the viewpoint of the other participants, for whom it would be very annoying to have to play such a weak opponent..." (translation mine)
Although I could imagine there being valid reasons for not allowing two programs by the same author, I was truly flabbergasted by this one, as it seemed to be the most invalid of all possible reasons. If all starting programmers get such a reception, it is no wonder the tournament is dying.
But I don't think we should accept this fatalistically. For one, it is only partly the CSVN that is to blame. If we want to have articles about weaker engines, it is upto us to write them and submit them to Eric van Reem (editor of ComputerSchaak). I don't think he would be really against this: He invited me to write about Usurpator when I reappeared with it in the ONK 2005, and the story was pubished (although it was more a narrative than a technical description). He asked me again to write about my participation with Joker in ONK 2006, but I declined as I had little to say. I did send him a story about micro-Max recently, which contains also a popular description of how it works. I have good hopes that this will be pubished in ComputerSchaak too.
So if we want to improve matters, it is upto us to take action. And the first step should be to be present in Leiden, to make the tournament more fun. So please be there, and please write something about your engine for ComputerSchaak!