WCCC 2007

[bob]

you know as much as I do about that... I might begin to play in the CCT type events and not bother with the WCCC. It takes too much time. Costs too much. Has just a handful of participants each year. CCTs are more fun competition-wise...

[bob]

Reread the charter, there's no such thing in it

Tony

It must have been 'conveniently' rewritten then.
It has become the European championship, in reality.
Not that strong North American programs stay away in total, just that most of them do.

It would make sense to me to rotate by continent (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceana). We could leave Antarctica out of the mix I think.

Anyway, the CCC event more or less takes the place now anyway.

I am no supporter (nor even a member) of the ICGA, and I can easily understand the frustration of the American programmers, but the CCC can never take the place of the WCCC. An online tournament is unfathomably dull compared to any over-the-board tournament. I wouldn't cry if the ICGA died, but it would be very sad if the computer chess tournaments of the future will take place on chess servers.

Tord

I disagree. I've played in both formats many times. The "good old days" are long gone where people will sit around a room and discuss new ideas in their programs. Today, every time you turn around, an amateur decides to go dark and then go professional (by going "dark" I mean "silent".)

Since that has become prevalent, and with a steadily declining number of participants in WCCC events, to me the CCT events are far _better_ as opposed to being "worse" or "boring". 4x as many participants. Zero travel costs. It just makes good sense...

More importantly, the WCCC/ICCA (now ICGA) was formed to help foster chess development. CCT events do more for new computer chess enthusiasts due to the increased participation, low cost, and a chance to actually get to play programs at your own level when you are just starting.

[Tord Romstad]

I am no supporter (nor even a member) of the ICGA, and I can easily understand the frustration of the American programmers, but the CCC can never take the place of the WCCC. An online tournament is unfathomably dull compared to any over-the-board tournament. I wouldn't cry if the ICGA died, but it would be very sad if the computer chess tournaments of the future will take place on chess servers.

I disagree. I've played in both formats many times. The "good old days" are long gone where people will sit around a room and discuss new ideas in their programs.

No, these days are not gone. This is precisely how it still works in over-the-board tournaments, in my experience. Even programmers who never post on online forums talk freely and happily about their tricks and ideas.

Today, every time you turn around, an amateur decides to go dark and then go professional (by going "dark" I mean "silent".)

I know only a small handful of formerly amateur programs which have turned commercial, but in any case I don't see how this relates to what style of tournaments we should prefer.

Since that has become prevalent, and with a steadily declining number of participants in WCCC events, to me the CCT events are far _better_ as opposed to being "worse" or "boring". 4x as many participants. Zero travel costs. It just makes good sense...

Yes, this is why it is nice to have online tournaments as an addition to classical tournaments. It is very cool to have these tournaments as an option for those with limited time or money for traveling, but they can never replace classical tournaments, at least not without making the computer chess world incomparably more dull.

Fortunately, classical tournaments are still going as strong as ever, at least here in Europe. It is true that the numer of WCCC participants is not as high as it used to be, but I think the main reason for this is that there are so many other tournaments to choose from.

As we all agree, it would be nice to have more tournaments in the US, too. Fortunately, now that you have the ACCA, the chances are good that the situation will improve.

Tord

[ICGABOK]

Call For Participation: 15th WCCC and 12th Computer Olympiad

The 15th World Computer-Chess Championship and the 12th Computer Olympiad will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in conjunction with the Computer Games Workshop 2007 (CGW2007).

IBM, SARA (Academic Computer Centre Amsterdam) and NCF (Foundation of National Computing Facilities) are enabling the organization of the Computer Games Workshop 2007 (CGW2007) (15-17 June 2007), the 15th World Computer-Chess Championship (WCCC) (11-18 June) and the 12th Computer Olympiad (CO) (11-18 June) to be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Location: The Turing hall, Science Park Amsterdam, Kruislaan 419, 1098 VA Amsterdam.

Below we mention 27 different games for which a program can be submitted to the Olympiad.

Abalone
Amazons
Arimaa
Backgammon
Bao
Bridge
Chinese Chess
8x8 Checkers
Clobber
Computational Pool
Diplomacy
Dominoes
Dots and Boxes
10x10 Draughts
Gipf
Go
9x9 Go
Hex
Kriegspiel
Lines of Action
6x7 OCTI
9x9 OCTI
Othello
Poker
Renju
Scrabble
Shogi

The game of Renju, claimed to be solved, is still welcome since we have not seen a fully-operational program on internet that plays perfectly. Moreover, we are willing to host more games, such as Ataxx, Dvonn, Mediocrity, Onyx, Tamsk, TwixT and Zèrtz but we do not know of the existence of adequately playing programs. We are awaiting suggestions and proposals of programmers before we include them in the official list given above.

For each game a tournament will take place provided that at least two programs enter the tournament for that particular game. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded to the leading programs in each tournament.

The Tournament Director of the WCCC and Computer Olympiad will be: H.J. van den Herik.

The rules of the WCCC and Computer Olympiad will be soon published.

The entry fees for the WCCC are as follows:

Amateur: € 25
Semi-professional: € 250
Professional: € 500

The entry fees for the other tournaments are as follows:

Amateur: € 25
Semi-professional: € 100
Professional: € 250

A participant is expected to be ICGA member (€ 40).

Deadline early registration: May 21, 2007.
Registration after May 21, 2007 will double the entry fee.

"Amateur": programmers who have no commercial interest in their program, and are not professional game programmers. Applications for amateur classification must supply information to justify their claim.

"Semi-professional": Any program submitted by an employee or associate from a games-programming company. The program's name must not be derived from or similar to a commercial product.

"Professional": A program whose name is the same as or derived from a commercial product.

www.icga.org

[bob]

The ICGA is in the final stage of negotiation for organizing the
WCCC 2007, the 12th Computer Olympiad, and an accompanying scientific workshop .
The events would take place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands at the end of June / beginning of July 2007.
Further details will be announced as soon as possible.

http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/icga/

It is nice to get lots of notice?!

I just got an official notice today. No way I'm going to try to make that event, as it is 2 months away (starts June 11 so it is even earlier than you mentioned above.)

2 months is simply not enough time to make travel arrangements, hardware arrangements, get a version ready for the event, etc.

Not sure why this played out like it did, but it certainly makes it difficult to participate... My Summer is already planned...