Dear CCC Community,
Is anyone still in touch with Don Beal?
He was my MSc supervisor at Queen Mary College in 1989 and ignited my interest in computer chess, but I lost touch a long time ago
Don was at the inaugural WCCC in Stockholm in 1974 with his eponymous chess program, Beal.
With the 50th anniversary, and final, WCCC on the horizon in October, how wonderful would it be for him to attend!
Jonathan Schaeffer and I have been unable to track him down, and everyone we've spoken with so far lost touch a decade or more ago. The good news is that he's not showing up in any obituaries. Plenty of Don Beals, but none of them "our" Don Beal. So hopefully he is alive and well, but just been out of the loop for a while.
Can anyone help?
Many thanks in advance,
John https://www.chessprogramming.org/John_Hamlen
He used to be a regular in CCC. I still consider his paper about learning from an opponent who knows less than oneself to be one of the most enlightening papers I have ever read - link. (spoiler: you can learn from opponents who know less than yourself, but you have to work harder).
Want to attract exceptional people? Be exceptional.
Hello John,
Many thanks for your post! Great to hear from you.
I am pleased to report that rumours of my non-existence have been greatly exaggerated.
Hello to all my old friends who might still be members of this forum, and particular thanks to those who keep it running.
I have emailed Jonathan Schaeffer to let him know my current email.
How is Woodpusher?
Best regards to all,
Don Beal
donbeal wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 12:47 pm
Hello John,
Many thanks for your post! Great to hear from you.
I am pleased to report that rumours of my non-existence have been greatly exaggerated.
Hello to all my old friends who might still be members of this forum, and particular thanks to those who keep it running.
I have emailed Jonathan Schaeffer to let him know my current email.
How is Woodpusher?
Best regards to all,
Don Beal
Hi Don,
Apologies for not seeing your reply sooner. I'd been contacting your paper co-authors and your colleagues from Queen Mary but to no avail. So happy you're alive and well
The Woodpusher code has been in cryostasis since its mid-table performance at the 1997 WCCC in Paris. However it had two more outings in 2004 and 2011, which made an interesting benchmark of hardware and software improvements over the 14 years: https://www.academia.edu/105278099/Game ... -sw=313437
I'm now working on Tech 4, hoping to add to the 54-year technology program lineage: https://www.chessprogramming.org/Tech
I'm awaiting a decision on whether I will gain an entry to this October's WCCC in Spain. It will be weaker than the top programs, but searching much deeper, so there is always the possibility of an upset or two! . It will also be a nice, romantic bookend for a Tech program to have competed at both the first and last WCCC 50 years apart. I'm sure James Gillogly would approve - Fingers crossed!
donbeal wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 12:47 pm
Hello John,
Many thanks for your post! Great to hear from you.
I am pleased to report that rumours of my non-existence have been greatly exaggerated.
Hello to all my old friends who might still be members of this forum, and particular thanks to those who keep it running.
I have emailed Jonathan Schaeffer to let him know my current email.
How is Woodpusher?
Best regards to all,
Don Beal
Hey Don, met you in Cologne 1986
I remember Frans Morsch kept on talking to me about your null move algorithm, he later improved the idea using null move recursively in the main search which was a breakthrough and currently in use by everybody.
All the best to you,
Ed
90% of coding is debugging, the other 10% is writing bugs.
Hi Ed.
Will you be there in October? Don has confirmed his attendance, which is fabulous!
You and I met in Madrid in 1992, where Woodpusher had the pleasure of watching your historic victory with ChessMachine from much further down the results table! https://www.chessprogramming.org/WCCC_1992
All the best,
John
Madrid felt unreal, winning from Hitech, 6000 NPS versus 120,000 NPS and later Zugzwang, 6000 NPS versus 250,000 NPS. It was a break from the past where mainframes dominated. But then it wasn't an accident, the next WCCC was won by Frans Morsch beating Deep Blue Prototype in 1995.
BTW, I won't be there in October.
90% of coding is debugging, the other 10% is writing bugs.
Yes. It was wonderful to be present at the giant-killing, inflection point in computer chess history.
I also had the privilege of being at the Hong Kong WCCC in 1995 to see Frans Morsch's victory over Deep Blue Prototype. It was a surreal moment: All the other competitors in playing hall were busy with their 5th round games when someone exclaimed "Deep Blue is going to lose its queen!!!". Almost everyone left their clocks running and rushed over. It was true! Only a rook in compensation! It was interesting to observe the disagreement within the DBP team: As a strong chess player, Murray Campbell wanted to resign almost immediately, whilst Feng-hsiung Hsu wanted to keep playing on 'til the bitter end in case DSP found a deep, tactical trick to turn the tables.
It's a great shame you won't be there in October for the WCCC's swan song
