ICGA rule on "clones"

[chrisw]

It's not a private club although I can see from where you get that impression.

Theoretically it's an organistion of chess programmers etc. There's a vote every three years at the tri-annual championship, probably again this year, for el presidente, vice presidente, the "board", etc.

They also have to act reasonably. It is not reasonable to demand a particular program's source on flimsy evidence, nor on the political weight of the ban callers.

That is nonsense. They could _easily_ demand that everyone submit source code along with their entry form, and announce that failure to do so will result in the application being rejected. And there's not a thing anyone could do about it, any more than someone can contest the en passant pawn capture rule.

Plenty can be done about it, it's called democracy ....

Overrule them by public vote at the programmers meeting before the match.

Don't vote for them to be re-elected.

Propose other people to fill the to-be-elected board positions.

[bob]

It's not a private club although I can see from where you get that impression.

Theoretically it's an organistion of chess programmers etc. There's a vote every three years at the tri-annual championship, probably again this year, for el presidente, vice presidente, the "board", etc.

They also have to act reasonably. It is not reasonable to demand a particular program's source on flimsy evidence, nor on the political weight of the ban callers.

That is nonsense. They could _easily_ demand that everyone submit source code along with their entry form, and announce that failure to do so will result in the application being rejected. And there's not a thing anyone could do about it, any more than someone can contest the en passant pawn capture rule.

Plenty can be done about it, it's called democracy ....

Overrule them by public vote at the programmers meeting before the match.

Don't vote for them to be re-elected.

Propose other people to fill the to-be-elected board positions.

And your point would be? The programmers can also vote to make every participant post their source on the local web page or whatever. It is a _private_ organization that can make/enforce any rule they want so long as it does not break existing criminal law And participants can choose to participate or not depending on whether they are willing to abide by those rules or not. I think it funny that someone going to play would say "I am not taking my source along" in direct violation of the rule I quoted, although I suppose with high-speed internet, it could be produced almost instantly anyway. So maybe that statement is just a "false bravado" type deal since if ask, they either produce it or get booted as happed previously.

[michiguel]

DC asked about this rule. Here it is:

Each program must be the original work of the entering developers. Programming teams whose code is derived from or including game playing code written by others must name all other authors or the source of such ode, in the details of their submission form. Programs which are discovered to be close derivatives of others (e.g. by playing nearly all moves the same), may be declared invalid by the TD after seeking expert advice. For this purpose a listing of all game-related code running on the system must be available on demand to the TD (see ICGA Journal vol 29, no2 p94 for interpretation)

A little bit off tangent: Are all the programs that use Nalimov probing code for tablebases listing Nalimov as author?

Miguel

[Harvey Williamson]

A little bit off tangent: Are all the programs that use Nalimov probing code for tablebases listing Nalimov as author?

Miguel

In the readme file supplied with Hiarcs 12

We thank Eugene Nalimov and Andrew Kadatch for their kind permission to use
their access code (copyright (c) Eugene Nalimov) and decompression code
(copyright (c) Andrew Kadatch) for Nalimov tablebases in the HIARCS chess
engine.

[michiguel]

A little bit off tangent: Are all the programs that use Nalimov probing code for tablebases listing Nalimov as author?

Miguel

In the readme file supplied with Hiarcs 12

We thank Eugene Nalimov and Andrew Kadatch for their kind permission to use
their access code (copyright (c) Eugene Nalimov) and decompression code
(copyright (c) Andrew Kadatch) for Nalimov tablebases in the HIARCS chess
engine.

Thanks.
I know that the programs acknowledge Nalimov & Kadatch but I wonder whether they formally list them as authors in the ICGA tournaments. It they do, N&K will be the most successful programmers, with several WC's already, and counting.

Miguel

[Zach Wegner]

DC asked about this rule. Here it is:

Each program must be the original work of the entering developers. Programming teams whose code is derived from or including game playing code written by others must name all other authors or the source of such ode, in the details of their submission form. Programs which are discovered to be close derivatives of others (e.g. by playing nearly all moves the same), may be declared invalid by the TD after seeking expert advice. For this purpose a listing of all game-related code running on the system must be available on demand to the TD (see ICGA Journal vol 29, no2 p94 for interpretation)

A little bit off tangent: Are all the programs that use Nalimov probing code for tablebases listing Nalimov as author?

Miguel

I agree here. I think it's pretty silly to allow programs to use others' code for TBs and opening books (such as the Chessbase GUIs). I do have Scorpio EGBBs in my engine (they weren't added by me), but they are just there as a convenience for users. I wouldn't play a tournament with them.