What Does It Feel Like to be Surpassed?

[tjfroh]

Does the proud author of the best chess program quietly go into the night or does he/she resolve to catch and overtake the leader? I have
observed the shining glory of excellent chess program authors and I have seen their defeat and ego deflation after their programs are crushed by newcomers.

I would like to hear from some of the giants of chess programming at this site.

It will get better,

Rufus

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Does the proud author of the best chess program quietly go into the night or does he/she resolve to catch and overtake the leader? I have
observed the shining glory of excellent chess program authors and I have seen their defeat and ego deflation after their programs are crushed by newcomers.

I would like to hear from some of the giants of chess programming at this site.

It will get better,

Rufus

You are provocating a lot of negative emotions with your post and you are disrespecting the authors of the chess programs with a hidden smile on your face

[tjfroh]

Dr. Deeb,

I am also amusing or is that assuming that the best chess program authors are fairly mentally stable people. I realize that this topic can get superheated really fast. That is what moderators are for.

Tim

[Mike S.]

In german we have a saying, "Totgesagte leben länger" (decleared dead live longer).

It was similar while Shredder 9 dominated, and Fritz was behind. People were making funny comments about Fritz. But when Fritz 9 was released, it could catch up to Shredder 9. And with the no. 10 versions, it is not entirely clear which is stronger, Shredder or Fritz. They are within a small margin.

We can be ABSOLUTELY SURE that all top chess programmers are working to improve their engines, analysing Rybka's games, making experiments about ideas how to improve, etc. They are not sleeping! Watch out for Fritz 11 or Shredder 11, etc. I do not doubt that sooner or later, they will challenge Rybka for rank number one.

[ed]

Does the proud author of the best chess program quietly go into the night or does he/she resolve to catch and overtake the leader? I have
observed the shining glory of excellent chess program authors and I have seen their defeat and ego deflation after their programs are crushed by newcomers.

I would like to hear from some of the giants of chess programming at this site.

It will get better,

Rufus

Saint Rufes,

The circle of life cycle also applies to chess programmers.

Elton

[fern]

Wise words. I do not see why someone shoyld imagine the opposite. Besides, those thats comes late are just escalating over the shoulders of his predecessors.
When one work is used to do an even better one, we are not defeated or humiliated but justified.

Father Ferdinan

[Peter Skinner]

Does the proud author of the best chess program quietly go into the night or does he/she resolve to catch and overtake the leader? I have
observed the shining glory of excellent chess program authors and I have seen their defeat and ego deflation after their programs are crushed by newcomers.

I would like to hear from some of the giants of chess programming at this site.

It will get better,

Rufus

I still think we haven't seen the best from some authors like Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, Amir Ban, Robert Hyatt, Christophe Theron.. the list goes on.

Just because Rybka is at the top now doesn't mean it will stay there. Hiarcs is closing on it, and I suspect Junior's next version will be a giant.

Peter

[tjfroh]

Ed,

Chess programmers live forever.

St. Vitus

[Tord Romstad]

I can really only answer for myself, but I think many (and probably most) other authors feel similarly:

I don't care at all how my program compares to other contemporary chess programs, nor how Rybka compares to Hiarcs or Shredder. My goal is not to write a program which beats all other chess programs, but to contribute in my own small way to the continued improvement of the state of the art in computer chess. Whether program A surpasses program B is not very important, regardless of whether my own program is one of the programs A and B. The important thing is that the average level of the programs today is better than five years ago, and that the average level five years into the future will be better still.

Tord

[Michael Sherwin]

For me, it is how much people like playing against RomiChess. I have had a few responces from people that have played against Romi that say that even though Romi is a strong program and they like Romi's style, they feel that they have a chance to win. A FIDE rated 2000+ and 2200+ have both said this. Then they added that, (paraphraised) 'now I allways loose, but I still feel that I have a chance to win'.

So, I try to improve Romi's playing strength with out lowering her risk taking. When a program sacrifices as much as Romi does and still approaches a 2500 ELO against other programs, then I think that I have accomplished something. Even if RomiChess rarly beats Rybka! Now thanks to Ed Schroder it looks like Romi may be approaching 2600 ELO!