Preliminary entries for the WCCC and Olympiad

[Zach Wegner]

Just show all the engine customers/users where they can buy an off the shelf cluster and Chess software to easily run on it,

Technically I already had a "cluster" in that I had multiple computers running on my household LAN. The only thing missing is software, which does not cost money, or is even publicly available at all. Just because it isn't easily available doesn't negate the fact that it isn't money's influence. Set up MPI (free) and write your own software, and you have a cluster. Release it freely and most everyone has a cluster.

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

I But we can't have anybody buying their way to a championship!!

Just show all the engine customers/users where they can buy an off the shelf cluster and Chess software to easily run on it,

Buy 2 computers. Connect to (wireless) router. Install Deep Sjeng Cluster Edition. Done.

That's all there is to it. No need for MPI, for Infiniband, no nothing. It works better if your router has a gigabit switch ("Gaming Router" as they are sold), but Fast Ethernet also works. Hell, in CCT I played with one machine connected over wireless...

My mom can do this, seriously! I'm sure she won't manage to obtain a dual Nehalem.

[hgm]

I registered Joker for the WCCC, as it uses only a single core anyway...

And HaQiKi D will participate in the Olympiad, Chinese Chess.

[mhull]

I registered Joker for the WCCC, as it uses only a single core anyway...

And HaQiKi D will participate in the Olympiad, Chinese Chess.

How would you estimate HaQiKi D's chances? Is there good competition there?

[bob]

I But we can't have anybody buying their way to a championship!!

Just show all the engine customers/users where they can buy an off the shelf cluster and Chess software to easily run on it,

You smiley seems to indicate that you think your remark was funny, but it is not. You can certainly buy a cluster off the shelf with everything pre-installed if you want. Generally they are more than 10K because they are powerful.

You can also buy two computers, a switch, two cables, and install Linux with some free software. There you have a minicluster. In fact, you do not even have to install anything and run it with parallel knoppix from a CD. You can even run it from a laptop.

Miguel

How many normal computer users reading this forum can understand and do (or can be bothered to do) what you have just suggested?

Depends. If the distributed chess engine is well-written and debugged, _anybody_ can do this. Done correctly, the engine needs to be told which hosts (other than the current one) it can use, and that should be that...

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

Depends. If the distributed chess engine is well-written and debugged, _anybody_ can do this. Done correctly, the engine needs to be told which hosts (other than the current one) it can use, and that should be that...

The current cluster Sjeng is literally as easy as loading the UCI engine as usual, and then typing the IP that the engine displays into the other clients.

It's clear from this thread that the conceptual leap that a cluster could be trivial to use is so insurmountable for some people, that they felt the need to ban those misunderstood creatures from the WCCC.

Meanwhile, computer chess advances without them.

[michiguel]

I But we can't have anybody buying their way to a championship!!

Just show all the engine customers/users where they can buy an off the shelf cluster and Chess software to easily run on it,

You smiley seems to indicate that you think your remark was funny, but it is not. You can certainly buy a cluster off the shelf with everything pre-installed if you want. Generally they are more than 10K because they are powerful.

You can also buy two computers, a switch, two cables, and install Linux with some free software. There you have a minicluster. In fact, you do not even have to install anything and run it with parallel knoppix from a CD. You can even run it from a laptop.

Miguel

How many normal computer users reading this forum can understand and do (or can be bothered to do) what you have just suggested?

Anyone that can click and buy online two appropriate computers, a switch, two cables.
Anyone that can download an image and burn one CD.
Anyone that can take the two computers out of the box and connect all the cables, put the CD in the drive, turn off and on, and follow the screen directions. In 5 minutes, you have a cluster running.
Then, you will have to install the chess software that would use the cluster. If this software exists, I guess that installing winboard could be more challenging.

http://idea.uab.es/mcreel/ParallelKnoppix/

And as Giancarlo pointed out, this could be even easier if it is packaged well.

Miguel

[hgm]

I registered Joker for the WCCC, as it uses only a single core anyway...

And HaQiKi D will participate in the Olympiad, Chinese Chess.

How would you estimate HaQiKi D's chances? Is there good competition there?

It would be a bit of a miracle if it had any chances at all, as I only started programming it 5 weeks ago. So far there are only 5 participants, though:

Code: Select all

Rank Program Country 
0 HaQiKi D  NLD 
0 TMSK  TWN 
0 Chimo  TWN 
0 Contemplation  TWN 
0 ELP  TWN 

As you can see, all my opponents are from Taiwan. Now If you compare that to the final standings of last year's Olympiad in Beijing:

Code: Select all

 
1 Intella  CHN 18.5 11 129.0 206.25 Gold medal  
2 Cyclone  CHN 17.0 11 131.0 186.50 Silver medal  
3 EThinker  CHN 15.0 11 140.0 174.75 Bronze medal  
4 Gaga chess  CHN 14.0 11 145.0 172.75  
5 MonkeyKing   CHN 14.0 11 142.5 164.50  
6 NEUChess  CHN 14.0 11 140.5 165.25  
7 3DChess  CHN 12.5 11 120.0 105.25  
8 XQMASTER  CHN 12.5 11 116.5 94.50  
9 TMSK  TWN 12.5 11 103.0 89.50  
10 YSSY  CHN 12.0 11 121.5 102.50  
11 Shiga  TWN 12.0 11 115.5 86.00  
12 Binghewusi  CHN 10.5 11 105.5 66.75  
13 UFX  CHN 7.5 11 118.0 42.50  
14 OracleX  CAN 7.5 11 107.5 46.25  
15 ABCCHESS  CHN 7.0 11 102.0 41.25  
16 Multi-stars of SJTU   CHN 6.0 11 116.0 44.50  
17 Chimo  TWN 5.0 11 107.0 30.50  
18 QiJi  CHN 0.5 11 117.5 2.50  

You can see that the Taiwanese engines are not terribly strong. I know nothing about them, really. I do have downoaded a number of Chinese engines, using UCCI protocol, though. Amongst those are 3DChess, Binghewusi, YSSY, UFX, Cyclone. But Cyclone is now commercial; what I have is an old version. I am not sure if the others are the most recent versions.

HaQiKi D currently beats the UFX I have by 55% in 40/1 games. Engines like 3DChess and YSSY crush it by 80% or so. Come to think of it, that makes my chances with HaQiKi D in Xiangqi look a lot better than with Joker in the WCCC.

But probably all participants play on 8 cores or more, and HaQiKi D is not SMP yet. So I will be crushed no matter what. But it is not important to me to win. I mainly go there to have fun and to wave the WinBoard flag!

[Harvey Williamson]

Depends. If the distributed chess engine is well-written and debugged, _anybody_ can do this. Done correctly, the engine needs to be told which hosts (other than the current one) it can use, and that should be that...

The current cluster Sjeng is literally as easy as loading the UCI engine as usual, and then typing the IP that the engine displays into the other clients.

It's clear from this thread that the conceptual leap that a cluster could be trivial to use is so insurmountable for some people, that they felt the need to ban those misunderstood creatures from the WCCC.

Meanwhile, computer chess advances without them.

It would be interesting to release a version and see who besides the hard core users could get it working without a stream of support emails.

[krazyken]

Depends. If the distributed chess engine is well-written and debugged, _anybody_ can do this. Done correctly, the engine needs to be told which hosts (other than the current one) it can use, and that should be that...

The current cluster Sjeng is literally as easy as loading the UCI engine as usual, and then typing the IP that the engine displays into the other clients.

It's clear from this thread that the conceptual leap that a cluster could be trivial to use is so insurmountable for some people, that they felt the need to ban those misunderstood creatures from the WCCC.

Meanwhile, computer chess advances without them.

It would be interesting to release a version and see who besides the hard core users could get it working without a stream of support emails.

Who besides hard core users would want it?