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hosted by Chess Queen™ & 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Computer Chess Championship: Gull II Takes Sole Lead
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Gull II, the chess engine by Vadim Demichev, is the sole leader of TCEC computer championship. After four rounds Gull has collected 3,5/4 and is half a point ahead of competition. So far Gull has three victories – against Dirty, Critter, and Spike and a draw with Chiron, according to a Chessdom report.
Gull is closely followed by five engines with 3,0/4. Among them is Houdini 3 with two victories and two draws. After a shaky start, Houdini recovered in the best possible way after beating Stockfish with black in a 101 moves thriller. Other engines sharing second position are the second seeded Komodo, Hiarcs 14.0b, Chiron 1,5, Rybka 4.1, and Vitruvius. In the group with 2,5/4 points, we find some of the top competitors as the third seeded Critter, by Richard Vida, rated 3104 ELO, as well as a well performing Scorpio 2.75 rated only at 2794 ELO.
The lowest scoring 3000+ engine so far – Equinox, started recovering with a victory against Crafty, and now stands at 2,0/4.
Banned chess program Rybka programmer Rajlich refutes allegations
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
Remember the story about Rybka - World Chess Programme Champion being banned? The story was broken by www.chessvibes.com. They have just put up a video by the programmer of Rybka refuting the allegations. Check it out.
Rybka disqualified and banned from World Computer Chess Championships
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
News that will surely rock the chess world - Rybka disqualified and banned from World Computer Chess Championships.
www.chessvibes.com has just carried a detailed article on the episode. The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) has disqualified and banned Rybka and its programmer Vasik Rajlich from previous and future World Computer Chess Championships. The ICGA accuses Rajlich of plagiarizing two other programs, Crafty and Fruit, and demands that he returns the trophies and prize money of the World Computer Chess Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
www.chessvibes.com further states: The news is obviously a huge blow for the Rybka team. The impact in the computer chess world must be comparable to arguably the most famous example of doping in athletics: the positive drug testing of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson in 1988. We’ve asked Vasik Rajlich for a comment and hope to add this later.
Computer chess programme Rybka-4 beaten blindfold by neurosurgeon
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
This one's for all humanity. Ukrainian Andrew Slyusarchuk, 39 years old, neurosurgeon by profession, has taken on Rybka-4 and beaten him(her/it) blindfold!
Nope, he's not a grandmaster (and doesn't intend to give Vishy Anand any competition). He says, he wanted to display to the world the power of the human mind. What a celebration for all of us!
Andrew was searched thoroughly for any hidden devices before the event. He says, he just learned it all up! He won with white then drew with black to win the match. Incidentally, Andrew plan a simul against 150 Grandmasters. By the way, Andrew specialises in improving memory technologies and knows by heart 20,000 books and 30 million digits of the pi.
We thank www.chess-news.ru for leading us to this super video. You will love it even if language is an issue.
And another...
And, another...
Of course, as most of you would agree, this is more to do with memory-related expertise than particularly chess-related technique. But then, chess has always been a portal to the last frontier when it comes to brain power. Chess forever...
Houdini elbows past Rybka to win computer chess challenge
Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everybody,
Have you ever sat across an opponent before a chess game and wondered what machine he used at home to prepare against you? When someone mentions chips you think not of coffee and tea-time but a computer chess program?
Speak to any chess player and they would name top chess players like Vishy Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Vassily Ivanchuk, Rybka and Houdini in the same breath. Human or machine? It's the strong chess that counts in the end. No wonder then, we kept track of the recent-ly concluded Thoresen Computer Engines Competition. Houdini, a free program, managed to elbow past Rybka - the winner of four computer world chess championships.
The competition was a double round-robin, and it used the Bilbao Scoring System in which each win counts as 3 points and each draw as 1. Houdini finished with 24 points and Rybka with 23.
Stockfish, another free program, finished third, with 20 points, while Ivanhoe and Critter, yet another free program, tied for fourth and fifth, with 17 points each, though Ivanhoe was fourth on a tie-breaker. Rounding out the field were Shredder and Naum, which each scored 12 points, and Hiarcs, which ended with 11.
What makes the contest even more interesting for us flesh-and-blood chess players is that the chips-and-circuits players had different playing styles as well - depending upon how they have been designed and programmed. Definitely these 'guys' are better than humans but not perfect at chess. Chess has not been 'solved' yet. What a relief and we feel smug about it somewhat. You can find some interesting articles and comments at this link of the website that organized the tournament.
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Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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