WCh and other ramblings

  

WCh and other ramblings


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Peter W. Anderson    (2017-04-19)
WCh and other ramblings

Congratulations to Eros for retaining his FICGS world title again. A casual glance at our 36 games might give the impression that I did not put him under much pressure apart from in game 95512. Actually it is more a case of him making it look easy. He generally plays extremely accurately in the opening and avoids deeply hidden pitfalls in the middle game – I always get the feeling that I am playing someone who understands the game well rather than someone purely reliant on engines.

I have decided to give up playing normal correspondence chess. Engines have simply become too strong and the amount of human input into my games has decreased over time. Human input remains (games 95516, 95512, 93727/87343 being good examples), but there is far too much hard work with engines these days for my liking. I am sure a GM would add a lot more value but I am a mere mortal! I will probably play some big chess instead. I tried this a couple of times and really enjoyed it. I just hope nobody writes an engine for it.

With regards to the format of the world championship, we need to recognise that with engines getting stronger the draw odds is a bigger and bigger advantage for the champion. Despite that I personally think the current format is fine. I generated a significant advantage in 2 games – in addition to game 95512, I believe game 87337 offered real chances if I had not forgotten to play 25.Nb4 as intended (I could barely look at a chess board for a month after screwing that game up, but that is another story). If people keep trying they may eventually beat Eros. The bigger issue to my mind is Eros’s own statement of boredom with defending the championship. So time for a change when the current cycles are finished?


Scott Nichols    (2017-04-19 14:40:03)
WCh and other ramblings

I quit CC for the same reasons. It came down to who has the biggest hardware. Switched to poker because the computers have not figured that one out yet, they can't grasp the concept of bluffing! :)


Peter W. Anderson    (2017-04-19 16:03:14)
WCh and other ramblings

To my mind big hardware only helps a little bit at FICGS speeds. Yes if you space bar everything then it might make a lot of difference but if you are prepared to work hard analysing variations properly then I think much less so - working hard is far more important than having a big computer.

For me it is more a question of how often whilst analysing those variations I can see a mis-evaluation or come up with an idea that the engines miss. It still happens but less often now than 5 years ago.

But I take your point about poker. And at faster chess speeds big comps are essential. The ideal configuration for the Infinity chess tour? - a strong human player who is experienced at advanced chess and 6 (or more) big comps running :)


Ilmars Cirulis    (2017-04-19 17:03:15)
WCh and other ramblings

Nash equilibrium for our poker can be found with any necessary precision if one wants to waste the time and resources. :D

It's just that nobody cares, probably. :)


Herbert Kruse    (2017-04-20 08:23:31)
WCh and other ramblings

i someone quits anotherone will try it ;)

i am ready :)


Herbert Kruse    (2017-04-20 08:25:41)
WCh and other ramblings

if someone quits


Thibault de Vassal    (2017-04-21 22:54:00)
WCh and other ramblings

Thanks for these words & analysis Peter! Yes, I don't know yet if Eros will fight one more time to retain the title but obviously he did it very well during these last years... the strongest engine alone would certainly not have been able to achieve this. Anyway, Herbert (& others) looks like to be ready for the challenge and this could be very interesting to see such a match! Well, let's see how this tough candidates final with Pablo finishes before :)

Well, the cup format was a first step towards a championship with more chances for everyone... the future "King's supertournament" will be another one with a thematic bigger round-robin that should definitely avoid the drawish problem & a new attempt to give sense to correspondence chess. To be continued...


Paul Larwinski    (2017-09-21 18:00:52)
WCh and other ramblings

how many cpu cores has the computer of GM Eros and Kruse in their wch match ? interesting


Paul Larwinski    (2017-09-21 18:03:53)
WCh and other ramblings

and it looks like the wch match between them 2 are all games draw, the opinion of Stockfish engine now . still 4 games running


Herbert Kruse    (2017-09-23 11:38:44)
WCh and other ramblings

i have 3 16 cores and one 16 core not yet assembled

only 2 games now, he will not lose


Garvin Gray    (2017-09-24 15:45:27)
WCh and other ramblings

I think it will be a case of Eros will keep defending the title until he is defeated.

This is not an uncommon situation in a lot of sports where a champion has a long unbeaten streak. Whilst they have some desire to move on to other things, voluntarily ending a many year streak by non participation can feel like all those years wasted.

Therefore, quite often what happens is that the next champion either supersedes the reigning champion because the new champion because they advanced the playing standard, or because the current champion rested on their laurels whilst the competition advanced.


Thibault de Vassal    (2017-09-28 22:32:00)
WCh and other ramblings

Yes... according to Eros latest words after the previous match, I might have given 50%-50% chances on this match, but maybe Eros still has much more energy & will under the hat than we think :)

In a way, any result will be quite a surprise to me.


Herbert Kruse    (2017-09-29 17:51:58)
WCh and other ramblings

its over: 6:6 - he is just unbeatable ;)

congrats, and i will try again ...


John Liang    (2017-11-09 08:11:01)
WCh and other ramblings

Congratulations to Eros for retaining his FICGS world title