dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (11/01/83)
I know ihuxt!wtb has already posted a similar article, but
this one was on the AIList. I thought it might be of interest
to this newsgroup:
Date: 27 October 1983 1130-EDT
From: Hans Berliner at CMU-CS-A
Subject: ACM chess results
[Reprinted from the CMU-C bboard.]
The results of the ACM World computer CHess Championship are:
CRAY BLITZ - 4 1/2 1st place
BEBE - 4 2nd
AWIT - 4 3rd
NUCHESS - 3 1/2 4th
CHAOS - 3 1/2 5th
BELLE - 3 6th
There were lots of others with 3 points. Patsoc finished with a
scoreof 1.5 - 3.5. It did not play any micros and was usually
outgunned by 10 mip mainframes. There was a lot of excitement in the
last 3 rounds. in round 3 NUCHESS defeated Belle (the first time
Belle had lost to a machine). In round 4 Nuchess drew Cray Blitz in
a long struggle when they were both tied for the lead and remained so
at 3 1/2 points after this round. The final round was really wild:
BEBE upset NUCHESS (the first time it had ever beaten Nuchess) just
when NUCHESS looked to have a lock on the tournament. CRAY Blitz won
from Belle when the latter rejected a draw because it had been set to
play for a win at all costs (Belle's only chance, but this setting
was a mistake as CRAY BLITZ also had to win at all costs). In the
end AWIT snuck into 3 rd place in all this commotion, without having
every played any of the contenders. One problem with a Swiss pairing
system used for tournaments where only a few rounds are possible is
that it only brings out a winner. The other scores are very much
dependent on what happens in the last round.
Belle was using a new modification in search technique which based on
the results could be thought of as a mistake. Probably it is not
though, though possiby the implementation was not the best. In any
case Thompson apparently thought he had to do something to improve
Belle for the tournament.
In any case, it was not a lost cause for Thompson. He shared this
years Turing award with Ritchie for developing UNIX, received a
certificate from the US chess federation for the first non-human
chess master (for Belle), and a $16,000 award from the Common Wealth
foundation for the invention award of the year (software) for his
work on UNIX, C, and Belle. Lastly, it is interesting to note that
this is the 4th world championship. They are held 3 years apart, and
no program has won more than one of them.
------------------------------
Dave Sherman
Toronto
--
{allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave