rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (10/10/83)
This tournament begins October 22 in New York. Is there anyone willing and able to present round summaries or even perhaps records of games to this newsgroup? My money's on Belle to win, Kaissa to place and Cray Blitz to show. -- Roger Noe ...ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (10/13/83)
Belle, Kaissa and Cray Blitz? Whatever happened to Chess 4.8, or
whatever the current incarnation is, from Northwestern University?
It was getting well up to master level some years ago, when I dropped
out of organized chess.
Can someone fill me in on the current ratings of Belle and Kaissa?
Is Ken Thompson still enhancing Belle? Is it now running on the
chess machine I remember hearing about?
Dave Sherman
--
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!lsuc!daverjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (10/14/83)
I really think David Slate et al. from Northwestern University have taken their design about as far as it will go. Meanwhile, the impression I have is that Belle still has a definite edge over the other machines. Cray Blitz is frequently underestimated and Kaissa has usually been strong in the World Computer Chess Championships, winning the first back in 1974. I recognize that I may be a little biased toward Belle (being an AT&T Bell Laboratories employee) but I really think that Ken Thompson and Joe Condon have done a truly outstanding job and with much less pre-packaged computing hardware to work with than other teams have had. (Cray Blitz of course has a Cray 1 behind it and the Soviets have apparently spent many rubles for their chess machine.) This to me indicates superior design and execution, not to mention more economical. Belle, last I heard, was doing about a 2150-2200 rating. Cray Blitz can't be over 2000, I'm fairly sure. I don't know a rating estimate for Kaissa. And Nuchess will end up in fourth place (or thereabouts) I would think. -- Roger Noe ...ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
mark@princeton.UUCP (Mark Weiss) (10/15/83)
A few comments about the World Computer Chess Championship:
1) Belle is now rated as MASTER after scoring 8.5 - 3.5 at
the U.S. Open in Pasadena. It had been EXPERT for about 2 years.
2) On the other hand, Belle was fortunate to win the North
American Championship last year, scoring 3 - 1, just as 3 other
computers did. One of its wins was an opening trap against
Nuchess (also 3-1), and one of its two draws was in a badly lost
position that was drawn by three fold repetition.
3) As far as I know Belle has not been modified very much
since 1982, but you can bet that Nuchess and Cray Blitz have.
4) Nuchess is written by David (Chess 4.9) Slate.
5) I haven't heard anything about Kaissa lately.
I don't think Kaissa is much of a threat but Nuchess may very well
topple Belle. It should be exciting.
This year's tournament is 5 rounds.
Mark Weiss
Princeton University