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Hydra vs. Shredder

Posted by michael on from the teenage-mutant-ninja-computers dept.

azaris writes "The powerful computer chess engine Hydra, running on a sixteen-way Linux cluster, is taking on the many times world champion engine Shredder in a match between the two chess super computers in Abu Dhabi, according to ChessBase.com. So far, Hydra is leading by two clear victories." S!: ChessBase also points to the announcement of a "64,000 square meter International Chess City" in Dubai, planned to cost US $2.6 billion, which "will feature 32 buildings designed to mirror the image of a traditional black and white game board."

5 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. great ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Abu Dabi gets a multi billion dollar tacky las vegas style exhibit while millions in Sudan and Africa starve, imagine how many water pipes and medical supplies you could buy for 2.3 billion large

    oh well i guess we can dream and play chess while others worry about being pawns in someone elses game

  2. many times world champion engine Shredder by trb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The "many times world champion engine" Shredder, is not the current world champion engine. That would be Junior, which is programmed by Israeli Jews. You wouldn't want them in Abu Dhabi, would you?

  3. Re:The Futue by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >We'll just pit computers against one another, and people won't even play anymore.

    Why?

    Humans still compete with each other at lifting weights, moving fast, and throwing things. Machines have long since outclassed us at those activities but we still relish the challenge.

  4. Re:The Futue by jnana · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Silicon-based computers excel at logic. Carbon-based computors excel at pattern-recognition and that whole sphere of massively parallel modes of thinking that one might call intuition.

    The best carbon chess players are still about equal with the best silicon chess players, and they sure as hell are not doing that with silicon-type logic (evaluating billions of nodes in a search tree). That implies to me that there's a hell of a lot of intuition, for want of a better word, in chess.

  5. Re:$2.6 billion? by Zakabog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow I totally agree, this is stupid. We all know 2.6 Billion dollars can end world hunger, the conflict in the middle east AND global warming. Unfortunately before no one has EVER had this kind of money to spend, so now that we have a chance we should put this money into solving those problems right away!

    Do you realize how many billions of dollars are spent daily on stuff much MUCH less profitable and important than an international chess city? Do you realize 2.6 billion dollars isn't all that much money?