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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."

13 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Wow. by nuclear305 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's a US $2.6 billion project that is expected to play host to (hold on to your hats) 60 million amateur and professional chess followers annually.

    That's a lot of chess players, considering some of the best known tourist attractions don't even get those kind of numbers annually. Do we even have that many chess players worldwide? :)

    1. Re:Wow. by FlutterVertigo(gmail · · Score: 1, Interesting

      There is always Kasparov to take another crack at it. If someone knew before some of his other matches he was going to try & "out-think"[1] the machines they could have warned him off of this line of thinking and he would have done better.


      [1]researching "weaknesses" machines supposedly had in specific stages of the game then attempt to exploit them.

  2. Looking forward to it by r.jimenezz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is going to be interesting. While Shredder is a software engine running on standard hardware, I recall reading in Chessbase sometime that Hydra is an FPG-based engine. So in a sense it is a return to the days of Deep Blue and it should be interesting to see how well it fares against the current crop of "standard" engines.

    --
    The revolution will not be televised.
  3. IBM computer? by cytoman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Whatever happened to that IBM computer which competed against and defeated Gary Kasparov? And the other computers that IBM built specifically for playing chess?

    1. Re:IBM computer? by damiam · · Score: 4, Interesting

      IBM dismantled it afterwards, possibly to avoid challenges from other GMs. Deep Blue was built specifically to play Kasparov; it would have performed much worse against Kramnik, Anand, or any other top-level player.

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  4. The Futue by Hockney+Twang · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So this is the future of chess, and maybe even eventually all games requiring logic. We'll just pit computers against one another, and people won't even play anymore.

    1. Re:The Futue by Timesprout · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No we will just invent games that require intuition as well as logic

      --
      Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
      What truth?
      There is no dupe
    2. Re:The Futue by Lispy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well,it didn't work the first time when we invented VCRs to watch TV for us.

    3. Re:The Futue by ChiRaven · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, I think it was John Von Neumann, the father of game theory, who siad that chess was not really a game, in the strategic sense, but really just a computational problem. Enormously complex, but still just a computational problem

  5. Your information is incorrect by jbellis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Deep blue was tuned to beat Kasparov, just like any human player adjusts his game depending on who he plays. But Deep Blue was built to win against anyone, and competed in many computer chess events during its development.

  6. Re:many times world champion engine Shredder by trb · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I'm sure that Junior is also bound by some issues such that it is not represented at Abu Dhabi.

    You may be sure, I am not so sure. I don't mean to head off into troll territory, but you are saying that I'm making the mistaken assumption that all Arab nations are anti-Jewish, etc. I didn't say that, and I know that Jordan and Egypt have peace treaties with Israel, and that certain countries like Morocco and Turkey have more cordial relations with Israel.

    I'm sure that you are mistaken about Junior being bound by an issue that kept it out of Abu Dhabi, I'm sure that the Israelis would be happy to go there for friendly competition. As for the treatment of Jews by the UAE establishment, you can search the web for Jews and Abu Dhabi, and find stuff like this portrayal of PM Sharon drinking Arab blood on a popular show from Abu Dhabi TV.

    I agree that the UAE is relatively cosmopolitan, but that says more about the rest of the Arab world than it says about them being cosmopolitan or permississive of the west in any familiar sense.

    I do maintain that the UAE is part of the Arab community that avoids any interaction with Israel, and that's why their battle of the supercomputers does not involve the current champion.

  7. $2.6 billion by drphuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Am I the only one that thinks $2.6 billion could have been spent on something more important then chess? How about the cure for aids or helping starving people? $2.6 billion...I mean wow, those chess board buildings better be made of solid 24 carot gold...

    --
    "Software is like sex... it's better when it's free"
  8. Re:Chess, Islam, and Arab governments by McCrapDeluxe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Your emoticon is RTL. That's pretty cool.