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Computer Chess Programs Vie "Live" For World Championship
Alex Laburu writes "The 17th World Computer Chess Championship is taking place in Pamplona through the 18th of May. As of this writing, Rybka (winner of the last two editions) is ahead of the pack and playing Shredder to consolidate its lead over Junior. You can watch the games live or otherwise follow the tournament asynchronously on the standings page, where you'll also find information about the hardware used by various teams."
This is the nerdiest sport ever. :D
First, we played games.
Then, we watched other people play games, and we played computer games.
Next, we watched other people play computer games.
And now, eliminating all human-to-human interaction, we watch computers play games.
Who called us antisocial? ;-) Oh well, king's gambit ftw, rock out with your pawn out, good luck... "ladies and gentlemen"? Or is it "Nuts and Bolts"? "Plugs and Jacks"?
As a chess researcher (in human cognition), I once had dinner with Doug Hofstadter and he mentioned his ideas concerning how a chess program should play, like humans do. It has been my goal for over 5 years now, and it's really hard. I could show Doug's idea that "analogy lies at the core of perception (of any scenario, including chess) by making psychological experiments in all levels, from novices to grandmasters. That work came out in journals like Cognitive Science, Minds & Machines, and New Ideas in Psychology (accepted). So I think we're on the right track. But my paper on the computational model has been rejected three times, the last of which, fortunately, has good reports from referees who only want the piece to be rewritten.
I long for the day in which Hofstadter's ideas would become more mainstream in AI and cognitive science.
They restricted the hardware to 8 cores. As a result, the best programs, like those who run over clusters, are not playing.
Supposedly, this was to make money not a factor. In reality, some very nice expensive dual Nehalems are in action.