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Subject: Re: Strength of the engine in chess programs (Critical points on memory)

Author: Rolf Tueschen

Date: 16:15:58 05/21/02

Go up one level in this thread


"I would bet a new Porsche vs a Mattel Hot Wheel toy..."

(From a reliable source,
wasn't it Janis Joplin?
Read below for the solution.)

                         =============

I will always respect you for your willingness to discuss, because only this way
we can clarify things right now, and it shows that things are not what you'd
thought in the last three decades. Today this will be proven, just below in this
posting. But again due to your openess this was possible.


On May 21, 2002 at 11:40:07, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>>Nothing of pre-recorded stuff? Mhmm. Or do you use a different wording?
>
>
>Nope.  It is "memory".  Just as _I_ recall specific sequences of moves
>(or entire games for that matter).  I recall sequences of moves from _my_
>memory.  The computer recalls sequences of moves from _its_ memory.
>
>Seems simple enough to me...

Too simple and false to me.

You don't deny pre-recorded stuff. You say that it is MEMORY. Ok.
Now the little and final question for this chapter:

Whose memory? Read what you wrote yourself! You recall YOUR memory. And the
computer what does he recall? HIS memory? HIS material? Nah.
It's the memory of GM chess of the last 100 years. Ah, you might say, and the
haman GM, what hey are doing? The same! I say No! The human GM has understood
what he has in memory, but your comp has in memory most of all stuff he cannot
understand, because he would be terribly lost if the memory would be taken away.
But the memory of a GM, now this is crucial and you should note that, wonders me
that GM Roman did never tell you, does not primarily contain opening moves. The
GM is thinking in 'Ganzheiten', patterns. That's why I am saying that against a
GM your computer memory book out of 100 years of chess is not the decisive tool
to take advantages over the GM but it's a toll for defense to not being busted
too early in the game. Against players like us the tools become decisive and
winning because we do not master opening theory in total. Of course we have our
variations too up into the twenty moves but it's by far not total knowledge. Why
for a GM it's different with the Ganzheiten? Because, and that is just chess,
the single opening moves or full lines do not matter much without the connection
to the middle-game and even endgame. So a GM has, depending of the opening
choice, a direct view on Ganzheiten for more than opening lines of 20 or 30
moves. THAT is memory! But "your" memory argument of computerchess is simply a
false understanding and a consequence of the different situation in the
beginnings in the '60s. Computerchess then needed a couple of foreign moves in
memory of the machine, because otherwise it hadn't played correct chess at all.
But if you want to claim that your computer's memory would exactly mean the same
than the memory of the chessplayers, then you have simply not understood the
chess memory of human chessplayers. It's funny, because you are a chessplayer.
And you did never observe that you didn't simply play move after move by heart/
by memory without having the whole idea/picture/Ganzheit of the variation before
your inner eyes?

I repeat. A computer is only functioning you say, when he has memory. Either for
some code with specific computer related stuff or chess content related. Both is
memory for you which you equate with the memory of a chessplayer.

I repeat the cheat.

A human chessplayer uses his memory where he has moves of course but most of all
Ganzheiten of ideas, concepts etc.

A computer needs memory to function, but what you do so that he can play chess
is you take the best theory of 100 y. of GM chess, enter these foreign moves
into the memory of the machine and you are thinking that this is only fair
compared to the human chessplayer. But it's not.

As others like Martin and Torstein have said, we could try to let the machine
analyze the openings itself. Fine by me! But Martin will understand in near
future that chess is not like checkers. And for all, he has confirmed me that he
won't change the choices of the machine. Then Aloha I would say, just smiling.
The machines of the next 10 years and more won't find the best opening concepts
on their own. Man had to intervene. But this is exactly what would destroy your
equating concept of the two different "memories".



>
>I think the _intent_ of the rules was quite clear.  The "player" has to rely
>on his mind and memory, exclusively, when playing a game.  The computer does
>_exactly_ that...

Yes, yes, _his_ mind and _his_ memory and _his_ work, but not the data taken
from human masters. Period.



>>It's funny, yes, GM with eidetics have a database in their head.
>>But all the rest of us is arguing against your forbidden use of 'books'.
>
>Sorry, but _I_ play chess also.  and _I_ remember specific sequences of
>opening moves, from studying them in books like MCO, etc.  I don't know how
>_you_ play chess, and I don't care.  But I do know how _people_ play chess,
>and they _definitely_ rely on memory as one component of their skill...

Uhmmm. For human chessplayers you are right. They can 'read' in books. A
computer can 'read' too? No? You must take the whole theory of human players and
putting it into the "memory". What does it mean human 'reading'? Thinking,
understanding? Yes. But the machine just is instructed to copy the book lines
the way they were imported into memory by YOU, the programmers or special book
doctors.

All I'm saying is let the machine find its own openings and let it play along
these line but don't use that wrong consept anymore that came from the '60s,
where the machine couldn't play sober chess without some moves. You simply must
forget this praxis, because it's not fair and against the FIDE rules. But I'm
_not_ saying, and that is what you are trying to tell the people, that machine
should work without memory. That would be indeed a contradiction in itself. So,
no need to smirk about the totally illegal engine. You know, we come out of
different disciplines but we ain't therefore beginners. The funny circles
argument doesn't become true by mere repetition if you are unwilling to stand up
and watch the third dimension!

I is also a bad argument to quote from a debate in R.G.C.C. where we had no
exchange of arguments last year.


>>Are you referring to the long-distance connections to the computer? BTW you're a
>>chessplayer too, and not GM, what is your opinion in that question? Are you
>>happy with the comps to read in books during the game? Wouldn't you be much
>>better in chess if you could do the same?
>>
>
>
>I am referring to the phone connection, the space required by a computer,
>the noise it makes, the confusion it adds, the interest in its games and
>screen output by spectators, the rule that says that players can "opt out"
>of playing the machine prior to the first round, which makes pairings very
>complicated in the last few rounds.  Etc...

Yes, very true, but then you can't accept the topic here, which is intended to
show how "we" could and should change some traditional errors or birth defects
so to say, to be better presentable for human tournaments?

>
>_My_ "comp" doesn't "read in moves during a game".  It "studies" the games
>prior to playing just like a human.  It analyzes who won, who lost, what the
>various positions looked like.  It then plays those moves, and then remembers
>how the resulting positions actually worked out in a game (learning).  It does
>_exactly_ what I as a human do...  _exactly_...

I read that before, but isn't it a weak argument? You know too well that GM
don't do that, that's a typical toy in commercial chess programs. There you are
talking to real GM and you want to tell us and more so yourself that chess is
that stupid? Nothing against your fine idea, better than nothing, but you know
quite well that you can never expect the program to play good enough with mere
counting percentages - automatically because you don't have the time to do it
yourself (your own words). Just tell me, do you really believe in such bogus
stats? In the ChessBase books you could find nice stats too. With some few (two)
categories. Elo and performance. Now, that could be a good example for the
beginners in statistics classes. Also the question of the choice of the
population.

>
>Just better in some ways.  But the same nonethelsss..

Against FRITZ I play 350-400 points above my normal Elo. Of course I play with
books too. :)



>It is all available in r.g.c.c archives.  You have brought this up several
>times.  Same arguments.  Same acrimony.  Nothing new.  So yes you _did_ do
>that.  This is just the N+1'th instantiation of the same old stuff...

Yes, the archives contain many things from our "childhood and youth...".
Who do you think wrote this here:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I would bet a new Porsche vs a Mattel Hot Wheel toy that what has been written
in R.G.C.C was _not_ written by Rolf. (1) it doesn't sound like him at all;
(2) the vocabulary/style is wrong; (3) the posts were from aol, which was
_never_ used by him (he used t-online.de exclusively)."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, the author was no other than you, Bob.

Let's find a consense for defining computer chessplayers, memory and stuff like
that.

Rolf Tueschen






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