Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 08:31:49 09/06/05
Go up one level in this thread
A couple of notes. 1. I've known Jaap for many years. And I would liken him to the typical "absent-minded professor" model we are all familiar with. I very seriously doubt he ever has any bad or harmful motives behind his decisions. But I also absolutely know that reasonably often the decisions he makes are made based on snap-judgement, without any careful consideration of the ramifications. Jonny vs Shredder is one classic example. This kind of "absent-minded professor" approach is one where you see a professor (in a movie) where he is very harried, has to make quick decisions about topics that are unrelated, and make the decisions with very little data for guidance. And anytime you make a decision in haste, in such a harried environment, mistakes are going to be made. The other class of mistakes I have seen, notably from the ICCA/ICGA, is simply a "complete lack of planning". For example, the WCCC web site with no information after three rounds had been completed. No explanation of the pairings, the participants had to provide that to the outside world. Choosing a location, setting things up at the last minute (fortunately the upcoming WCCC (2006) is planned plenty far enough into the future to help the rest of us plan for it), and so forth. I believe that the main reason the ICGA is failing is that the "programmers" are missing in action there. Levy used to be an ACM/WCCC/WMCCC TD. Then he became a participant when he and Kevin worked on a program together. Tony Marsland was an author. Jonathan Schaeffer. Monty Newborn. All were active participants in the ICCA and the ICCA events. And the events were well thought out, well planned, and went smoothly (except for some commercial chess nonsense in a few of the WMCCC events, but that's a different story and comes after the ICCA decided that money could be made from the commercial companies). Now there is no "active computer chess enthusiasts" involved in the ICCA. That hurts, and leads to what often appears to be a total lack of planning. Because it appears to not be that important to them when they are not actively involved any longer. 2. As far as I go, I simply enjoy what I do. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy working on computer chess. I enjoy competing (regardless of what Vincent wants to say in his rambling nonsense about why I don't participate in every event). And I hope to keep doing this for a long time. I have no hidden agenda, other than the obvious one of perhaps winning at least one more WCCC before I am eventually forced to retire from computer chess for health reasons or whatever... I see no reason to continually put down what others have spent a lot of time developing. I see no reason to continually pound my chess and make claims that are obviously false, as some like to do. I hope to show up for part of the WCCC next year, if at all possible. I hope to participate in future CCT events. And most of all, I hope to continue to have fun doing this stuff. All the complainers, whiners, gripers, moaners, anti-USers, and the rest will just have to deal with me for a while longer. I don't consider myself any better (nor any worse) than anyone else here. And I probably still have more than a few tricks left up my sleeve to show the younger crowd. :)
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