Church of the 64 Squares
From the Church of the 64 squares, a reliable source of wisdom and humilty, Igor writes:
Now, if you remember, not long ago I sent you a couple of games I played against Rascal*. The subject line of the email was the "next victim". Here we are, a week later and Rascal does the same thing. The only difference this time is that Rascal's rating is over a hundred points higher. And of course, I played 26.Qh6 - instead of 26.Bh6 as I did in the previous game, a home improvement. Here is my question. Who is running this thing, that it can't learn anything, could it be some Republican?
*Rascal is a computer program that plays chess on ICC
Here is a link to the games that will allow you to play through the moves.
And yes Igor, it was undoubtedly a Republican.
[Event ""]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2003.10.28"]
[Round ""]
[White "Ivanov, I"]
[Black "Rascal, C"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2560"]
[EventDate "2003.01.26"]
[ECO "C50"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 Be6 7.Bb3 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nd4 10.Qg3 Qe7 11.Kh1 0-0 12.Bg5 c6 13.f4 Nxb3 14.axb3 exf4 15.Rxf4 Bd4 16.Raf1 Be5 17.Qh4 {[17.Bxf6 Qxf6]} 17...Bxf4 18.Rxf4 Qe6 19.Rxf6 Qe7 20.Ne2 d5 21.Ng3 Qc5 22.Nf5 dxe4 23.Nxg7 Qxc2 ([23...Kxg7 24.Qh6+ (24.Bh6+ Kh8) 24...Kh8 25.Rf4 f6 26.Bxf6+ Rxf6 27.Qxf6+ Kg8 28.Rg4+] }24.Nf5 Qxb2 25.Bh6{[25.Qh6 Qa1+ 26.Kh2 Qe5+ 27.Bf4]} 25...Qa1+ 26.Kh2 Qe5+ 27.Bf4 Qxf5 28.Rxf5 f6 29.dxe4 Rf7 30.e5 Re8 31.exf6 Kh8 32.Qh5 Ref8 33.Bd6 a5 34.Bxf8 Rxf8 35.f7 c5 36.Qh6 Rxf7 37.Rxf7 b5 38.Rf8# 1-0
[Event ""]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2003.10.28"]
[Round ""]
[White "Ivanov, I"]
[Black "Rascal, C"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2665"]
[EventDate "2003.11.05"]
[ECO "C50"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 Be6 7.Bb3 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3
9.Qxf3 Nd4 10.Qg3 Qe7 11.Kh1 0-0 12.Bg5 c6 13.f4 Nxb3 14.axb3 exf4 15.Rxf4
Bd4 16.Raf1 Be5 17.Qh4 Bxf4 18.Rxf4 Qe6 19.Rxf6 Qe7 20.Ne2 d5 21.Ng3 dxe4
22.Nf5 Qc5 23.Nxg7 Qxc2 24.Nf5 Qb1+ 25.Kh2 Qxb2 26.Qh6 Qe5+ 27.Bf4 Qxf5
28.Rxf5 f6 29.Be5 Rf7 30.Bxf6 Rxf6 31.Qxf6 h6 32.Qxh6 exd3 33.Qg6+ Kh8
34.Rh5#
digg
del.icio.us
reddit
Newsvine
FaceBook
Stumble Upon
Comments
Ignoring your joke about my political affilations (is it that obvious? :)) Rascal has since learned to avoid those mistakes.
Posted by: Derek Mauro | May 2, 2004 10:42 PM
Thanks for the update on Rascal. I'll have to let Igor know you've taught the program a new trick or two. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Don't be embarrassed about your political affiliation it's not genetic you like Rascal can learn and make necessary changes when called for. :+)
Posted by: Norm | May 2, 2004 11:02 PM
No problem. I ran across this site last night almost by accident when I noticed the entry about the Ivanov-Rascal games.
Rascal has no "learning" code. Everything it "learns" has to be programmed by me. Most chess programs do not learn, except sometimes when it comes to the selection of opening book moves.
Since those games were played I have completely rewritten Rascal from scratch. Special data structures have been added to improve Rascal's rather primative static evaluation, particularly in the area of king safety and passed pawns. Chess programs are notoriously bad in these two areas. When I am done with school for the summer in two weeks, we will see just how much it has improved.
I've actually learned more from games played by Igor than by any other of Rascal's opponents.
Posted by: Derek Mauro | May 3, 2004 8:48 AM