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Commentary & photos from 10th CSA, Tokyo 8-10th March 2000
Jeff Rollason
The article published with permission of author
Part VII: Conclusions
Diversions at the Sheraton... Pokemon!
It is fair to say that no one program could be seen as the clear strongest in this contest. IS-Shogi did lose to Kawabata, Kanazawa and KCC-Silver (in the 2nd round) and nearly lost to bottom-placed Shocky. Given that no program gained less than 2 or more than 5 wins, then statistically a 100 re-runs of this contest with the same programs would almost certainly see all programs finishing in first place at least a few times. However, this is not really a scientific measure of who is the strongest program, but a contest where weaker programs have a real chance of winning. A real scientific contest with many hundreds of games would not be as interesting and would lack the drama.
Shotest
As for my own program, I was disappointed in Shotest's result. The overall standard has moved on. I was probably a little unlucky, but in none of the games lost against the strongest programs did I have a substantial advantage that I failed to capitalise on (except against Kakinoki). A component in this (I am informed) is that many programmers have specifically prepared against Shotest for this tournament. This is inevitable, legitimate and unavoidable, Shotest having held onto the 3rd place slot for two years. Private tests give Shotest more than 50% against both the commercial IS-Shogi and YSS, so with even luck I might have come 4th or higher. I will have to make that special extra effort to qualify next year and then get another shot at the title. With luck the other programmers will now ignore me!
I have plenty to do to my program. I had previously claimed that a tsume-solver was a key new component to be added last year, but this was not yet implemented. I feel confident that I am in the running to return with a much stronger program next year, with a good chance of a top 3 placing.
The Others
Kawabata and KFEnd did well to not only qualify, but push tops seeds further down the list. Kawabata in particular would have come first if it had won its last game against the weaker KFEnd. The computer shogi fraternity now has many very strong programs. Shocky has really done very well. It only gained 2 wins but had given some very strong games among its losses. In particular its game against the champion IS-Shogi and former champion Kanazawa were both seriously contested. Many losers in the second round must have felt that Shocky had had an easy ride in not facing any strong programs to qualify, but it clearly justified its qualification. If Shocky had had better Shogi knowledge it might well have been capable of turning many of the games around. Shocky must be considered a serious contender next year. In particular the new world champion IS-Shogi must know that if they had lost that close run win against Shocky, they would be in 4th place!
On a personal note: These events are EXHAUSTING, despite the fact that no author need play a single move by their own hand. Anyone who thinks that watching your own program play is much less stressful than playing yourself is deluding themselves! It is good fun, but by the last day comes around I, and the people around me, were all dazed and very weary! If anyone has a formula for avoiding this stress, then I would like to know about it! At the moment our best solution so far lies in the Sheraton bar.
Next Year Prospects
Now the teams have to lick their wounds and savour their triumphs. Next year's 2nd qualifying round looks very tough. For a start it has the 5-times world champion Kanazawa in there! It would be a brave team that would claim to expect to finish above this program, which enters the qualifying round for its first time, having previously never finished below 2nd in the final! There are also only 8 final round places and I estimate that this year that there were 14 programs capable of winning the title. That makes it tight at the top. The next contest though is the up and coming Mind Sports Olympiad to be held in London in August.
Back to the Beginning
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