Interveiw with Dave Kittinger (Novag)

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mephisto

Interveiw with Dave Kittinger (Novag)

Post by mephisto »

Happy New Year to Everyone

Towards the end of 2008 I managed to track down Dave Kittinger ( Novag) who kindly agreed to a short interview.

Very little has been heard of Dave for many years and the interview sheds some light on why he got interested in computer chess, how he became involved with Novag plus what he is doing today.

Please click on the link below.
http://kitinger.synthasite.com/

Regards
Bryan
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Great Interview Sir Bryan!!

i am totally shocked that Kittinger has not programmed anything new for Novag in almost 10 years???
Le Citrine??
Star Sapphire/Diamond??
Star anything??
Obsidian??
etc..etc??

who or what programmed these engines??
were others involved??
are these just the same old Wchess engine in new housings with better hardware??

:shock: Regards :shock:
Steve
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Post by Fernando »

Steve B wrote:Great Interview Sir Bryan!!

i am totally shocked that Kittinger has not programmed anything new for Novag in almost 10 years???
Le Citrine??
Star Sapphire/Diamond??
Star anything??
Obsidian??
etc..etc??

who or what programmed these engines??
were others involved??
are these just the same old Wchess engine in new housings with better hardware??

:shock: Regards :shock:
Steve

My guess:
same program with some adds by current technicians, like bigger opening book, perhaps one or twoe xtra heuristic and finally new processors, not always better than the old.
As we have said many times: strenght is not the issue they care, but housng and frills to hipnotyze average customer.

Fern
happy 2009
Festina Lente
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IA
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Post by IA »

Excellent interview Bryan, as it seems from the version Sapphire I y Diamond I there is nothing new of David Kittinger, it explains little force of the Diamond II and the Star Diamond with respects to the Diamond I and the Sapphire I

Regards and happy 2009..............
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Post by Kemuri »

I've been trying to track him down for ages - nice work!!
I don't believe in intuition, but I've got a funny feeling that one day I will...
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Post by KarmaZen&Oliver »

Fernando wrote:
Steve B wrote:Great Interview Sir Bryan!!

i am totally shocked that Kittinger has not programmed anything new for Novag in almost 10 years???
Le Citrine??
Star Sapphire/Diamond??
Star anything??
Obsidian??
etc..etc??

who or what programmed these engines??
were others involved??
are these just the same old Wchess engine in new housings with better hardware??

:shock: Regards :shock:
Steve

My guess:
same program with some adds by current technicians, like bigger opening book, perhaps one or twoe xtra heuristic and finally new processors, not always better than the old.
As we have said many times: strenght is not the issue they care, but housng and frills to hipnotyze average customer.

Fern
happy 2009
yes of course, but the test BT-2450 revelate some diferents in the evaluation style. maybe not better, but it´s sure that MORE CHEAP.

The circuit for novag citrine it´s a lot of more cheap that the expensive series diamond, and I think that is more cheap that others models... the level "in game real"... for a lot of players it´s very similar but, the cost is very better...

it´s ok ( maybe the limit of expensive 290 € for a computer chess ) but the previus models were are a lot of expensive, and this "powerfull" options never were used for a lot of people... example. star diamond or diamon iii have 16 plys evaluation or more ? but it´s need a lot of time to use that plys, or have a lot of ram, in the real game, these computer have not enough time to use that hardware, because the cpu it´s... for battey options...

in that situation why pay a lot of money for a options that have a impact vey small of the style and level...

Adaptation or Dead... NOVAG is the only old veteran pyme that "live" ... why ? ADAPTATION.

It´s not necesary a other program "with a computer style".. for do similar things... Wches... with some better is enough good.

I like the "price"... for a Superlevel... I conect it for a computer.

Don´t problem. it´s near of perfection.

oliver. from spain.
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

Steve B wrote:Great Interview Sir Bryan!!

i am totally shocked that Kittinger has not programmed anything new for Novag in almost 10 years???
Le Citrine??
Star Sapphire/Diamond??
Star anything??
Obsidian??
etc..etc??

who or what programmed these engines??
were others involved??
are these just the same old Wchess engine in new housings with better hardware??
Hi Steve,

I was pretty shocked to read that too, though I do have to say that in my opinion the vast majority of the current range could indeed have been derivatives of the earlier work created without Dave's involvement. I am sure most of the range is not totally "new" so to speak. I would suspect that programs such as Mentor 16, Jade and the original Diamond / Sapphire were his last "true" work. Possibly Jade II and Amber but that might be pushing it. Though I think they were the late 90s still, so possibly.

I think what surprises me the most (and sorry to keep harping on about it) - but these latest 4K programs such as 2Robot and Star Beryl. They seem to bear absolutely no relationship at all to the earlier programs. Novag clearly has some genius at work who must be doing a lot of independant work apart from working off established code. It seems a great pity that this individual or individuals for one reason or another remain anonymous.

Perhaps Bryan - with his more robust ties to Novag tha the rest of us - can conjure up an interview with Novag themselves. I think whoever is doing the work for them now deserves some public credit, apart from it being a great point of interest to most of us.

All that said, this interview does also possibly explain why the 16K programs have (in my opinion) not really improved over the last decade or so and seem to be rather bug-ridden with a propensity to make the strangest of moves.
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

And the only mention of our hero at his new employer's website appears to be a little footnote here :cry:

http://www.mentor.com/products/embedded ... esc_boston

so...

Dear David,

Are you able to embed Super Constellation 25th Anniversary Edition into our up and coming super duper mobile phone?
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Post by Steve B »

Monsieur Plastique wrote:
Perhaps Bryan - with his more robust ties to Novag tha the rest of us - can conjure up an interview with Novag themselves.
actually Jon i believe Bryan is planning to do just that
hopefully we can learn the name(s) of programmers who had to be involved in engine modifications during the past 10 years

Kittinger & ??? Regards
Steve
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

I already know who it is.

Some say that he has committed every single opening line in Nunn's Chess Openings to memory...

Some say his brain is actually a water-cooled CPU with 1000 cores...

Some say he defeated Kasparov in a private match 10 to nil...

some say he got his Software Engineering degree by the time he 9 years old...

All we know is he's called

The Stig
mephisto

Post by mephisto »

The Stig !!
So besides driving cars quicker than anyone else on this planet, he also works for Novag?
Very interesting.
I'll have to ask Jeremy Clarkson or Richard Hammond if this is correct the next time I see them.
Top Gear Regards
Bryan
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

hehe..I am the biggest fan of Jeremy's, Richard and James's work. Actually I own most of their books. As for the Stig, I was thrilled that he chose to test the cars in Australia at Camden Airport - just a short trek from my home and an even shorter trek from Mum's (who lives just 2 clicks north of runway 6). It's a light GA airport though, mind you.
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

I've updated dave kittinger's interview with what Novag said about his last update
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Post by Steve B »

Chessmaster Ireland wrote:I've updated dave kittinger's interview with what Novag said about his last update
so the last time Kittinger was involved with a Novag Program was the Star Diamond(Star Sapphire)in 2003
not bad...
the only computers released by Novag after that of any real interest were the Citrine(2006) and the 2Robot(2008) ..both weaker then the SD and both probably containing some modified version of his basic program anyway

Farewell Novag Regards
Steve
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Post by Dr.Wael Deeb »

Steve B wrote:
Chessmaster Ireland wrote:I've updated dave kittinger's interview with what Novag said about his last update
so the last time Kittinger was involved with a Novag Program was the Star Diamond(Star Sapphire)in 2003
not bad...
the only computers released by Novag after that of any real interest were the Citrine(2006) and the 2Robot(2008) ..both weaker then the SD and both probably containing some modified version of his basic program anyway

Farewell Novag Regards
Steve
Thanks Steve for the info :D
At what price the SD can be bought at nowadays :!: :?:
Interested enough regards,
Dr.D
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