WCCC 2010 25 Sep - 2 Oct

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WCCC 2010 25 Sep - 2 Oct

Post by Harvey Williamson »

The rules for the World Chess Computer Championship in Japa, have now been released.

Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship 1
RULES FOR THE 18th WORLD COMPUTER-CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Kanazawa, Japan

September 25 – October 2, 2010

The Board of ICGA

The 18th World Computer-Chess Championship will take place from September 25 – October 2, 2010
in Kanazawa, Japan. Here we recall that the Maastricht Triennial Meeting in 2002, i.e., the ICGA
meeting, decided that the WCCC should be held annually without distinguishing any type of machines.
The observation was clear: all kinds of differences between microcomputers, personal computers,
“normal” computers, and supercomputers were in some sense obsolete and the classification thus was
considered artificial. So was the division into the classes of single processors and multiprocessors.

Another division considered obsolete since 2002 is that between amateur and professional. Is not the
real amateur a professional? Or the other way round? For organizational matters we have kept this
difference, since for amateurs the cost of travelling and housing is already expensive. Being treated as a
professional may be agreeable, but if you have to pay for it then it might be less agreeable. As in
previous years we have maintained three groups here, viz. the amateurs, the semi-professionals, and the
professionals. The ICGA is continuing its policy on this point (see below), and will be more rigorous
than in the past when determining the status of participants.

Following the survey conducted amongst chess programmers after last year’s tournaments in
Pamplona, the ICGA announced the inauguration of a new tournament for 2010 and subsequent years -
The World Chess Software Championship. The full details of that announcement were as follows.

The World Computer Chess Championship for the Shannon Trophy will be contested by teams who
have no restriction placed on them as to their choice of hardware.
[ii] A new tournament will be introduced called the "World Chess Software Championship" (WCSC)
to be held at the same location and during the same period as the WCCC. This will be a uniform
platform event using computers loaned by the host organisation. In each game played in this
tournament the two computers will be, so far as is possible, identical with respect to their hardware
capabilities: number of cores, processor speed, memory size.
[iii] Participants may compete in either or both of these tournaments for a single entry fee.
[iv] The time control for the WCCC will be such as to aim for a 4-hour playing session, namely all
moves in 1 hour 45 minutes plus an increment of 15 seconds per move.
[v] The time limit for the WCSC will be such as to aim for a 2-hour playing session, namely all moves
in 45 minutes plus an increment of 15 seconds per move.
[vi] The WCCC will be an 11-round Swiss System event if there are more than 12 entries, otherwise an
all-play-all event.
[vii] The number of rounds for the WCSC will be decided according to the number of entries in both
events but there will be at least 9 rounds in the WCSC.
[viii] There will as usual be a rest day for an excursion and time set aside for the speed championship.
Below we provide the rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship and for the 2010 World
Chess Software Championship. It was agreed at the Maastricht meeting that from the 13th World
Computer-Chess Championship onwards the Shannon Trophy will be awarded annually. The original
trophy is kept at ICGA headquarters in Tilburg, and each year a replica of the trophy is presented on a
permanent basis to the World Computer Chess Champion team. A trophy will be given each year to be
retained by the winner of the World Chess Software Championship.


Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship
2
Below, we have split the rules into sections of general rules and sections of tournament rules.

GENERAL RULES – WORLD COMPUTER CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

1. The World Computer-Chess Championship 2010 is the 18th in a series of World Computer-Chess
Championships. It follows the tournament rules given below.
2. The tournament will be an 11-round Swiss-system event, using standard (non-accelerated) Swiss
pairings. The provisional playing schedule is announced on the ICGA website.
3. The winner of the Tournament will be awarded (1) a replica of the Shannon Trophy, and (2) the
title of World Computer Chess Champion 2010. No other titles following from the results of this
tournament will be awarded (Hence, no Amateur title, no Microcomputer title, and no single-processor
title, as well as no multi-processor title). The winner of the tournament will also be awarded a cash
prize of € 1,000.

4. There will be a separate 9-round Swiss tournament for a permanent trophy and the title World
Computer Speed Chess Champion.

5. Unless otherwise specified, rules of play are identical to those of human tournament play. In
particular this holds for claiming a draw with respect to the three-times-repetition rule (see ICGA
Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1, News section). If a point is in question, the Tournament Director has the
right to make the final decision (with due respect to the Committee of Appeal).
6. Each game is played on a chessboard with a chess clock provided by the Tournament Committee.
7. At the end of each game, both teams are required to send in a game listing to the Tournament
Director in electronic (PGN) form.
8. The Tournament Director will be Professor H. Jaap van den Herik. He has the power to designate
assistants with the appropriate power to decide in cases of dispute.
9. In the event of any rule disputes, or changes necessitated by circumstances at the time, the
Tournament Director’s decision shall be final (with due respect to the Committee of Appeal).
10. The members of the Appeal Committee will be agreed upon during the participants’ meeting on
September 25th 2010.
11. The entry fees for the WCCC (exclusive of membership fee of the ICGA for 2010 for at least one
person) are as follows:
Amateur: € 25
Semi-professional: € 250
Professional: € 500

The definitions are the same as used in the past. They read as follows.
“Amateur”: programmers who have no commercial interest in their program, and are not
professional game programmers. The program’s name must not be derived from or similar
to a commercial product. Applicants for the amateur classification must supply
information to justify their claim.

“Semi-professional”: Any program submitted by an employee or associate from a games-
programming company. The program’s name must not be derived from or similar to a
commercial product.

“Professional”: A program of which the name is the same as or derived from a commercial
product.

Participants are not required to send their entry fee with their entry form. This is to allow
participants to confirm their entries when they know whether or not they will receive one of the
ten travel subsidies, each of € 1,000, being offered by the ICGA. If the number of entries for
Kanazawa is the same as for Pamplona in 2009, which was ten, then all participants will receive
the travel subsidy. In the case of participants who are awarded a travel subsidy their entry fees
Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship 3
will be deducted from the subsidy when it is paid. Participants who are not going to receive a
travel subsidy will be advised in due course as to when their entry fees need to be paid.

Entry forms are available at http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/e ... .php?id=40

Entries received by May 31 will be eligible for consideration for travel subsidies.
Entries received after May 31 will only be eligible for a travel subsidy if the ten subsidies are not
already allocated to participants who entered by that date.

The acceptance or rejection of an entry will be determined by the ICGA President in consultation
with the Tournament Director. Notification of acceptance will be given as soon as possible, and in
any event not later than June 30, 2010, provided of course that the entry is received in due time.


GENERAL RULES – WORLD CHESS SOFTWARE CHAMPIONSHIP

1. The World Chess Software Championship follows the tournament rules given below.
2. The tournament will be a 9-round Swiss-system event, using standard (non-accelerated) Swiss
pairings. The provisional playing schedule is announced on the ICGA website.
3. The winner of the Tournament will be awarded (1) a trophy, for keeping permanently; and (2) the
title of World Chess Software Champion 2010.
4. Unless otherwise specified, rules of play are identical to those of human tournament play. In
particular this holds for claiming a draw with respect to the three-times-repetition rule (see ICGA
Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1, News section). If a point is in question, the Tournament Director has the
right to make the final decision (with due respect to the Committee of Appeal).
5. Each game is played on a chessboard with a chess clock provided by the Tournament Committee.
6. At the end of each game, both teams are required to send in a game listing to the Tournament
Director in electronic (PGN) form.
7. The Tournament Director will be Professor H. Jaap van den Herik. He has the power to designate
assistants with the appropriate power to decide in cases of dispute.
8. In the event of any rule disputes, or changes necessitated by circumstances at the time, the
Tournament Director’s decision shall be final (with due respect to the Committee of Appeal).
9. The members of the Appeal Committee will be agreed upon during the participants’ meeting on
September 25th 2010.
10. The entry fees for the WCSC (exclusive of membership fee of the ICGA for 2010 for at least one
person) are as follows.

For programs that are also participating in the 18th World Computer Chess Championship and
have paid the appropriate entry fee for that tournament, no charge.

For other programs the entry fees, definitions and payment requirements are all as in rule 11 for
the World Computer Chess Championship.

Entry forms are available at http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/e ... .php?id=40

The acceptance or rejection of an entry will be determined by the ICGA President in consultation with
the Tournament Director. Notification of acceptance will be given as soon as possible, and in any event
not later than June 30, 2010, provided of course that the entry is received in due time.

Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship
4

18th WORLD COMPUTER CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT RULES

1. Each entry is a computing system and one or more humans who programmed it. In the
computer system there is no restriction on the hardware. At least one of the program
developers should attend the WCCC to operate the program, otherwise the entry fee for the
program is doubled.
2. Each program must be the original work of the entering developers. Programming teams
whose code is derived from or including game-playing code written by others must name all
other authors, or the source of such code, in the details of their submission form. Programs
which are discovered to be close derivatives of others (e.g., by playing nearly all moves the
same), may be declared invalid by the Tournament Director after seeking expert advice. For
this purpose a listing of all game-related code running on the system must be available on
demand to the Tournament Director.
3. Participants are required to attend an organizational meeting on September 25, 2010 prior to
the start of the tournament for the purpose of officially registering for the tournament.
Operational rules will be finalized at that meeting.
4 The format of each tournament and the rate of play will generally be determined by the
Tournament Director according to the number of programs entered and any other relevant
factors. The 18th World Computer-Chess Championship (WCCC) is assumed to be a Swiss-
system event with 11 rounds in which the rate of play will be all moves in 1 hour 45 minutes
plus an increment of 15 seconds per move.
5 An operator error made when starting a game or in the middle of a game can be corrected only
with the approval of the Tournament Director. If an operator enters an incorrect move, the
Tournament Director must be notified immediately. Both clocks will be stopped. The game
must then be backed up to where the error occurred. Clocks will be corrected and the settings
at the time when the error occurred will be reinstated using whatever information is available.
Both sides may then adjust their program parameters with the approval of the Tournament
Director. The Tournament Director may allow certain program parameters to be changed.
6 All monitors must be positioned so that the operator’s activities are clearly visible to the
opponent. An operator may only: a) enter moves, b) respond to a request from the computer
for clock information, and c) synchronize the computer clock to the normal chess clock.
Misuse of this rule will be punished by the Tournament Director. If an operator needs to enter
other information, it must be approved ahead of time by the Tournament Director. The
operator may not query the system to see if it is alive without the permission of the
Tournament Director.
7 A team must receive permission from the Tournament Director to change from one computing
system to another.
8 Tie-breaking: (a) if precisely two participants are tied for first place, two play-off games of
one hour per side are to be played. At the longest, such a match may take four hours. Should
that match be drawn, then one sudden death1 game should be played (White 12 minutes, Black
10 minutes); (b) whenever two or more teams have an equal number of points, a tie-ranking
order is defined as follows. The dominant ranking is by the sum of the opponents’ scores. If
there is still a tie, the sum of the respective programs’ cumulative scores after each round (i.e.,
score after round-1 + score after round-2 + …. + score after last-round) will be used; (c) if
three or more participants are tied for first place, then the two participants ranked most highly
are to be determined by the tie-ranking order in (b). This pair of participants then play off as in
(a).
9 For the play-off procedure for the first place as given in rule 8, the colour assignment is as
follows. In the first match game the colours are reversed with respect to the game played in
the tournament. In the sudden-death game the following rules apply: (1) if possible, the colour
division in the tournament (play-off match inclusive) will be settled at 7 – 7; if this is
impossible then (2) the colours of the game played in the tournament will be reversed.

1
The outcome of a sudden-death game is defined as follows. White wins the sudden-death game if White wins the
game, otherwise Black wins.
Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship 5
2010 WORLD CHESS SOFTWARE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT RULES

The tournament rules for this championship are the same as for the WCCC except for the following.


4 The format of the tournament is assumed to be a Swiss-system event with 9 rounds in which
the rate of play will be all moves in 45 minutes plus an increment of 15 seconds per move.

PRIZE MONEY FOR SHOGI, GO, AND CHESS

The organisation of the Computer Olympiad, the World Computer Chess Championship, and the
Computers and Games Conference (CG2010) is only possible by external support. In 2010 we are
happy to organize the three events at the Japanese Advanced Institute for Science and Technology
(JAIST).

Owing to our longstanding activities, over the years we have received many signs of credits from all
over the world. For 2010 the credits materialized in enabling the ICGA to supply three competitions
with some prize money. The three competitions are Shogi, 19x19 Go, and Chess (the World Computer
Chess Championship).

First prize for Shogi, 19x19 Go, and Chess amounts to 1,000 Euro.

To encourage the development of computer games programming in Asia, the ICGA agreed to stimulate
Shogi and Go programmers even more by providing the following 2nd, 3rd, and 4th prize.

For Shogi and 19x19 Go: Second prize 500 Euro
Third prize 300 Euro
Fourth prize 200 Euro

The ICGA emphasises to state that the current action is not guaranteed to be repeated annually.
Certainly, we will do our utmost to have it as a tradition.
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

Hans and I have both booked the same flight and Hotel. So Hiarcs and Rybka will both be there. Let's hope we also qualify for one of the 1000 Euro grants that are available.
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

Here is the preliminary list of participants:

Darmenios, Dariusz Czechowski, Poland, Amateur;
Deep Junior, Amir Ban, Israel, Professional;
Fridolin, Christian Sommerfeld, Germany, Amateur;
Hector for Chess, Csaba Jergler, Hungary, Amateur;
Jonny, Johannes Zwanzger, Germany, Amateur;
Pandix, Gyula Horvath, Hungary , Amateur;
Rondo, Zach Wegner & Anthony Cozzie, USA, Amateur;
Shredder, Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, Germany, Professional;
Squarknll, Johandry Gonzalez Espin, Cuba, Amateur;
Thinker, Kerwin Medina, USA, Amateur;
Hiarcs, Mark Uniacke, England, Professional;
Rybka, Vasik Rajlich, USA, Professional;
Program name to be advised, Gian-Carlo Pascutto, Belgium, Amateur;
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

It seems if you rename your program you can enter as an amateur!? So what shall we call Hiarcs?
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Post by Watchman »

I think it is good to follow the Gian on this...

"Program name to be advised" is sufficient for now.
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

Watchman wrote:I think it is good to follow the Gian on this...

"Program name to be advised" is sufficient for now.
How about 'the program formally known as....'

precedent here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_%28musician%29
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Post by Watchman »

Harvey Williamson wrote:How about 'the program formally known as....'

precedent here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_%28musician%29
Wow! Now that is great idea!

So we need to come up with some sort of funkedelic Symbol... maybe one that combines man, machine and chess or none of those. 8)
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Post by Watchman »

Ok I've come up with 4 ideas...

Image

Image

Image

Image

The last one is my favorite for the "New Hiarcs Name"



Used in a sentence, it might look something like this:


"Can anyone tell me when the new Image will be out? Mark or Harvey you there? When the new version of Image please..."
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

Watchman wrote:

"Can anyone tell me when the new Image will be out? Mark or Harvey you there? When the new version of Image please..."
While this is fabulous I prefer

"Can anyone tell me when the new Image will be out? Mark or Harvey you there? When the new version of Image please..."
Last edited by Harvey Williamson on Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:35 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Sebastian Boehme »

Thanks to Eros I got informed about this thread.

I prefer my photo not being used for any foolish stuff. You can put yourselves there if it makes you happy, but please remove my photo from here.

Kind regards,
Sebastian
Nothingness! Sheer nothingness!
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

that last posts gives me an idea!

How about Full House or The Flush

Image

while the above would do for either perhaps the 2nd needs

Image
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

Sebastian Boehme wrote:Thanks to Eros I got informed about this thread.

I prefer my photo not being used for any foolish stuff. You can put yourselves there if it makes you happy, but please remove my photo from here.

Kind regards,
Sebastian
Done http://hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=46443#46443
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Post by WinKing »

Hey Harvey you can use my photo if you like. My friends call me 'Roid'. Would make a good name for a new 'strong' program.

Image
Semper ubi sub ubi (Roman Proverb)
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Post by mackgra »

Harvey Williamson wrote:
Watchman wrote:I think it is good to follow the Gian on this...

"Program name to be advised" is sufficient for now.
How about 'the program formally known as....'

precedent here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_%28musician%29
:lol: I can't believe all of this. Maybe we ought to call it 'the progamme that shall not be named' or 'the entity that shall not be referred to'.

Personally i quite like to keep it simple with something like 'Terminator'
Image
Ought to scare the opposition at the very least :)
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Post by Harvey Williamson »

There is a serious point to all this. Sjeng and Zappa have renamed their engines and thus are allowed to enter as amateurs and not pay the 500 Euro entry fee.

We asked if we could rename Hiarcs and do the same. We were told that this would be fine. So I guess Amir, Stefan and Vas can also do the same.

We do not want to bend the rules in this way and so have withdrawn from Japan.

this is the ICGA definition of an amateur
"“Amateur”: programmers who have no commercial interest in their program, and are not
professional game programmers. The program’s name must not be derived from or similar
to a commercial product. Applicants for the amateur classification must supply
information to justify their claim."
They also claim:
The ICGA is continuing its policy on this point and will be more rigorous than in the past when determining the status of participants."
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