From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!gatech!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!sagi.wistar.upenn.edu Fri Sep  4 09:41:44 EDT 1992
Article 6771 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Checkers master beats computer
Message-ID: <87846@netnews.upenn.edu>
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:27:22 GMT
References: <1992Aug30.195848.6377@unocal.com>
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Reply-To: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Organization: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology
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In-reply-to: stgprao@st.unocal.COM (Richard Ottolini)

In article <1992Aug30.195848.6377@unocal.com>, stgprao@st (Richard Ottolini) writes:
>CBS news announced that the world checkers champ beat a computer 4-2 games.
>I thought checkers was ceded to computers a couple decades ago because
>those programs are easier to write than chess.

So?  Qubic is perhaps the most complex game currently solved by computer.

This event has been discussed in rec.games.chess, in case you're interested.
You'll have to go back 300 articles or so--something about a Fischer-Spassky
rematch seems to have taken over the newsgroup for some reason.

To summarize, Tinsley, a mathematics professor, has been world champion for
something like four decades.  Chinook, the computer that he played, has had
the number two ranking for the past few years.  The international checkers
federation refused to sanction their championship match, so Tinsley resigned
his title (he's still the world champion as far as reality is concerned) and
took on the computer.  Before this match, he had lost 5 games since becoming
champion, and never twice in the same match.

In addition to the 4-2 win/loss record, there were 33 draws.  (The match
was set for best out of 40).  The match was run at typical tournament
pacing, which meant that many commentators were wondering if fatigue was
going to unfairly affect Tinsley, who is now in his 60s.  Apparently not,
and indeed the opposite may have occurred: Tinsley improved as the match
went on, perhaps merely from understanding his opponent better, but also
perhaps from the momentum of his psychological buildup.
-- 
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)


