Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!uwvax!oddjob!gargoyle!att!alberta!jonathan
From: jonathan@alberta.UUCP (Jonathan Schaeffer)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: computer chess
Message-ID: <1503@pembina.UUCP>
Date: 3 Aug 88 19:47:36 GMT
References: <46400011@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> <376@ksr.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Lines: 43

In article <376@ksr.UUCP>, richt@breakpoint.ksr.com (Rich Title) writes:
> There's a Carnegie Mellon PhD thesis by Carl Eberling, 
> that was published (by MIT press
> I think) under the title "All the Right Moves". It describes HiTech,
> the current world computer chess champion. That thesis in turn
> points to other papers on computer chess.

Hitech is NOT the World Computer Chess Champion.  In the last championship
in 1986, there was 1 4-way tie for first place between Cray Blitz,
Hitech, Bebe, and Phoenix.  Cray Blitz was awarded first place on tiebreak.

"All the Right Moves" is a good thesis, but is not the best place to
look for references.  The International Computer Chess Journal is published
quarterly with the latest in research results, tournaments, games, etc.
That is the best place to look.  Also, several computer chess bibliographies
have been published.  Perhaps the most comprehensive, albiet slightly out of
date, is Tony Marsland's (available as a technical report from the University
of Alberta).
 
> Carnegie Mellon seems to be *the* place for computer chess.
> Hans Berliner, former postal chess champion, is a comp sci
> professor there.

CMU is only one of a number of places with active computer chess groups.
Others include University of Alberta, McGill University, University of
Limburg, Bell Labs, Los Alamos National Lab, etc.
  
> The techniques used in the top machines such as HiTech represent
> impressive engineering, but aren't what most people think of
> as "AI". Very fast searching, aided by hardware that generates
> and evaluates moves in parallel and evaluates positions
> in parallel. 

True, but that is not all the things people are doing in computer chess.
As it stands right now, the strongest chess playing machines are more
engineering than science.  But do not underestimate the scientific
component of computer chess.  A lot of this work may not be high profile
unless it is incorporated as part of a winning chess program, but it
is still important, core AI research.

>     - Rich

      - Jonathan