Computer Checkers World Championship in Las Vegas

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

I am looking for any information about the tournament "Computer Checkers World Championship in Las Vegas 2002". What versions of the programs were playing and what was the time to play. Please also write where I can get all the games from this tournament. I would like to thank everyone in advance for any information.

[jimloy]

I don't know the details. I just posted the games (and a small amount of info) at:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4442

[Ed Gilbert]

There are two detailed papers about this event.

"Nemesis wins the Computer Checkers World Championship in Las Vegas" by Martin Fierz: http://www.fierz.ch/vegas.htm

"Nemesis is World Computer Checkers Champion" by Murray Cash, via the WayBack Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20040903181 ... /vegas.htm

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Please write if anyone remembers what time it was to play and what software versions were played at the tournament.

[Ed Gilbert]

Please write if anyone remembers what time it was to play and what software versions were played at the tournament.

You can find that info using the Wayback machine. The full rules of the tournament were published here: https://web.archive.org/web/20030618233 ... ct004.html. In that document, the time control was described:

(6.5.4) Each game will have "incremental" time controls: Game in 20 minutes plus 1. Thus a game with 26 moves would allow each computer system 46 (20+26) minutes, which is equivalent to 34 moves per hour.

Program versions were described in Martin's match report:

Nemesis is a commercial program, which is selling for 119$. The only difference between the commercial version and the one in the tournament was that the 'vegas' version had a bit a larger opening book. KingsRow and Cake are both available as free downloads on the internet, but the versions which we were using in las Vegas were much more powerful than the ones you can download - using the 8-piece database instead of the 6-piece database, with many bugfixes, and with much larger opening books. Cake 'las Vegas' beat the current version, Cake++ 1.41 in a test match just before the tournament with 20 wins to one loss in 122 games. The version of KingsRow playing in las Vegas beat the version of KingsRow on the net with 15 wins to zero losses in 122 games.

As Martin described, each program was not the same as the released versions available to the public. They had modifications to the opening books and the search engines that were made for the tournament. Even the time control was special code, as the publicly available versions of checkerboard, cake, and kingsrow did not have incremental time control. This feature was added to the programs as special modifications for the tournament.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

And what you can get from this tournament. I mean the software and the GUI for the game.

[Ed Gilbert]

I no longer have those old programs. For kingsrow, the best you can do is download version 1.13i from the Wayback Machine, which is available in this February 2003 snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20030214195 ... ngsRow.htm. It is very close to the version used in Las Vegas.
For cake, checkerboard, and nemesis, you can browse to see what is available in the Wayback Machine, or ask Martin and Murray if they have the old versions.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Thanks Ed. Write what you know what endgame database to download, the one that was at the tournament in Las Vegas. And are you able to find the versions somewhere KingsRow 1.12v. The one who played in Las Vegas.

[Ed Gilbert]

Thanks Ed. Write what you know what endgame database to download, the one that was at the tournament in Las Vegas. And are you able to find the versions somewhere KingsRow 1.12v. The one who played in Las Vegas.

If you use 1.13i, it works with either the cake db or the chinook db.

I do not have anything as old as those versions. Whatever you can find on the Wayback Machine is all there is.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

I do not have anything as old as those versions. Whatever you can find on the Wayback Machine is all there is.

And you can write me what GUI you used and indicate the database of endings to download. I mean the base of endings, those that were used in the tournament in Las Vegas. Used by Cake and Kingsrow. Ed you can see the revision from this page https://web.archive.org/web/20020804150 ... ngsRow.htm

[Ed Gilbert]

As I said, kingsrow 1.13i is the only version available on the Wayback Machine that is close to the version used in Las Vegas. The exact version that was used in Las Vegas cannot be resurrected. Use it with either the cake or chinook 8-piece db. Those dbs have not changed since 2002.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

As I said, kingsrow 1.13i is the only version available on the Wayback Machine that is close to the version used in Las Vegas. The exact version that was used in Las Vegas cannot be resurrected. Use it with either the cake or chinook 8-piece db. Those dbs have not changed since 2002.

Ed are they the ending databases from the Las Vegas tournament on the site http://www.fierz.ch/download.php

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

Ed could you use this GUI during the tournament in Las Vegas.

[Ed Gilbert]

Ed are they the ending databases from the Las Vegas tournament on the site http://www.fierz.ch/download.php

Yes.

Ed could you use this GUI during the tournament in Las Vegas.

The tournament was in August. That version of CB says October, so it cannot be the one used. But it may be the closest one you will find.

[Krzysztof Grzelak]

I'm looking for a Cake checkers engine, but only in the 2002 "Las Vegas" version. Which supports the database 8 pieces.