From: don@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Don Beal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: QMW uniform-platform computer chess tournament
Date: 18 Aug 92 15:01:18 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

Here are the results of the QMW "uniform platform" computer chess
tournament.   The idea of this tournament was to provide the same
computer to each contestant so that the _programs_ were being compared,
rather than the progam+computer combination.  Also, to make
machine tournaments easier to run, an autoplay mechanism was
specified and provided to entrants, so that the computers interacted
directly, instead of via human operators.   There were 2 divisions -
(1) programs for PCs, and (2) programs written in C, as these seemed
to be the two largest world-wide platforms on which programs are
developed.

Gnuchess won the C-language division, and placed equal-second in the
PC division.  This was somewhat surprising, as the C-language division,
although having only 5 entrants, did have the former world-computer-chess
championship contender Phoenix, and also, since Gnuchess is freely
available in source form, and assuming it is not the ultimate best
way to utilise processor time, one assumes that some programs will
have found ways to better it.  However, with such a small number
of entrants, conclusions should not be drawn too hastily.

The winner of the PC division was M-Chess.  Also, because Gnuchess
won the C-language division and participated in both divisions,
M-Chess can be considered to have become overall champion of the
whole event.


                QMW  UNIFORM-PLATFORM  AUTOPLAY
                   COMPUTER-CHESS TOURNAMENT
                            1992

For this first such tournament, there were five entrants in each division.

C Language Division
Program:        Author(s)
PHOENIX         Jonathan Schaeffer,  CANADA
PROCHESS        Tom Pronk,  HOLLAND
NOTCHESS        Andy Walker,  UK
ARES            Frans van Gool  &  Erik Leenders,  HOLLAND
GNU 3.1         Various,  USA.

PC Division
Program:        Author(s)
MCHESS          Marty Hirsch,  USA
NOW             Mark Lefler,  USA
SCHACH 3.0      Matthias Engelbach  &  Thomas Kreitmair,  GERMANY & HOLLAND
PAWNDER         Truman Collins,  USA
GNU 3.1         Various,  USA

The tournament was played as an all-play-all event with each program
playing two games (black and white) against each adversary.


C-DIVISION:
----------
         \  White
           \
             \   PHOENIX  PROCHESS   ARES   NOTCHESS  GNU3.1
 Black         \
-------------------------------------------------------------|
                |\       |        |        |        |        |
                |  \     |0.5-0.5 | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 1 - 0  | 2.5
PHOENIX         |    \   |        |        |        |        |
                |      \ |        |        |        |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |\       |        |        |        |
                | 1 - 0  |  \     | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 1 - 0  | 2
PROCHESS        |        |    \   |        |        |        |
                |        |      \ |        |        |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |        |\       |        |        |
                | 1 - 0  | 1 - 0  |  \     | 0 - 1  | 1 - 0  | 1
ARES            |        |        |    \   |        |        |
                |        |        |      \ |        |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |        |        |\       |        |
                | 1 - 0  | 1 - 0  | 1 - 0  |  \     | 1 - 0  | 0
NOTCHESS        |        |        |        |    \   |        |
                |        |        |        |      \ |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |        |        |        |\       |
                | 0 - 1  |0.5-0.5 | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  |  \     | 3.5
GNU3.1          |        |        |        |        |    \   |
                |        |        |        |        |      \ |
-------------------------------------------------------------|
                    3        3         1        0       4

         score   position
GNU3.1    7.5     1
PHOENIX   5.5     2
PROCHESS  5       3
ARES      2       4
NOTCHESS  0       5


PC-DIVISION:
-----------
         \  White
           \
             \   MCHESS     NOW    PAWNDER  SCHACH3.0  GNU3.1
 Black         \
-------------------------------------------------------------|
                |\       |        |        |        |        |
                |  \     |0.5-0.5 | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 3.5
MCHESS          |    \   |        |        |        |        |
                |      \ |        |        |        |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |\       |        |        |        |
                | 1 - 0  |  \     | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 3
NOW             |        |    \   |        |        |        |
                |        |      \ |        |        |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |        |\       |        |        |
                | 1 - 0  | 1 - 0  |  \     | 1 - 0  | 1 - 0  | 0
PAWNDER         |        |        |    \   |        |        |
                |        |        |      \ |        |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |        |        |\       |        |
                | 1 - 0  |0.5-0.5 | 0 - 1  |  \     | 1 - 0  | 1.5
SCHACH 3.0      |        |        |        |    \   |        |
                |        |        |        |      \ |        |
                ----------------------------------------------
                |        |        |        |        |\       |
                | 1 - 0  | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  | 0 - 1  |  \     | 3
GNU3.1          |        |        |        |        |    \   |
                |        |        |        |        |      \ |
-------------------------------------------------------------|
                    4        2         0        1       2

        score   position
MCHESS    7.5     1
NOW       5       2
GNU3.1    5       2
SCHACH3.0 2.5     4
PAWNDER   0       5


Don Beal
Tournament Organiser