Originally posted by Bad wolfRight on... but that says something about the only other competitive game played on that board. Looks to me like perfect chess = draw.
Ha!
Long live chess!!
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn12296-checkers-solved-after-years-of-number-crunching.html
Too bad though...
Interesting article.
"Schaeffer has also released an updated version of a draughts-playing programme called Chinook. In the 1990s, this program failed to beat the then world champion Marion Tinsley, who is widely regarded as the greatest Checkers player ever. Before his death, in 1995, Tinsley lost only 9 games in a 45-year playing career."
Even in the 90's the best computer program couldn't beat him, I don't think the same is true of chess programs at the time and top level players. That says a lot about either the man, or the lack of interest in checkers programs.
45 years of tournament play and he lost only 9 games? Has any chess player ever come close to that? Tinsley was a checkers playin' demon!
By the way, how do you pronounce "draughts"? Is it drafts? Drawts? WHAT??
I think the game is technically not solved - the USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/mathscience/2007-07-19-checkers-solved_N.htm
It merely says that:
Schaeffer's proof is what is called a "weakly solved" result. It calculates the result from an initial position — 10 pieces on the board — rather than from the beginning of the game.
Could Schaeffer's team produce a "strong solution" by calculating every position from the beginning of a game? Maybe, but there is not enough computer power available, he said. It took more than 18 years to get where they are now.
So they've only truly solved the game with 10 pieces on the board or less. However, I'm guessing what they're saying is that out of any opening, all lines seem to lead into these 10-piece endgames. Or, all the news outlets got it wrong and it's only solved for 10-pieces-or-less, which wouldn't shock me either.
Originally posted by Sam The ShamThere are only 27 losses for Morphy listed on chessgames.com.
45 years of tournament play and he lost only 9 games? Has any chess player ever come close to that? Tinsley was a checkers playin' demon!
I think Capablanca only lost 35 tournament or match games in his career, and of course he famously went eight years without a loss.
I own a book called "How to beat Bobby Fischer" which had all his losses up to the point that the book had been published (I think after his first retirement after the 1972 match) and there were 61 games in the book.