Top computers will also meet

Just like the last Wch, during this Wch in Mexico City a computer match will be held, starting tomorrow. The strongest engines of the moment will meet: Rybka (who became computer world champion this summer) and Zappa (world champ in 2005 and vice champion in 2007). The match consists of 10 games, with a time control of 60 minutes plus 20 seconds per move. We have the (quite interesting) press conference already on video.

The schedule of the match: 20 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 1 21 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 2 22 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Games 3 and 4 23 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 5 24 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 6 25 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 7 26 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 8 and 9 27 September ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Game 10

Since we've published quite some articles on Rybka already here on ChessVibes, at the moment we presume the program doesn't need an introduction. Zappa is best known for its good parallel speedup, which means it radically improves when used on a dual core, 4- or 8-core (which is used during this match). Its best result was of course winning the world championship in Reykjavik in 2005, scoring 10.5/11. The programmer is Anthony Cozzie, a PhD student in computer science from the USA who happens to work for Google as well.

Here's the press conference, where various topics were discussed; from the horizon in computer chess and the danger for chess being solved to the Freestyle tournaments and even cheating in computer chess.

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