Deep Blitz: taking on Deep Blue with a PC

[YKhan]

I found this a fascinating article, lots of detail about chess program
optimizations and stuff, and none of it bores you.

Project Deep Blitz: Master-Level Chess on a PC--ExtremeTech Feature
"Since that time I've wanted a chess computer as powerful as Deep
Blue-my own world-champion-level sparring partner."
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1915527,00.asp

Yousuf Khan

 

[Sean Cousins]

I found this a fascinating article, lots of detail about chess program
optimizations and stuff, and none of it bores you.

Project Deep Blitz: Master-Level Chess on a PC--ExtremeTech Feature
"Since that time I've wanted a chess computer as powerful as Deep
Blue-my own world-champion-level sparring partner."
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1915527,00.asp

Yousuf Khan

I don't need a Deep Blue level of chess partner, these two free chess
programs are hard enough for me.

http://www.arasanchess.org/

http://www.pawnchess.com/

 

[YKhan]

I don't need a Deep Blue level of chess partner, these two free chess
programs are hard enough for me.

http://www.arasanchess.org/

http://www.pawnchess.com/

I am the world's worst chess player. I stopped trying after a while.
Then one day I got into Battle Chess: Chinese Chess. I was occasionally
beating that game (albeit at low difficulty levels), so I was so happy,
thought I finally found my game. I liked the animations too. Then one
day some friends of my parents came by and they brought their prodigy
son with them. I showed him the game on my PC, and gave him a few basic
rules of the chinese game, and the guy picked up within minutes, and
then told me to crank up the difficulty level right upto 9/9. And he
beat the machine by the first time! I never touched that game ever
again, made my brain look bad.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Sean Cousins]

I am the world's worst chess player. I stopped trying after a while.
Then one day I got into Battle Chess: Chinese Chess. I was occasionally
beating that game (albeit at low difficulty levels), so I was so happy,
thought I finally found my game. I liked the animations too. Then one
day some friends of my parents came by and they brought their prodigy
son with them. I showed him the game on my PC, and gave him a few basic
rules of the chinese game, and the guy picked up within minutes, and
then told me to crank up the difficulty level right upto 9/9. And he
beat the machine by the first time! I never touched that game ever
again, made my brain look bad.

Yousuf Khan

Haha...I play Chessmaster on Grandmaster level, that way I have an
excuse for losing every game. I would probably lose every game on the
easiest level too.

 

[gaf1234567890]

I found this a fascinating article, lots of detail about chess program
optimizations and stuff, and none of it bores you.

That was a good article.

The one thing that was pretty disappointing is that the article talks
over and over about the matchup between the systems ... and in the end
.... they didn't get a chance to actually play each other ??? Just seems
like they could have chosen different way word it all along (ie If,
Might, Maybe, Could, Probably, etc).

 

[Yousuf Khan]

That was a good article.

The one thing that was pretty disappointing is that the article talks
over and over about the matchup between the systems ... and in the end
... they didn't get a chance to actually play each other ??? Just seems
like they could have chosen different way word it all along (ie If,
Might, Maybe, Could, Probably, etc).

I think what they're mostly waiting for is a grid-capable chess program.
It's obvious that no 4-core Opteron system could seriously hope to keep
up with Deep Blue.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Del Cecchi]

I think what they're mostly waiting for is a grid-capable chess
program. It's obvious that no 4-core Opteron system could seriously
hope to keep up with Deep Blue.

Yousuf Khan

Has Deep Blue been updated? When was the hardware for deep blue built?

del

 

[Keith]

Has Deep Blue been updated? When was the hardware for deep blue built?

Has there been another challenge?

 

[YKhan]

Has Deep Blue been updated? When was the hardware for deep blue built?

1997. According to the article it consisted of 32 Power2 cores, and
about 512 specialized "chess processors", and cost IBM $100M. They're
seeing what they can now manage with off-the-shelf hardware.

Yousuf Khan

 

[YKhan]

Has there been another challenge?

No, they're just trying to see if they can match or exceed Deep Blue
nowadays with commodity hardware with less cost. Deep Blue cost $100M.

I gather that once grid-capable chess programs are available, the next
generation of chess machines will be going in the same direction as
supercomputers have gone towards superclusters.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Tony Hill]

I found this a fascinating article, lots of detail about chess program
optimizations and stuff, and none of it bores you.

Project Deep Blitz: Master-Level Chess on a PC--ExtremeTech Feature
"Since that time I've wanted a chess computer as powerful as Deep
Blue-my own world-champion-level sparring partner."
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1915527,00.asp

A lot of what this article boils down to is simply a comparison of
ASICs designed for a very specific task vs. general purpose CPUs. The
result, which is not at all surprising, is that for a specific task,
ASICs can do a whole lot better.

 

[Keith]

No, they're just trying to see if they can match or exceed Deep Blue
nowadays with commodity hardware with less cost. Deep Blue cost $100M.

It doesn't take long to eat through $100M on a one-off design. That's
only 40-50 warm.body-years.

I gather that once grid-capable chess programs are available, the next
generation of chess machines will be going in the same direction as
supercomputers have gone towards superclusters.

Hmm, maybe that's the real purpose behind the Cell. ;-)

 

[Del Cecchi]

It doesn't take long to eat through $100M on a one-off design. That's
only 40-50 warm.body-years.


Hmm, maybe that's the real purpose behind the Cell. ;-)

100M/50 = 2M/PY. You guys must make a lot more than us E&TS guys.
damn, I knew I deserved a raise.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

100M/50 = 2M/PY. You guys must make a lot more than us E&TS guys.
damn, I knew I deserved a raise.

Don't forget managers and execs count as warm bodies too.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Rob Stow]

100M/50 = 2M/PY. You guys must make a lot more than us E&TS guys.
damn, I knew I deserved a raise.

I've had a couple of jobs working for PhD's doing medical
research. By the time you factor in equipment costs, office
space, clerical support, technical support, etc., for every
dollar of PhD salary there was 10+ dollars spent on other things.

 

[Keith]

100M/50 = 2M/PY. You guys must make a lot more than us E&TS guys.
damn, I knew I deserved a raise.

Ok, it seems I can't get the decades right. Maybe that's why I made
more a decade ago than today. ...and *WE* make money? 72% this year. :-(

Tis' a damned good thin that AMD is making someone money! ;-)

 

[Al Dykes]

1997. According to the article it consisted of 32 Power2 cores, and
about 512 specialized "chess processors", and cost IBM $100M. They're
seeing what they can now manage with off-the-shelf hardware.

Yousuf Khan

IBM's way beyond that, now.

http://www.top500.org/lists/2005/11/basic

131,072 processors.

http://www.research.ibm.com/bluegene/


Late last year I saw a presentation by a couple of the engineers on
that project. Neat.

 

[Del Cecchi]

IBM's way beyond that, now.

http://www.top500.org/lists/2005/11/basic

131,072 processors.

http://www.research.ibm.com/bluegene/


Late last year I saw a presentation by a couple of the engineers on
that project. Neat.

Yeah. I heard the hardware was done by some farmers out on the tundra in
flyover land. Will wonders never cease?.

 

[David Kanter]

Yeah. I heard the hardware was done by some farmers out on the tundra in

flyover land. Will wonders never cease?.

Really? I heard the farmers decided that they should let the cows do
it...

DK

 

[Keith Williams]

Really? I heard the farmers decided that they should let the cows do
it...

Wrong farm. The cows are in Vermont. The tundra farmers heard
corn. ;-)