From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 17 may 2004 Subject: Report on the 14th Computer Shogi Championships (as always LONG ;-) =========================================================== Looking for a Promotional or Marketing Gift? Discover Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty in grown up handfuls. It's the creativity unleashing, mood enhancing desk toy customized with your corporate image! http://click.topica.com/caaceBca2i6YsbnuqMaa/ Crazy Aaron Enterprises =========================================================== Hi all, Here is a report I have written on the CSA World Computer Shogi Championships played two weeks ago. It can also be read on my webpage (including pictures!): http://gamelab.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/SHOGI/CSA2004/14csa.html Reijer ========================================================== The 14th CSA World Computer Shogi Championship Kazusa Academic Park, Kisarazu, Japan May 2-4, 2004 Introduction ============ This year I was particularly looking forward to the CSA world computer shogi championships. This was not because my own program SPEAR had suddenly become much stronger, because it hadn't. The main reason was that I was looking forward to three days of computer shogi. Last year, I only arrived on the evening of the first day, played the second day and left early on the day of the finals. This year, because of a move from Saga to Yamagata (which is still not that close, but much closer), I could stay until after the final round was finished. Furthermore, because I lost my seeded position last year, I would have to start from the bottom of the tournament and with a bit of luck I would be able to play two full days. Luck was indeed what I needed, because not only had I changed jobs just a month before the tournament (which included a 1200 kilometer move), I also had just become a father. Privately things couldn't be better, but such things really mess up tournament preparation. In the end, I had to enter the tournament with a half-baked, badly tested version. It wasn't even clear if the current version was better than last year's. Still, to test a new program there is nothing better than a tournament, so I never even considered entering last year's version. I was quite confident that the new version would be good enough to clear the first preliminary stage. Confidence that was not based on much, as it turned out. The First Preliminary Stage =========================== The number of entries in the first preliminary stage was a little bit disappointing. When the deadline for entries closed in December, 62 programs had applied, but in the end only 43 made it to the tournament. 24 of these played in the first preliminary round for eight spots in the second preliminary round. There were only two new programs this year (Kuma and Inaka Shodan) and these programs finished at the bottom of the table. As the average playing level of the programs is increasing, it seems harder and harder to make a new program. No Bingo Shogi this year (Bingo Shogi reached the finals last year as a first year entry). The first preliminary round was won by GPS. This program is a team effort by students from the University of Tokyo, who hope to get the same success as their seniors at the most prestigious university in Japan: IS Shogi and Gekisashi. On the second day it was shown that they need a little more work on the program before they can compete with IS and Gekisashi. SPEAR also qualified for the second day, but this turned out to be a much bumpier ride than I had hoped. Losses in the third and fourth round against Yano and Mattari Yuchan suddenly made qualification very doubtful, as I had to win all three remaining games to qualify. I succeeded in doing that, but was a little bit lucky with the pairing for the final round, which could have been much worse. SPEAR had problems beating Sexy AIchan, but was never in dire trouble, despite playing the middle game rather badly. Seeing the final mate displayed on the screen, with only three minutes left on the clock, was a great relief. At least I would be able to play nine more games. There were no real surprises among the other programs that qualified for the second day. K-Shogi, Aoi, Yano, Nazoteki-Denki and SPEAR had all dropped from the second qualification round last year. Oki qualified for the first time, but this was no big surprise, as the program actually qualified last year as well, but had to withdraw for the second day because of a sudden hospitalization of the programmer after the first day was finished. Of the eight programs, the only program that qualified for the first time was Shuto. Not a bad program, but it profited considerably from the tournament system. Losing its first two games, it took the back road of the Swiss system and qualified without playing any program ranked higher in the final standings. Tough luck for Mattari Yuchan, who started very well and then was knocked back by strong opposition. Only Aoi had a tougher schedule and I had the feeling that Aoi was actually the strongest program on the first day. I was very happy not be paired with it in the final round. Results of the first qualification round ---------------------------------------- No. Program Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pt SOS SB MD * 1 GPS 12+ 16+ 5+ 2- 9+ 19+ 4+ 6.0 29.0 23.0 16.0 * 2 K-Shogi 24+ 14+ 4- 1+ 20+ 11+ 6+ 6.0 25.0 20.0 14.0 * 3 Oki 4- 13+ 24+ 20+ 18+ 10+ 5+ 6.0 21.0 16.0 11.0 * 4 Aoi 3+ 21+ 2+ 9+ 6+ 5- 1- 5.0 34.0 23.0 15.0 * 5 Yano7 23+ 17+ 1- 7+ 19+ 4+ 3- 5.0 28.0 16.0 10.0 * 6 Nazoteki-Denki 11+ 15+ 13+ 19+ 4- 9+ 2- 5.0 27.0 16.0 10.0 * 7 SPEAR 16+ 12+ 9- 5- 15+ 14+ 17+ 5.0 25.0 16.0 9.0 * 8 Shuto 9- 18- 16+ 12+ 14+ 13+ 10+ 5.0 23.0 17.0 10.0 9 Mattari Yuchan 8+ 10+ 7+ 4- 1- 6- 21+ 4.0 32.0 16.0 9.0 10 Maruyama 18+ 9- 14+ 23+ 11+ 3- 8- 4.0 25.0 10.0 5.0 11 Shiju-no-Tenarai 6- 22+ 21+ 17+ 10- 2- 16+ 4.0 24.0 9.0 5.0 12 Sugi 1- 7- 23+ 8- 13+ 22+ 15+ 4.0 24.0 8.0 4.0 13 Fuku 21+ 3- 6- 15+ 12- 8- 18+ 3.0 27.0 7.0 2.0 14 Ujiie 20+ 2- 10- 18+ 8- 7- 19+ 3.0 26.0 6.0 2.0 15 Yamada 22+ 6- 17+ 13- 7- 18+ 12- 3.0 23.0 6.0 2.0 16 Daemon 7- 1- 8- 24+ 22+ 20+ 11- 3.0 23.0 3.0 1.0 17 Sexy AIchan 19+ 5- 15- 11- 24+ 23+ 7- 3.0 20.0 3.0 1.0 18 Hayabusa 10- 8+ 20+ 14- 3- 15- 13- 2.0 26.0 7.0 0.0 19 HIT ver.0.02 17- 23+ 22+ 6- 5- 1- 14- 2.0 24.0 2.0 0.0 20 Ryoma 14- 24+ 18- 3- 2- 16- 22+ 2.0 21.0 1.0 0.0 21 Narikin 13- 4- 11- 22- 23+ 24+ 9- 2.0 18.0 1.0 0.0 22 Tsubakihara 15- 11- 19- 21+ 16- 12- 20- 1.0 20.0 2.0 0.0 23 Kuma 5- 19- 12- 10- 21- 17- 24+ 1.0 20.0 0.0 0.0 24 Inaka Shodan 2- 20- 3- 16- 17- 21- 23- 0.0 23.0 0.0 0.0 * GPS, K-Shogi, Oki, Aoi, Yano 7, Nazoteki-Denki, SPEAR and Shuto qualify for the second qualification round. The Second Preliminary Stage ============================ Every year, the number of ex-finalists is growing a little in the second preliminary round, which means that the number of favorites for qualification is growing. The usual suspects were KCC, Eisei Meijin, Hyper Shogi, KFEnd, Kakinoki and Kanazawa. Furthermore, TACOS had shown steady progress in the past couple of years, and might be ready to make the jump this year. Also, Bingo Shogi could prove that last year's result was not a fluke. Already eight programs for five spots and there was always the chance that programs like Ryu-no-Tamago or Isobe, who had been close to qualification in the past, could cause an upset. There were no big surprises in the first two rounds, even though TACOS lost in the second round to Isobe. Kanazawa lost against Eisei Meijin and Bingo lost against Kakinoki, but these were games among qualification favorites. In round 3 the first big surprise: KCC lost to Ootsuki, which was not considered a favorite, but now had started with three victories. For KCC this could have been a costly loss, but as it turned out, the program won all its remaining games and qualified as the top program for the finals. That was basically it for the second day. Surprisingly, there were almost no other surprises. Except for KCC and TACOS, The five programs who qualified all lost only to programs that were ranked higher. Actually, TACOS qualified second by winning five straight games after the loss to Isobe, including wins against Kakinoki, Kanazawa and Eisei Meijin. A great run that was only stopped by a final round loss to KCC. Closest to qualification were Bingo and Kinoa. Bingo played Eisei Meijin and Kinoa played Kakinoki in the final round and a victory by Bingo and Kinoa would secure qualification. The programs could not pull it off, which meant that multiple tournament winner Kanazawa sneaked in as the final program and the only program with three losses. The prize for the most improved program should probably go to Nara Shogi, which ended the hopes of last year's finalists Hyper Shogi and KFEnd. A great performance, but losses against Kinoa and Bingo were too much to have a chance to reach the finals this year. At the bottom of the table, the status quo was also maintained. Of the eight programs that qualified on the first day, six programs went straight back down. Only Aoi and Nazoteki-denki took the seeded positions from Sekita and Usapyon, but only by their fingernails, as they qualified 15th and 16th (there are 16 seeds). SPEAR did as expected. I committed the deadly sin of game programmers, changing important parts of the program on the evening of the first day. However, the risk of having the program play worse were rather small and my overall impression was that the games on the second day were much better than on the first day. Still, it was not enough to win more than three games. The same result as last year, even though I ended two spots higher. Hopefully, I will be able to do more work on the program before next year's tournament. Results of the second qualification round ----------------------------------------- No. Program Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pt SOS SB MD * 1 KCC 23+ 8+ 14- 10+ 17+ 4+ 3+ 5+ 2+ 8.0 45.5 41.5 33.5 * 2 TACOS 19+ 11- 4+ 15+ 10+ 14+ 5+ 3+ 1- 7.0 49.0 36.0 26.0 * 3 Eisei-meijin 22+ 5+ 8+ 11+ 14+ 9+ 1- 2- 6+ 7.0 48.5 33.5 25.5 * 4 Kakinoki 18+ 6+ 2- 14+ 12+ 1- 13+ 9+ 8+ 7.0 48.0 33.0 24.0 * 5 Kanazawa 12+ 3- 11+ 7+ 18+ 6+ 2- 1- 13+ 6.0 51.5 29.5 20.5 6 Bingo 15+ 4- 13+ 19+ 11+ 5- 9+ 7+ 3- 6.0 47.5 27.5 18.5 7 Nara 8- 23+ 22+ 5- 9+ 10+ 14+ 6- 12+ 6.0 39.5 22.0 16.0 8 Kinoa 7+ 1- 3- 17+ 23+ 13= 22+ 19+ 4- 5.5 41.5 15.0 8.0 9 Hyper 10 17+ 13+ 10+ 12+ 7- 3- 6- 4- 20+ 5.0 46.5 20.5 12.5 10 KFEnd 16+ 21+ 9- 1- 2- 7- 17+ 20+ 15+ 5.0 43.0 17.0 10.0 11 Isobe 24+ 2+ 5- 3- 6- 18+ 19+ 12- 16+ 5.0 42.0 18.0 10.0 12 Sho-o 5- 22+ 24+ 9- 4- 17+ 18+ 11+ 7- 5.0 38.0 14.0 8.0 13 Ryu-no-Tamago 20+ 9- 6- 18+ 21+ 8= 4- 14+ 5- 4.5 42.5 13.0 6.0 14 Ootsuki 21+ 16+ 1+ 4- 3- 2- 7- 13- 19+ 4.0 49.5 18.0 7.0 15 Aoi 6- 18- 20- 2- 16+ 23+ 24+ 17+ 10- 4.0 33.0 9.0 4.0 16 Nazoteki-Denki 10- 14- 17- 20+ 15- 24+ 21+ 22+ 11- 4.0 30.0 9.0 5.0 17 SPEAR 9- 20+ 16+ 8- 1- 12- 10- 15- 24+ 3.0 40.5 8.0 3.0 18 GPS 4- 15+ 19+ 13- 5- 11- 12- 23+ 21- 3.0 38.5 8.0 3.0 19 K-Shogi 2- 24+ 18- 6- 20+ 21+ 11- 8- 14- 3.0 37.5 7.0 3.0 20 Usapyon 13- 17- 15+ 16- 19- 22+ 23+ 10- 9- 3.0 31.5 7.0 2.0 21 Sekita 9 14- 10- 23+ 22- 13- 19- 16- 24+ 18+ 3.0 27.5 5.0 1.0 22 Yano 7 3- 12- 7- 21+ 24+ 20- 8- 16- 23- 2.0 35.5 4.0 0.0 23 Shuto 1- 7- 21- 24- 8- 15- 20- 18- 22+ 1.0 35.5 2.0 0.0 24 Oki 11- 19- 12- 23+ 22- 16- 15- 21- 17- 1.0 30.0 1.0 0.0 * KCC, TACOS, Eisei Meijin, Kakinoki Shogi and Kanazawa qualify for the finals. The Finals ========== On the day of the finals, the tournament always steps up. The qualification tournaments are great for the programmers, but the finals are great for the spectators. The games are displayed on big screens and commented by professional players. Especially Katsumata Kiyokazu is a professional who has been coming to the CSA tournaments for a long time (he was already there when I first came there nine years ago) and his comments are always very entertaining. This year there were also comments by Kitajima Tadao, Iida Hiroyuki and the Lady professionals Yauchi Rieko, Takahashi Yamato and Ajiki Fusako. Unfortunately, probably due to the fact that the Kazusa Arc is quite hard to reach, the number of spectators seemed outnumbered by press, programmers and people from game companies. This is a high profile event, where there were not only Shogi journalists, but also reporters from national and local newspapers and two camera crews, one of which was from the NHK, Japan's national broadcaster. This is probably the only warning that could go out to the otherwise perfect organization: a venue that is easier to reach might help to avoid that the CSA World Computer Shogi Championships turn into a media-only event. As for the tournament, it really only started in the third round. In the first two rounds, the top four programs won all their games, while the bottom four programs lost all their games. The third round looked to be going the same way, but Kakinoki managed to beat IS Shogi, which was an important setback for Tanase and Kishimoto's bid for another CSA crown. Round four saw another upset, as Gekisashi lost against Eisei Meijin. However, more important were probably the events in the game between YSS and KCC. In an unclear middle game position, something happened that is not often seen these days and almost never occurs in the finals: KCC crashed. The reasons for the program failure were unclear (YSS's Yamashita thought it might have been a hardware problem), but the organization declared YSS the winner. An important loss for KCC, but it turned out to be an even more important win for YSS. So after four rounds YSS was the only unbeaten program, followed by IS Shogi, Gekisashi and KCC. In round 5, Gekisashi beat IS Shogi despite playing an anaguma, which doesn't seem to be its favorite opening. As soon as Gekisashi entered the anaguma castle, the painful loss against Jeff Rollason's Shotest two years ago came to mind, but Gekisashi's anaguma play seemed to have been improved and this time Gekisashi won, virtually ending IS's reign as champions. KCC did not crash, but it did lose surprisingly against Kakinoki, so this round also ended all hopes for the North Koreans. With only Gekisashi on one loss and the game YSS-Gekisashi in round 6, the tournament could be heading for another early decision. Gekisashi in 2002 and IS Shogi in 2003 both started with six straight wins, securing the tournament victory with one game in hand. Indeed, YSS made it three years in a row by winning the game against Gekisashi, ending the hopes of the spectators to see an exciting final round. Yamashita of course didn't mind (although before the game he said that he did feel the "evil eye" of almost everybody present). This was the second time Yamashita won the tournament, the first time was already 7 years ago. After the final game of that tournament Yamashita broke down in tears, but no big emotions today. Actually, Yamashita is a great sportsman and the freely awarded win against KCC was bothering him. So, in the final round there were only the three seeded positions to play for. Actually, IS Shogi was in the biggest danger of falling back to the preliminary qualifications, because a loss to YSS would do it. Still, they showed the heart of champions by winning, denying YSS a perfect score. This perfect score is becoming a jinx, as last year and the year before the same thing happened: the program already certain of victory losing in the final round. One would almost think the programs relaxed a bit... Gekisashi also defended its seeded position with a victory against KCC in the final round. This means that all five programs that came up from the qualifications have to try their luck in those qualification rounds again next year. Results of the finals --------------------- No. Program Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pt SB MD 1 YSS 8+ 5+ 6+ 4+ 7+ 2+ 3- 6.0 18.0 12.0 2 Gekisashi 5+ 7+ 8+ 6- 3+ 1- 4+ 5.0 14.0 9.0 3 IS 7+ 6+ 5- 8+ 2- 4- 1+ 4.0 12.0 5.0 4 KCC 6+ 8+ 7+ 1- 5- 3+ 2- 4.0 10.0 5.0 5 Kakinoki 2- 1- 3+ 7- 4+ 6- 8+ 3.0 9.0 4.0 6 Eisei Meijin 4- 3- 1- 2+ 8+ 5+ 7- 3.0 9.0 3.0 7 TACOS 3- 2- 4- 5+ 1- 8- 6+ 2.0 6.0 0.0 8 Kanazawa 1- 4- 2- 3- 6- 7+ 5- 1.0 2.0 0.0 The Programs ============ * YSS: A great result for Yamashita, winning the CSA tournament after seven years. He also showed that it is still possible to win without a team effort. Last year, I wrote here that it is almost impossible to win the tournament on your own, but Yamashita just went out and did it. * Gekisashi: Tsuruoka's group was a little bit disappointed with their result. Their impression was that Gekisashi was much improved and they had a strong feeling that they could win it this time. * IS Shogi: Losing three games is quite a rare experience for Tanase and Kishimoto (last time they lost three was in the 1999 championships). They blamed their problems on their opening book, which was extended too much and lead IS Shogi in positions it did not fully understand. * KCC Shogi: Despite being among the top finishers every year, the KCC team seems to be the most unstable program in the finals. Last year they had problems with sennichite and this year the program even crashed. In that sense, it is remarkable that they managed to get the same result as last year. * Kakinoki: Back in the finals after a year absence. Beat both IS and KCC, which is quite good, but to win the tournament more consistency is needed. * Eisei Meijin: Yoshimura again managed to qualify for the finals and such consistency is becoming increasingly difficult in today's computer shogi. Still, Eisei Meijin will need important improvements to take on the big names. An accidental victory like against Gekisashi is not enough. * TACOS: Hashimoto and his team came a long way to finally make it to the finals and victories against Kakinoki and Eisei Meijin showed their potential. Whether or not TACOS can grow into a real contender, we will probably know next year. * Kanazawa: A sad conclusion for those who have been following computer shogi for such a long time, but the days of Kanazawa seem to be over. Winning the tournament multiple times is something that will be in the books forever, but this year's performance showed that last year's failing to qualify was no coincidence. Kanazawa only barely qualified for the finals and made no impact whatsoever, winning its only game against TACOS. Conclusions =========== Computer Shogi seems to have reached a status quo that is very hard to break. It is very difficult to take one of the seeded positions on the second day (only two programs did so), it is very difficult to take one of the five qualification spots for the finals (only TACOS was a new entry) and it is very difficult to beat the top programs in the finals (the top three programs were the same as last year). Because of this status quo, my overall impression was that the level of play had not improved much. There are a number of reasons why this assessment might not be correct. First, last year's winner IS Shogi only barely managed to keep its seeded position. Second, talking to the top programmers, they all had test results that showed a significant improvement compared to last year's programs. Third, YSS won a rook handicap game against Katsumata after the tournament. This is only one game, but it is the first time that a computer program beats a professional with such a small handicap. So, instead of going with my initial impression, I think it is better to say that a lot of programs have improved considerably and that the fundamentals of the top programs are sound. Instead of new major breakthroughs, careful tuning and programming a little bit more strategic understanding might be good enough to start a move towards beating professional players. Of course, new ideas are always welcome and in that sense it is a bit alarming that there were almost no new entries this year and that the number of participants was the lowest in 6 years. I think the CSA has an important task here to try and attract more participants to the tournament. A game from the finals ====================== [Black "YSS"] [White "Gekisashi"] [Event "14th World Computer Championships, Round 6"] [Date "May 4th 2004"] 1.P7g-7f 2.P8c-8d 3.P6g-6f 4.P3c-3d 5.R2h-7h 6.P8d-8e 7.B8h-7g 8.S7a-6b 9.K5i-4h 10.K5a-4b 11.K4h-3h 12.K4b-3b 13.K3h-2h 14.B2b-4d 15.L1i-1h 16.P1c-1d 17.G4i-5h 18.P1d-1e 19.K2h-1i 20.K3b-2b 21.S3i-2h 22.P5c-5d 23.G6i-5i 24.G6a-5b 25.G5i-4i 26.S3a-3b 27.G4i-3i 28.B4d-5c 29.P5g-5f 30.P7c-7d 31.S7i-6h 32.P4c-4d 33.S6h-5g 34.N8a-7c 35.S5g-4f 36.P8e-8f 37.P8gx8f 38.B5cx8f 39.R7h-8h 40.B8fx7g+ 41.R8hx8b+ 42.+B7gx9i 43.P7f-7e 44.+B9ix6f 45.P7ex7d 46.N7c-6e 47.P7d-7c+ 48.B*8d 49.+P7cx6b 50.+B6fx3i 51.S2hx3i 52.B8dx3i+ 53.S*2h 54.S*3h 55.S2hx3i 56.S3hx3i+ 57.B*2h 58.P*8a 59.+R8bx8a 60.S*3h 61.B2hx3i 62.S3hx3i= 63.R*3h 64.L*2d 65.S*3f 66.L2dx2g+ 67.S3fx2g 68.B*4i 69.P*2h 70.B4ix3h+ 71.S2gx3h 72.G5b-5c 73.B*7e 74.R*7h 75.B7ex5c+ 76.G*4b 77.+B5cx4b 78.G4ax4b 79.G*4i 80.P*7a 81.B*6f 82.P5d-5e 83.B6fx3i 84.P5ex5f 85.+R8ax9a 86.P5f-5g+ 87.S4fx5g 88.N6ex5g+ 89.B3ix5g 90.P*5f 91.B5g-6f 92.S*5g 93.G5hx5g 94.P5fx5g+ 95.B6fx5g 96.B*4e 97.+R9a-8b 98.G*4a 99.P*5b 100.B4e-6g+ 101.+R8b-8g 102.R7h-7f+ 103.+R8gx7f 104.+B6gx7f 105.P5b-5a+ 106.P*5f 107.N*1d 108.K2b-3c 109.+P5ax4a 110.S3bx4a 111.R*3a 112.S4a-3b 113.S*2b 114.K3c-4c 115.L*5e116.R*5d 117.G*5c 118.K4cx5c 119.R3a-5a+120.G4b- 5b 121.+R5ax5b 122.K5c-6d123.+R5bx6c Resigns -- Reijer Grimbergen Department of Informatics, Yamagata University Jonan 4-3-16, Yonezawa, 992-8510 Japan Tel: +81-(0)238-26-3740 FAX: +81-(0)238-26-3299 http://gamelab.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/ =========================================================== Cancel your low-carb diet. Lose weight. Choose your own foods. Learn more about our program at: http://click.topica.com/caaccM7a2i6YsbnuqMaf/ Dr. Smith =========================================================== --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.bnuqMa.c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------