# Position: 1
# Move: W
r...qb.k
.b....p.
p..pr..p
...n....
Pnp.N.N.
......RP
.B...PP.
.B.QR.K.
# Position: 2
# Move: W
r....rk.
pp.n.p.p
.nqP..p.
..b.P.B.
....NQ..
.B...P..
PP..K..P
..R.....
# Position: 3
# Move: W
r..qk..r
ppp.b.pp
..n.p...
...pP.n.
...P..b.
..PB.NN.
PP....PP
R.BQK..R
# Position: 4
# Move: W
r.b.kb.r
.p.n.ppp
p..ppn..
......BB
..qNP...
..N.....
PPP..PPP
R..Q.RK.
# Position: 5
# Move: W
r..qrb.k
.p.b..p.
p..ppn.p
........
...NP...
.BN.....
PPP...QP
.K...RR.
# Position: 6
# Move: B
rnbqk..r
.p...ppp
p.......
.NpPp...
QPP.P.n.
P....N..
....KbPP
R.B..B.R
# Position: 7
# Move: W
.r.bk..r
..R..ppp
p...p...
.b..P..q
....QP..
....N...
.B....PP
...R..K.
# Position: 8
# Move: W
r...rbk.
ppq..ppp
..b.pB..
........
......Q.
.P.B...P
P.P..PP.
R..R..K.
# Position: 9
# Move: W
r....r.k
....bppb
..n.p..p
p.n.P...
.p.p.BNP
...P.NP.
qP..QPB.
..RR..K.
# Position: 10
# Move: W
r.b..rk.
.p.nbppp
pq.p....
...B....
P..NP...
..N.p...
.PP...PP
R..Q.R.K
# Position: 11
# Move: W
r.b...k.
p..p.nP.
..pqr.Rp
.p..p..P
..B.PnQ.
.P......
P.PP....
.K....R.
Before you ask : yes, I have the answers to all these positions. I'll post
them later if there is enough interest in the challenge.
Marc-Francois Baudot.
Computer chess expert Pierre Nolot, in the may issue
of the French chess mag Gambisco, challenged readers to solve these
11 tactical positions. He claims computers won't be any help as the
positions have resisted the best micros for weeks of computation!
For the ten first positions, readers were asked to give at least the
first 3 moves for each side. In the eleventh position
readers also had to give the outcome of the game, assuming best
play for both sides.
Some readers resorted to databases and books, but there was at least one trap,
so they were easily uncovered!
Some of the positions are well known (pos 1, pos 5 for instance), others are
from obscure sources. All of them are rather difficult, but were solved by
humans under tournament conditions.
I'm sure Pierre Nolot has tested them very seriously on Chess Genius and
Tasc R30. I'm also sure he did not try them on Mchess nor Zarkov, so if
any of you want to give it a try...
But what he's interested in is the performance of the fastest machines on
these positions. He assured me none of them could solve any of these
positions within reasonnable time (while humans solved them at the board!).
So if Feng, Bob Hyatt or Hans Berliner want to take up the challenge,
Pierre Nolot would be much thanksful to them for posting their results.
DT2 is not really a supercomputer, but what the heck.
>But what he's interested in is the performance of the fastest machines on
>these positions. He assured me none of them could solve any of these
>positions within reasonnable time (while humans solved them at the board!).
So Pierre does not think DT2 is a machine then (I assume that tournament time
control is considered reasonable?). When did it pass the Turing test?
I am not going to say anything further for a few days so that others have
the chance to try them out. The first position, by the way, was from the
Kasparov-Karpov match in New York. In fact, we were in the press room during
the very game. None of the grandmasters on site got it during the game.
Well, they saw the move, but did not think that it works.
>So Pierre does not think DT2 is a machine then (I assume that tournament time
>control is considered reasonable?). When did it pass the Turing test?
Tournament time control is more than reasonable! Of course, you have
to find the good move for the good reasons. For instance, the Novag Diablo
finds the good move in the first position after 7,5 months (Pierre
uses the diablo to detect power failures!), but because it thinks white
has a bad position and can draw with kasparov's move. this would not be
considered a correct answer. But I guess everyone here is aware of this
problem.
I can't wait to see your results!
Marc-Francois Baudot
--
W.E. Engelkes
Spaarnrijkstraat 26
2024 EK Haarlem (NL)
Tel. 023-259279
"occurrance" should be "occurrence".
Nice post. Thanks.