An interesting data point

[OHex]

I just asked Marek of Kurnik! for another data dump of the
last 6 months' worth of hex games. Again, he came through
right away. That's around 1/4 million games! All but
40 thousand or so were 10x10.

It's only a little less than LittleGolem has for its entire
history of all types of games. There's not much doubt where
people go when they really want to play.

It makes sense, really. With 30 games active on Little Golem
(my maximum so far) I can still play about as many complete games
on Kurnik of an evening as I usually play individual moves
on Golem. I'm letting my Golem games finish and not starting
new ones. I guess I'm just not that patient.

++ kevin

[Misha Orel]

I am curious, what is the current state of Hex playing
programs ? I know there was (and is) Hexy by Vlad
Anshelevich - a very strong program, actually
unbeatable as far as I am concerned :) Has there been
any new developments ? Has Hexy ever been beaten by
another program ?

Thanks
-Misha



____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

[Glenn]

Misha Orel wrote:

> I am curious, what is the current state of Hex playing
> programs ? I know there was (and is) Hexy by Vlad
> Anshelevich - a very strong program, actually
> unbeatable as far as I am concerned :) Has there been
> any new developments ? Has Hexy ever been beaten by
> another program ?
>
> Thanks
> -Misha

I believe Six is stronger.

[Dennis Martz]

At the last game olympics that I heard of, Hexy was still tops. Has
that changed? In either case it depends on your Operating System. Six
I believe is Linux or Unix based right? Hexy is Windows based. Queen
Bee, also Windows based, wasn't hard to whoop for me.
DJ

[Misha Orel]

It seems that Hexy won the 5th Computer Olympiad in
2000, then there were no Hex players at 6th and 7th,
and at 8th and 9th Six was playing against Mongoose,
and winning, with no other players present

I have no idea why Hexy (V. Anshelevich) stopped
participating.

-Misha

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

[Kevin O'Gorman]

I had some conversations with vanshel a while back and he reported
poor health inhibiting further major development of Hexy. The
conversation was very brief, so I know nothing beyond that.

++ kevin

--
Go back to the top: I almost always top-post
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

[Misha Orel]

Six seems to be a GPL implementation of Hexy
algorithms, so basically it is the same program.

-Misha

[Tom Ace]

Misha Orel wrote:

>Six seems to be a GPL implementation of Hexy
>algorithms, so basically it is the same program.

To be fair to Gábor Melis (author of Six), there's a lot
more to these programs than the algorithms as published by
Vadim Anshelevich.

Details include the search tree pruning, the application
of the and/or rules, and all the usual choices with regard
to data structures and coding that have a bearing on how
effective a program is.

Six has a bit in common with Hexy, but I wouldn't say it's
basically the same program.


Tom Ace

[Kevin O'Gorman]

It's GPL all right, and it's more or less married to the KDE display
manager (Unix/Linux),
but it has nothing of the feel of Hexy when you play it. I suggest
one try it before
pronouncing on what it is.

++ kevin

[Misha Orel]

I just played Hexy at Expert level against Six in its
default configuration, on 11X11 board. Six won. The
game is attached (The first move was Hexy's).

[Kevin O'Gorman]

That result is about what I would expect from my experience with
both programs, even with some of the earlier versions of Six. The
latest ones are quite good.

> This file is created by Hexy:
>
> 08/02/2005 18:16:04
>
>
> Board Size is: 11x11
>
> 001. A - 02 SWAP TO: B - 01
> 002. F - 06
> 003. F - 05
> 004. H - 04
> 005. G - 05
> 006. H - 05
> 007. G - 07
> 008. I - 06
> 009. H - 08
> 010. E - 08
> 011. G - 06
> 012. D - 06
> 013. E - 04
> 014. I - 08
> 015. I - 07
> 016. D - 04
> 017. D - 05
> 018. K - 06
> 019. J - 07
> 020. K - 07
> 021. J - 08
> 022. K - 08
> 023. J - 06
> 024. K - 05
> 025. J - 10
> 026. J - 09
> 027. J - 05
> 028. K - 04
> 029. J - 02
> 030. J - 04
> 031. I - 10
> 032. F - 04
> 033. I - 09
> 034. E - 05
> 035. E - 07
> 036. C - 08
> 037. G - 02
> 038. F - 03
> 039. C - 09
> 040. D - 08
> 041. F - 02
> 042. E - 03
> 043. E - 02
> 044. C - 03
> 045. D - 01
> 046. C - 01
> 047. C - 02
> 048. H - 02
> 049. G - 03
> 050. B - 02
> 051. B - 03
> 052. A - 04
> 053. A - 03
> 054. D - 02
> 055. E - 01
> 056. G - 04
> 057. H - 03
> 058. K - 02
> 059. K - 01
> 060. I - 03
> 061. I - 02