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Report from the 16th World Computer Chess Championship in Beijing

First I want to introduce our team to you:

Our operator in Beijing was Hans van der Zijden, who already operated Rybka in the World Championship and many other tournaments before.
The hardware was again provided by our hardware expert Lukas Cimiotti, who built a cluster with 40 cores (5 computers with 2x4 core processors each). There were a lot of tests (and phonecalls) needed to make the new cluster version of Rybka working, as Vas (Vasik Rajlich, the programmer of Rybka) could only simulate the cluster for programming:

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Vas simulating the cluster, if you look closer at the photo, you
may start wondering if he slept on the ground during the tests


Rybka on that cluster was about 100 Elo stronger than Rybka 3 running on a normal overclocked Skulltrail. So if you wonder where the strongest chess computer in the world is located, you won't find it at IBM or in Abu Dhabi, you have to ask Lukas :) .
Of course the opening book was again made by Jeroen Noomen, but since he published all his analysis with the Rybka 3 opening book, he needed to find a way to avoid the main lines, as the other book authors had a look at his book for sure. The strategy worked quite well, a report by Jeroen about the games can be found here.
As always the latest version of Rybka was used, so some new algorithms by Larry Kaufman made it into the program.

Hans' Diary from Beijing
Since you may want to know how it is to operate Rybka in a computer chess world championship, our operator Hans van der Zijden wrote a little diary and took a lot of photos to give you some impressions:

Saturday 27 oct:
Although my plane left on friday night, it was already saturday in China. Just before boarding, I see Johan de Koning. Nice, I have someone to talk to in the plane. Johans suitcase was already on an earlier flight, but apparantly there was no more room for Johan. At the baggage claim the suitcase was nowhere in sight. And of course he had put on his ugliest T-shirt (with ventilationholes under the armpits). We can only hope he doesn't have to wear it for 10 days. The taxiride of 60 km, was very special. We considered ourselves lucky no accidents occurred. And the chauffeur only had to look 5 times on the written instructions in chinese and he had found the hotel. Inside we found very helpful staff. Too bad they hardly speak english. But with a little patience more and more staff would gather and soon their combined knowledge of the english language was sufficient to understand you. Later we had a nice meal for only 6 pounds. It is quite cheap here. Then I went to my hotelroom. Have to get up early tomorrow. Don't forget to wake up Johan tomorrow. His alarm is still in his suitcase.

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Hans gave this photo the title "Dictionary" :)

Sunday 28 oct:
At 8:30 the bus brought us to the venue. I have no idea why we couldn't play in the hotel. The tournament hall was on the premises of a golfcomplex. When they built the fence, it never crossed their minds that one day a bus may have to go through. To reach the complex they made a bumpy, sand road to avoid the gate. In the building they changed a room into a sort of collegeroom. They put about 30 computers there in 3 rows of 10 very close together, plus some loose internet cables for those persons with a laptop. Half of the cables was not plugged in though. There also was no room for it in the router. The cables that were plugged in had internetcrashes sometimes after 10 seconds. We didn't have much time to think about it, because we were expected outside for the opening. The organisation had rounded up three busloads of chinese extras, to clap their hands during the speeches. I have never seen so many people at a tournament, who clearly weren't interested in computers. Later, already half an hour passed the first round startingtime, we continued the player meeting. After that, David Levy asked who wanted to play an exhibition game against the top chinese women grandmaster. Five fingers quickly went up, but since Rybka is the current titleholder, I was chosen. This lady, Gu Xiaobing, was also the interviewer for the chinese television. When she interviewed me en heard who her opponent was, she looked startled and said, "Ribbeca, I always lose". She lost indeed 2-0, but her first game wasn't bad. Back to the tournament hall, where the long wait began. Finally they found someone with knowledge about computers, who was able to 'pimp up' the internet in such a way, that our chinese host didn't have to execute a ritual suicide out of shame. Only 4,5 hours late we started the first round. We decided to skip the second. All programs connected to the internet had 2 to 6 crashes. But luckily it was not of real influence to the game. I am curious what tomorrow will bring.

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The venue
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Nice curtains :)

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Chinese extras
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Opening speech

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David Levy, president of the ICGA
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Gu Xiaobing playing Rybka

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Gu Xiaobing
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Rybka vs. The Baron
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Harvey Williamson (l) thinks Hiarcs is winning

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Shredder - Junior
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Food and beer

Monday 29 oct: The previous evening we held a playermeeting, in which it was decided to try to play in the hotel. Harvey would try to make his Mac function as a wireless router. When it seemed not to work, I decided to go back to my room. Next day I got into the bus and 1 minute before departure someone asked me if I shouldn't be playing in the hotel. Apparantly Harvey made it work after all and nobody told me. The things they try to prevent Rybka from winning the tournament. There was a beautiful room available where 10 programs had more than enough room. And more important: not one internet crash in 2 rounds. And a beautiful view at the lake and smog. In the lunchbreak I ordered a fruitsalad. It consisted of 2 types of melon and some tomato's. There are some strange things going on with the food. They don't know bread, but for us europeans they made something looking like bread. Too bad it all tastes sweet. At breakfast the orange and pineapplejuice are hot. If you order a juice in the hotel you get a whole liter. It took some days before the beer was finally cold enough to our taste. Stefan (Shredder) and I ordered a coke and got 1,5 liter both. And I expect to encounter some more funny things the next days. Now that we played in the hotel, I finally had the time to visit the masseuse. It was a sort of chinese torture, but the doctor says I am able to play tomorrow.

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Rybka displaying mate in 1942 against Shredder
(a minor display bug in the version used :) )
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Falcon - Hiarcs

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Sjeng - Mobile Chess
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Jonny - Junior

Tuesday 30 oct:
The morning had only just begun and already there is big news. I was miming the making of an omelet to the chef and he understood. We started the round already at 8:00. There was only one round planned for the day, but some of the operators wanted a long afternoon to visit the city. I just wanted to go back to bed. But first to a supermarket. I was told there was one after a 20 minute walk. I did two steps out of the hotelcomplex and a car stopped. The chauffeur started to speak to me in chinese, but my knowledge of the language stops at 'ni hao'. I assumed he wanted to know where I was heading, so I mimed a shoppingcart and putting groceries in it. After 5 minutes he was on to me and he offered me a ride. This supermarket was a little bit further than 20 minutes. It was at least 10 kilometers. The supermarket was not what I had hoped. about 80% of the food I didn't recognize. So I went to KFC and showed the girl 4 fingers, because menu number 4 looked nice. I suddenly realised there was a chance I would get 4 menus and indeed She was already pooring a second drink and there were four salads on my tray. Luckily I could cancel everything I didn't want. The juice was of course hot again. Took a taxi back to the hotel. I was happy I took the chinese instructions of how to get there. I was not allowed to buckle up. Probably inpolite to the chauffeur, but it doesn't always have to be his fault when there is an accident. Somewhere on the road we passed a sign which clearly said to buckle up. Had a well deserved nap. Oassed again on the 'Ox penis' on the menu. After that we played some german cardgame named 'Bang' (like a pistolshot). If you played such a card, you could shoot someone. Harvey sure liked to 'bang' Gian-Carlo's girlfriend Elke. I just wanted to 'Bang' myself and get it over with, but unfortunately the rules prevented me from doing that.

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Playing 'Bang'

Wednesday 1 oct:
Skipped breakfast in the restaurant. Before you know it you will eat 3 hot meals a day. I bought some bread and ham and that is also nice. Easy 5th round against Falcon and then my opponent with 300 elo more, wants to practise for the speedchess tournament for operators later this evening. Despite his strength he tries to cheat me in any possible way (Fal conartist). Luckily in a way that I can't be fooled. He kept on challeging me and therefore it took me a long time to finish my fruitplatter with 10 tomatoes more than last time. But first the speedchesstournament. I already wrote about that in a previous article and I am tired, so I won't repeat that. Alarm will ring in 6 hours for the excursion day, so I like to go to bed now. Lucky for me the operator tournament was canceled. That saves me another few lines of typing.

Thursday 2 oct:
Up at 6:00 for the excursion. Not hungry yet. Still have some bread and ham left. The tourguide explains us a bit about the chinese characters, but you can also sleep pretty good in the bus. First stop at a jade factory. Makes me think of my trip to Thailand. Buses there also brought you to places where you could spend your money. For the first time I see a lot of coins and my brother collects them. Unfortunately they are laying in front of a Buddha and if I steal from him, I may reïncarnate as a cockroach. I ask one of the personnel if it is right to change 50 Yuan for a lot of coins. No. I try our guide and she is more helpful. Two persons higher in ranking have to ok it first, but then 2 of the floorpersonnel fill my bag with more coins than I expected. Then we go direction Great wall. Soon we are stuck in traffic for 20 minutes. Eventually it turns out the road is blocked, "we have to try another wee". Not sure if he meant 'week' or 'way'. It is the 2nd. It's very crowded with people everywhere. Who plans an excursion on a chinese holliday? Harvey and I see immediately we don't want to climb the wall all the way to the top. You will be sweaty the rest of the day and we still have to go to lunch, visit the summerpalace and dinner paid by the ICGA. So we waited for 90 minutes in a souvenir/cappuccino- shop at a table and sorted out the coins. Found about 25 coins my brother didn't have. In total it was 45,54 Yuan and some foreign money. So just safe. After the lunch, that came very late in the day, we quickly got into the Summerpalace and Harvey and I were also out very quickly. Much too crowded. After half an hour everybody was out, except for one. The operator of Hiarcs next opponent. Waited half an hour for him and then decided he probably took a taxi to the hotel. That was a right assumption, but he said he waited for us also half an hour and he saw no one. Beijing triangle? If Harvey wasn't at my sight at all time, I would have suspected him. Dinner came way too early for me, I was still not hungry. Hope I am not getting sick.

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At the jade factory
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That's what they produce
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A jade shop

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The chinese wall
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A lot of souvenir shops

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The wall is quite crowded
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That sign makes the wall
an insurmountable obstacle

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Hans with his Rubik's cube
begging for money
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Low entrance, mind your head

Friday 3 oct:
Just slept one hour and the phone rang. Someone from Holland who forgot I was in Beijing. 15 minutes before my alarm goes, a knock on the door and the bell rings. A woman with a laundrybag. Yesterday I put some clothes in the bag for the 'laundryservice'. I want to take the bag from her, but that was not why she was there. She said "wate a moment", leaves and doesn't come back. Then the phone rings. Someone who does speak english tells me that the laundry is not ready yet. I knew that already, because I read somewhere that it would be delivered to your room after 4 in the afternoon. 1 hour later again a knock. Laundry is ready. Which was good, because I noticed I had no more socks left. I took 6 from everything except socks. No more time for breakfast, wasn't hungry anyway. After a tough fight against the phone I finally managed to get the upper hand. That thing plays much too fast. And also Rybka's moves came quickly. So I was waiting a long time for the next round. So when the tournament director asked if we wanted a break, I was the only one against. I waited long enough. I ordered a salad this time. I can't even look at warm food at the moment. In front of me they put a mountain of raw vegetables that would last an elephant a whole week. But no dressing. They only gave me some awfull tasting and smelling sauce. Why don't they have mayonaise here? Tomorrow is the big day. The last 2 rounds against number 2 and 3.

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View from the hotel room
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Saturday 4 oct:
Worldanimalday. Be nice to little fish (Rybka). Now that I used the laundryservice, it seems that everybody got a knock on their door before 9:00, asking if there is something for the laundry. That will be fun tomorrowmorning. Some of the operators will probably get drunk. Not me though. I don't drink. I had a good preparation to make Rybka feel more at ease. I grew a 7-day old beard to look more like Vasik. Ok, I should also lose 40-50 kilo's and have a beautiful girlfriend by my side. Furthermore I don't eat little fish. Hiarcs is quite nice by playing a bad openingline and Rybka has used only 25 minutes before Harvey resigns. That is the problem as a Rybka operator' you always have to wait so long for the next round. David Levy announces that lunch is on the ICGA. Damn, I wanted to skip lunch. So fruitplatter it is. With one round to go Rybka is already champion. Which is good, because Junior, opponent in the last round, is not so nice for animals. Junior gets a very good position, but doesn't see how to proceed. Then Rybka surprises with a rook sacrafice. The evaluation is 0.00 and with such a big material disadvantage and a mate in 1 threat, that can only mean one thing: perpetual check. Junior says +3.59 for 20 moves and doesn't see it. Hiarcs and shredder are also analyzing the position and they agree with Rybka. The rest of the evening nothing much happened, only a waitress forgetting to bring my coke.

Sunday 5 oct:
While waiting for the taxi, Harvey and I are offered a nice glass of hot water. The chauffeur only took a wrong way twice, but after driving more than an hour because of traffic, he let us out at Tian'anmensquare for only 130 Yuan (about 8 pounds). To get on the square, bags have to be scanned for weapons. They are not allowed on the square. outside it seems to be no problem. We crossed the Square and started looking for a mall and/or a restaurant. Found the mall and after a little search we found a restaurant with only western food. Happy as a child in a candystore, we looked at the menu. The meat and the fries tasted like heaven after 8 days of chinese food. After the meal I went solo looking for some gifts for home. After 200 meter I found a shop with all kinds of fun things. Every 3 feet a salesperson tried to persuade you into buying things. and of course for "special price", "only for you". If you looked a bit unhappy, they lowered the price. I hate to haggle and I am not really trying. I pay too much, but it is still cheap. But after paying you are not done yet. They even hold you by the hand, because they have a lot more bargains. I fake an interest in something behind 2 salespersons. They turn around and I run out of the store. A little bit further a nice couple starts to talk to me. They are on their way to their calligraphy study. They ask me to join them and I will get my name calligraphied. Why not, I have time enough. Inside slowly the real reason to ask me inside becomes clear. They show me a lot of pictures and they would like me to buy one. O well, I had a good time there. The taxidriver wants a lot more than the one bringing us. If they would do that on the way over to Beijing, the client can decide to stay in the hotel, but once you are in Beijing they know you have to go back. I was able to lower the price a little bit, and with some difficulty we found the hotel. Later in the bar we had a toast on Rybka's win with champagne, or some cheap champagne lookalike. The name of the champagne happened to be "Royal st. Vincent". Vincent Diepeveen of the Diep-program, withdrew moments before the tournament started. So I said "Vincent is here in spirit". Tomorrow morning way too early with a taxi to the airport. That could be fun with all that traffic. David Levy already mentioned a 2,5 hour ride.

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Getting rid of the coins
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Getting the trophy

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"Godfather, couldn't find ketchup"
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Tian'anmen square

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Everything is nice
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Don't know what happened on June 4th 1989 :)

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Though job

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Harvey happy like a child
in a candystore
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Finally something western to eat

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Celebrating Rybka's victory
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Vincent was here in spirit

I hope you enjoyed the report!

Useful links:
Short report by Vas
Short report by Jeroen
All the games as .pgn file
Official website with results

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The final crosstable, click on the table for details