In shocking chess news-- Rybka, the famous computer program that has dominated the top of the computer chess championships for years, has been stripped of its titles and banned from future competitions.
The problem stems from the complex question of whether Rybka's programming was taken from other, older software-- in short, whether Ryba's basic functions were stolen off other programs.
On the one hand, the fact that Rybka beats other programs means it must be at least a little different than other engines. On the other hand, this could be just a matter of a few tweaks here and there without any substantially new ideas.
The whole issue of the 'copyright' and 'ownership' of source code is a murky one -- very often, free programs already exist whose main purpose is to be modified, tinkered, and enhanced. Stripping Rybka of the titles, at this point, does not appear to be any kind of legal determination about whether Rybka was stolen from others. Instead, Rybka is in violation of the Computer Championship rules, which requires entrants to be unique creations and any adaptations of other's code must be disclosed.
I don't expect this to go away anytime soon, however! Rybka is a commerical success, while the programs it supposedly is borrowed from, Crafty and Fruit, among others, are not. Like I said, the world of computer program property rights is a murky one, but I wouldn't be surprised, with real dollars on the line, for this issue to make it to court in some form.
At any rate, Rybka isn't considered the strongest program anymore. After trying to find a good upgrade engine to my older copy of Fritz, I discovered Houdini may be the best engine around. A free computer program, I put it to work on some positions I thought Fritz was handling badly-- and I was blown away with the speed and the accuracy Houdini possessed.
But don't expect Houdini to appear at the computer championships anytime soon-- it is also considered a derivative work. Too bad that the strongest computer program may not be called the champion. But that doesn't mean we can't use it to improve our analysis.
One last thought-- my favorite comment about this issue:
"Humans have been using computers to cheat at chess, so it is only natural that computers would start using humans to cheat at chess."
For more detailed discussions about this issue, try this link:
In the U2400 section, Chris Chase has reclaimed the lead with 7.5 points. Tian Rossi, who has only played in two Grand Prix events is still in the lead in the U2200 section with 7.5 points. However, Jason Rihel, in the U2000 category, has 9.5 points and would overtake Chris and Tian if other contenders rise up. Indeed, at this time Terrance Fricker and Harold Dondis trail the U2400 and U2200 leaders by only 1.5 points and would claim those prizes if they can get ahead.
