1. Joined
    24 May '08
    Moves
    717
    29 Jun '11 06:422 edits
    http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/rybka-disqualified-and-banned-from-world-computer-chess-championships/

    Apparently so, according to IM David Levy:

    Rybka Disqualified and Banned from World Computer Chess Championships

    "The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) has been conducting an investigation into allegations that, in the chess program Rybka, the programmer Vasik Rajlich plagiarized two other programs: Crafty and Fruit. The ICGA has considered and evaluated the evidence presented to the investigation panel and the report prepared by the panel’s Secretariat. (The report and evidence files are attached.) We would like to thank those members of the panel who contributed to this investigation and the Secretariat for the enormous amount of conscientious work they have put in to this matter.

    By a unanimous 5-0 decision of executive members of the ICGA we find ourselves in agreement with the verdict of the Secretariat’s report. We are convinced that the evidence against Vasik Rajlich is both overwhelming in its volume and beyond reasonable question in its nature. Vasik Rajlich is guilty of plagiarizing the programs Crafty and Fruit, and has violated the ICGA’s tournament rules with respect to the World Computer Chess Championships in the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Specifically, Vasik Rajlich, on all five occasions, violated Tournament Rule 2 which requires that:

    Each program must be the original work of the entering developers. Programming teams whose code is derived from or including game-playing code written by others must name all other authors, or the source of such code, in their submission details. Programs which are discovered to be close derivatives of others (e.g., by playing nearly all moves the same), may be declared invalid by the Tournament Director after seeking expert advice. For this purpose a listing of all game-related code running on the system must be available on demand to the Tournament Director.

    By claiming other programmers’ work as his own, and failing to comply with the abovementioned rule, Vasik Rajlich has unfairly been awarded one shared 2nd-3rd place (in 2006) and four World Computer Chess Championship titles (in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). Furthermore, it seems to the ICGA that Vasik Rajlich clearly knew that he was in the wrong in doing so, since he has repeatedly denied plagiarizing the work of other programmers.

    The ICGA regards Vasik Rajlich’s violation of the abovementioned rule as the most serious offence that a chess programmer and ICGA member can commit with respect to his peers and to the ICGA. During the course of the investigation and upon presentation of the Secretariat’s report Vasik Rajlich did not offer, despite repeated invitations from the ICGA to do so, any kind of defence to the allegations, or to the evidence, or to the Secretariat’s report, other than to claim in an e-mail to myself on May 13th 2011 that:

    Rybka has does not “include game-playing code written by others”, aside from standard exceptions which wouldn’t count as ‘game-playing’.

    The vague phrase “derived from game-playing code written by others” also does not in my view apply to Rybka.

    The ICGA is of the view that such a serious offence deserves to be met with correspondingly serious sanctions against the perpetrator. In deciding on appropriate sanctions the ICGA has borne in mind the approach of the International Olympic Committee for dealing with the most serious cases of the violations of its rules.

    The ICGA has therefore decided as follows:

    1.Vasik Rajlich is hereby disqualified from the World Computer Chess Championships (WCCC) of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
    2.The 2nd-3rd place awarded to the program called “Rajlich” in the 2006 WCCC is hereby annulled, sole 2nd place is awarded to the program Shredder, and 3rd place in that event is awarded to the program Zappa.
    3.The 1st places and World Computer Chess Champion titles awarded to the program Rybka in the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 WCCCs are hereby annulled, and all the other programs that competed in those events are moved up in the final tournament standings by one place. Thus the revised tournament standings and titles for those events will now be as follows.
    2007

    1st Zappa (World Champion)
    2nd Loop
    =3rd GridChess
    =3rd Shredder

    2008

    1st Hiarcs (World Champion)
    2nd Junior
    3rd Cluster Toga

    2009

    =1st Junior (Joint World Champion)
    =1st Shredder (Joint World Champion)
    =1st Deep Sjeng (Joint World Champion)

    2010

    =1st Rondo (Joint World Champion)
    =1st Thinker (Joint World Champion)
    3rd Shredder

    4.In due course those programmers whose programs have been elevated to World Champion (or joint World Champion) status will receive from the ICGA replicas of the Shannon trophy for the appropriate years.
    5.The plaques on the Shannon trophy that currently bear the name Rybka (for the years 2007-2010) will be removed from the trophy and new plaques will be engraved with the names of the revised winners of the title.
    6.Similarly, the titles of World Computer Speed (Blitz) Chess Champion
    that were awarded to Rybka in 2009 and 2010 are hereby annulled. The revised winners of the speed chess title for those years are therefore:

    2009 Shredder

    2010 Jonny and Shredder (joint champions)

    7.Vasik Rajlich is banned for life from competing in the World Computer Chess Championship or any other event organized by or sanctioned by the ICGA.
    8.The ICGA demands that Vasik Rajlich return to the ICGA the four replicas of the Shannon Trophy presented at the World Computer Chess Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and to return to the ICGA all prize money awarded for Rybka’s performances in those events.
    David Levy [President - ICGA]
    June 28th 2011
    "
  2. Account suspended
    Joined
    26 Aug '07
    Moves
    38239
    29 Jun '11 09:25
    Originally posted by Zygalski
    http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/rybka-disqualified-and-banned-from-world-computer-chess-championships/

    Apparently so, according to IM David Levy:

    [b]Rybka Disqualified and Banned from World Computer Chess Championships


    "The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) has been conducting an investigation into allegations that, in the ch ...[text shortened]... for Rybka’s performances in those events.
    David Levy [President - ICGA]
    June 28th 2011
    "[/b]
    banned for life, thats rather harsh, is it not?
  3. Joined
    19 Jun '06
    Moves
    847
    29 Jun '11 11:15
    Originally posted by robbie carrobie
    banned for life, thats rather harsh, is it not?
    It seems about right to me. I'd have opted for a three-lifetime ban, but I'm not sure if I believe in reincarnation.
  4. Standard memberwormwood
    If Theres Hell Below
    We're All Gonna Go!
    Joined
    10 Sep '05
    Moves
    10228
    29 Jun '11 12:59
    hahhahhah! cheating in computer chess, awesome!



    good riddance. 🙂
  5. Standard memberwormwood
    If Theres Hell Below
    We're All Gonna Go!
    Joined
    10 Sep '05
    Moves
    10228
    29 Jun '11 13:00
    smells fishy!
  6. e4
    Joined
    06 May '08
    Moves
    42492
    29 Jun '11 13:58
    This is hilarious.

    Come on Mush give back the silverware. 🙂

    Do the gumboils who shelled out good honest cash buying
    this copy of a cheaper program now get a refund?

    Just goes to show how crap these other programs were if some
    Nudd comes along, give it a tweak and it ends beating the originals.

    Rybka banned for cheating.....hilarious.
  7. Standard memberThabtos
    I am become Death
    Joined
    23 Apr '10
    Moves
    6343
    29 Jun '11 15:12
    Fruit? Crafty?

    How do you take to engines that are much weaker and make one engine that's in the top 3?

    Do you just take the code from both that you think works best and put it together?


    If that's the case, methinks there would be a huge market for an illegal Stockfish/Houdini hybrid.
  8. Joined
    19 Jun '06
    Moves
    847
    29 Jun '11 15:42
    Originally posted by Thabtos
    Fruit? Crafty?

    How do you take to engines that are much weaker and make one engine that's in the top 3?

    Do you just take the code from both that you think works best and put it together?


    If that's the case, methinks there would be a huge market for an illegal Stockfish/Houdini hybrid.
    From what I think I remember reading, VR's one big idea that really added a lot of strength was automated testing, which hadn't previously been exploited very much. In that respect, he had a great idea. Unfortunately, at least according to the ICGA and a number of well-respected programmers, he just didn't use a chess program that was totally original.

    It will be interesting to see if this hurts his sales of Rybka. I initially used the free versions, but as time went on, some of his business practices rubbed me the wrong way. I decided that I wasn't going to spring for any paid versions until he changed his business practices for the better. Imo, that never happened, so I never gave him any of my hard-earned money, and I stopped using the free versions. I'm happy with the choices that I made.
  9. Account suspended
    Joined
    26 Aug '07
    Moves
    38239
    29 Jun '11 15:48
    Originally posted by Mad Rook
    From what I think I remember reading, VR's one big idea that really added a lot of strength was automated testing, which hadn't previously been exploited very much. In that respect, he had a great idea. Unfortunately, at least according to the ICGA and a number of well-respected programmers, he just didn't use a chess program that was totally original.

    I ...[text shortened]... arned money, and I stopped using the free versions. I'm happy with the choices that I made.
    please forgive my ignorance, what's automated testing in laymans terms?
  10. Joined
    07 Apr '10
    Moves
    8856
    29 Jun '11 15:562 edits
    Originally posted by robbie carrobie
    please forgive my ignorance, what's automated testing in laymans terms?
    A computer program does the testing rather than a person.

    Edit: if Rybka's big addition is automated testing, then it is highly likely than he trains Rybka against other engines. This is more of a machine learning process than automated testing. If my assumption is correct, then Rybka is going to end up looking to play like the engines it is trained against.

    The author of Rybka, if innocent, should demand a code review of his engine and one of the engines he is suspected of lifting code from.

    Edit2: Fascinating. this has been going on for awhile now and is based on accusations by an open source engine team, not based on behavior in the tournaments. As a programmer, I find it hard to believe that someone could claim a chess engine was a copy without reviewing the source code.

    I'm pretty sure RHP stole it's code from amazon.com. I mean look,it has links and you can buy stuff, clearly you've stolen the code from amazon.
  11. Joined
    19 Jun '06
    Moves
    847
    29 Jun '11 16:11
    Originally posted by robbie carrobie
    please forgive my ignorance, what's automated testing in laymans terms?
    Well, I'm also a layman, so all I can give you is a layman's definition. 🙂

    The way I understand it is that normally, due to time constraints, a programmer will make a number of small changes to a chess program. Then he'll do some performance tests and hope that the composite result is better than before. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

    With automated testing, you can make one change to a program's code, then use an automated tester program to run a huge number of games at very fast time controls. This allows you to test that one change in a short period of time and still determine if the change improved the strength or not. So automated testing allows you to keep the good changes and throw out the bad changes in a short period of time.

    (Any programmers out there, do I have the general idea correct?)
  12. Joined
    07 Apr '10
    Moves
    8856
    29 Jun '11 16:32
    Originally posted by Mad Rook
    Well, I'm also a layman, so all I can give you is a layman's definition. 🙂

    The way I understand it is that normally, due to time constraints, a programmer will make a number of small changes to a chess program. Then he'll do some performance tests and hope that the composite result is better than before. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

    With ...[text shortened]... a short period of time.

    (Any programmers out there, do I have the general idea correct?)
    Yes, although for a chess engine, it is /highly/ likely that rather than the programmer retuning the engine by hand, the automated testing process refines the engine itself. I started a chess engine with the intent of doing this, but I never got around to actually leveraging the win-loss database it was generating. It was able to beat an opposing engine that played randomly.
  13. Joined
    19 Jun '06
    Moves
    847
    29 Jun '11 17:15
    Originally posted by Darax The Good
    Yes, although for a chess engine, it is /highly/ likely that rather than the programmer retuning the engine by hand, the automated testing process refines the engine itself. I started a chess engine with the intent of doing this, but I never got around to actually leveraging the win-loss database it was generating. It was able to beat an opposing engine that played randomly.
    Um, again, I'm not a programmer, and maybe I just don't understand what you're saying, but I'm not sure we're on the same wavelength. Are you thinking of some kind of move learning database that learns from other engines? I was referring to actual programming changes to the code - changes to evaluation and search functions, board representation, things like that.
  14. bedlam
    Joined
    20 Feb '11
    Moves
    6387
    29 Jun '11 17:22
    I thought maybe it had used human assistance
  15. Donationketchuplover
    Isolated Pawn
    Wisconsin USA
    Joined
    09 Dec '01
    Moves
    71112
    29 Jun '11 17:28
    Soon they'll test the programs for technological steroids.
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