Interview mit dem Rybka-Programmierer Vasik Rajlich

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Rybka 4 kommt mit neuer Suche, neuer Bewertung
und neuen Analyse-Funktionen

Peter Martan

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Die Welt des Computerschachs hat schon seit langem ein allmächtiges Triumvirat, das da heißt: Rybka, Shredder, Fritz. Und für gewöhnlich pflegt dieses omnipräsente (und -potente) Trio alljährlich so gegen den Spätherbst hin mit neuen Versionen auf sich aufmerksam zu machen – das Weihnachtsgeschäft lässt grüßen.
Vor kurzem erschien nun bereits Fritz 12 (wir werden darüber berichten), seit einigen Tagen ist auch Shredder 12 auf dem Markt (wir haben darüber berichtet) – doch wo bleibt Rybka 4 ? Wo ist der absolute Generalissimus der Szene – jenes kleine blaue «Fischchen», das als gefräßiger Killer-Hai hinsichtlich Spielstärke jedes Engine-Turnier so dominant beherrscht wie kaum ein anderes Programm in der bisherigen Computerschach-Geschichte?
Das «Glarean Magazin» hielt die Spannung vor dem neuen Release nicht mehr länger aus und gelangte mit ein paar ungeduldigen Fragen an den Rybka-Erfinder und -Chefdenker Vasik Rajlich.

Glarean Magazin: Was ist Ihre zurzeit wichtigste Arbeit an Rybka?

Vasik Rajlich: Ich befinde mich gerade im «Release-Modus»; da gibt es eine Menge  kleinerer Dinge zu tun.

GM: Welche Innovationen können wir von Rybka 4 erwarten?

VR: Die Evaluation und die Suche sind neu gestaltet – bei der Evaluation im Umfang von ungefähr 300 Zeilen zusätzlichem Code, bei der Suche vielleicht 75 Code-Zeilen mehr. Es werden zudem ein paar neue Analyse-Funktionen hinzukommen.

GM: Wann etwa dürfen wir Rybka 4 erwarten?

VR: Das ist noch offen…

GM: Wird es in der gleichen Weise verkauft bzw. vertrieben wie bisher?

VR: Ja, Convekta und ChessBase werden wieder die publizierenden Firmen sein.

GM: Gab es im Entwickler-Team etwelche Veränderungen?

VR: Die eigentliche Entwicklungsarbeit wird immer noch ausschließlich von mir gemacht. Aber wir haben ein tolles Team: Lukas Cimiotti hat beim «Clustering» sehr viel beigetragen, ebenso auch in Sachen Turnier-Vorbereitungen, und seine Mitarbeit im vergangenen Jahr war enorm. Unser «Book»-Team hat sich ein wenig verändert, wir haben nun zusätzlich Jiri Dufek ins Team geholt, aber Jeroen Noomen bleibt nach wie vor dabei. Nicht unerwähnt lassen will ich Felix Kling und seinen Bruder Christoph, welche für unsere Website verantwortlich sind. Weiters sind da noch Hans van der Zijden, der als PC-Operator auf Computer-Turnieren fungiert, meine Frau Iweta als die Verantwortliche für die Tests, Larry Kaufman für die Leitung der Mensch-vs-Maschine-Matches sowie der ganzen Parameter-Tunings, und schließlich Nick Carlin, der ebenfalls bei den «Book»-Arbeiten und Turnier-Vorbereitungen beteiligt ist.

GM: Wird es – früher oder später – eine öffentliche Cluster-Version von Rybka geben?

VR: Nein, jedenfalls nicht als Bestandteil der kommenden Rybka-4-Version. Aber wir haben Pläne, dies zusätzlich für den spezifischen Einsatz in Turnieren weiter zu entwickeln. Es wird gegenüber dem Bisherigen kleine Unterschiede geben, aber lassen Sie sich überraschen…

GM: Bereits im Rybka-Forum wurde mal danach gefragt, ob eine automatische «Backward Analysis» («Rückwärtsanalyse») im Multi-Varianten-Modus implentiert werden könnte, worauf geantwortet wurde, dass dies eine Frage des Interfaces, nicht der Engine sei. Aber würden Sie es als nützlich unterstützen, so etwas auch optional sogar im «normalen» Spiel-Modus, zumal für Cluster-Versionen, möglich zu machen?

VR: Der Output einer Cluster-Version ist ein schwieriges Thema, das noch einiges Nachdenken erfordert. Grundsätzlich könnte der «Cluster» sicher eine Art von Multi-PV-Analyse liefern, auch in seinem «Play»-Modus. Bisher haben wir aber überhaupt Cluster-Technik nur für Turniere angewandt, so dass dieses «Problem» noch nicht gelöst wurde.

GM: Wird Rybka 4 einen spezifischen «Finde-Gewinn-»Modus haben bzw. wird wieder eine zusätzliche «Winfinder»-Engine mitgeliefert?

VR: Die Entwicklung besonders «interessanter» Derivate (einschließlich «WinFinder»-Versionen) ist auf meiner To-Do-Liste, aber zurzeit noch nicht in Angriff genommen, ebenso wenig wie ein spezieller «Win-Finder»-Modus. Fest steht aber, dass Rybka 4 auch taktisch viel stärker als jetzt Rybka 3 sein wird.

GM: Wird die neue Engine auch die Option enthalten, den sog. «Nullmove» ein- oder ausschalten zu können?

VR: Dieses Feature ist wohl nicht so wichtig, dass es in die Parameter-Liste der Engine integriert werden müsste.

GM: Haben Sie schon News betreffend «Shared Analysis» und «Persistent Hash»?

VR: Noch nicht, bisher sind diesbezüglich nur ein paar Bugfixes zu melden. Das sind aber weitere Themen, die wohl noch eine ganze Menge Arbeit machen werden…

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. Interview in english:

GM: What is your main work to be done with Rybka right now?

VR: Right now I am in «release mode», there are a ton of little things to do now.

GM: What innovations may we expect from Rybka 4?

VR: The eval and search are revamped – the eval had something like 300% code  turnover in the last year and the search maybe 75% code turnover. There will also be a few new analysis features.

GM: When approximately may we expect Rybka 4?

VR: This is still TBD.

GM: Will it be sold and distributed in the same ways as formerly?

VR: Yes, Convekta and ChessBase will be the publishers.

GM: Has there been any change in the team of developers?

VR: The development work is still done only by me, but we have a great team. Lukas Cimiotti has helped tremendously with the clustering and with tournament preparations, his contribution over the past year has been enormous. Our book team has changed a bit, we have added Jiri Dufek, while Jeroen Noomen remains involved. We will give more details later. I also should mention Felix Kling and his brother Christoph for their work on our web site, Hans van der Zijden as the Rybka operator, my wife Iweta for testing, Larry Kaufman for man-vs-machine matches and parameter tuning, and Nick Carlin for book work and tournament preparations.

GM: Will we have a public Rybka cluster-version sooner or later?

VR: This won’t be a part of the Rybka 4 release, but we do have plans for this in addition to competing in tournaments. It will be something a little different, you’ll have to stay tuned.

GM: Maybe you remember me asking you once at Rybka forum about multi-variant-mode of analysis. My special wish of automatic backward analysis in mv- mode was answered by you then as a matter of GUI, which it is, of course. But would you support it as useful, even sometimes in normal game mode, especially as for cluster version?

VR: Can you say what you mean by “backward analysis”?

GM: I just meant the feature of some GUIs to step back automatically in the game analyzed.

VR: The output of our cluster is a tricky issue which needs some thinking. Outputting a single PV is a poor fit to how the cluster searches. In principle, the cluster could provide a sort of multi-pv analysis even in its more efficient “game-play” mode. So far we have only used the cluster for competitions, so this issue has not been resolved.

GM: Will the “find win” mode be new too in Rybka 4 or will even a new WinFinder come up again?

VR: Making more interesting versions (including some WinFinders) is on my to-do list, but I haven’t touched it since Rybka 3. Ditto for “find win” mode – it could be improved, but so far hasn’t been. Rybka herself is much stronger tactically now than Rybka 3.

GM: Or do you think nullmove to be switched off as an option of the engine would also be a feature worth adding?

VR: This feature probably doesn’t have enough value to add to the parameter list.

GM: Any news to be expected as for shared analysis and persistent hash?

VR: Not yet, so far there are only some bug fixes. This is another topic which will eventually get a lot of work.

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Fast Times at 'Expert High'

The 50 Over 50 Project is a ”Community of Career Advice”     focused on 50 folks over age 50 who are in a career transition.  Summarize YOUR career dilemma as a comment to get helpful pointers from this blog community. 

If you are old enough, you remember the semi-entertaining movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It was a big milestone in Sean Penn’s early body of work. I twisted that movie name into the hopefully catchy title for this post which pertains to ”quick self promotion.”   

All people in career transition or folks who are trying to sell their expertise need to be “comprehendable.” I don’t know if that is a word, but I ran into someone the other day who sells professional services. I asked him what he did. Ten minutes later I was bored and confused. 

The small business services person (he is the one who provides the actual consulting services) rambled for minutes upon minutes about what he could do or has done.  What he didn’t know is that I tuned out to his rantings after about 30 seconds of vague generalities.

Because I have interviewed thousands of people I was able to ask pointed questions to extract from him some specific examples of his work. But that is the point.  I shouldn’t have had to “work so hard” at pulling out of him what he does and how that might remotely help me. 

He also had a written piece which included a 30-word description of his offerings. But he works in big, big niche and his description was so vague I still wasn’t sure what he did. In a glance, (which is all any of us get–my book calls this “your 15 seconds of fame”) I just wasn’t sure what he could do for me.

So dear blog readers, the old formula applies as you position yourself as an expert:  ‘Keep It Simple Stupid.’ And fast. No matter how good you are and how tightly you address your specific niche, you are still competing daily with the hundreds of emails, messages, texts, calls, tweets and friend/connection requests, etc., etc., etc. (to quote Yul Brenner). 

I remain eager to see your drafts of your elevator speech, Unique Selling Proposition, or TwitterVator Speech (the combination of the elevator speech with your USP in 140 characters or less).

You can offer them anonymously here as a comment and the community will help you to craft your pitch. Or, you can contact me privately outside of this blog for free help on this. 

Social media is great. But, as you have noticed, there are a few (million) folks out there using it. Let this community of career advice help YOU stand out….

 America’s Job Coach

  

 

The Wizard of Oz, 70 years later

“The Wizard of Oz” is one of my favorite movies. I probably watched it every year on TV when I was a kid. I wrote about it, and one of my childhood memories of watching it, on this blog 5 years ago (”oh my!” is right).

I watched a video podcast the other day in which several of the actors who played the Munchkins were interviewed. Watching the guy on the left snooze was pretty funny. Considering they’re all in their 90s, though, most of them look and sound pretty good.

You can also watch the video on YouTube (I was having trouble embedding it directly from the Newsweek site):

Another great site I discovered recently called read.gov lets you read Frank Baum’s classic book online. You can turn the pages by clicking on the arrow, or just by clicking your mouse on the page you want to turn.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

There are a handful of other classics on this site. I hope eventually they’ll add more. I know that some people definitely prefer to have the “brick-and-mortar” libraries and the real books in their hands. But I think it’s a positive trend, especially for people who can’t get to a library or can’t afford to buy the books.

How one priest helps reassure the dying

I have probably been in the presence of around 25 dead bodies. The first time was a bit scary – or at least I thought it would be. The reality is that once someone has died they are just not “there” – quite different from them being asleep or comatose. Inevitably it invokes a sense of sadness, personal vulnerability, and even awe.

As a priest I spend time with people who are still mentally alert and aware they are dying. My job is to help them come to terms with their death and their faith. My experiences have highlighted that people fight incredibly hard when it comes to death: the body just refuses not to breathe.

Sadly, I have noticed even those who worship regularly have a built-in resistance to preparing for death. Several people in their late 80s have asked me not to talk of death because “it is too depressing”. But being scared of death is astonishingly far from the Christian tradition. The 6th-century monk and religious leader St Benedict tells his brethren to “keep death always before your eyes”. He doesn’t mean people should go around being morbid, but they be aware of their own mortality and live accordingly.

It seems to me that a denial of the inevitability of death means that so many things are not sorted out: goodbyes not said, wills not written, funeral arrangements unmade. It increases the stress at the very point when the bereaved cannot cope. I believe with greater openness and less collusion, death could be handled so much better.

This article was originally published by New Scientist on 10 October 2007 by Lucy Middleton.

Raining Love

Yes, it’s raining. I’m off from my day job and I’m writing up a storm because I’m trying to make the deadline for my editor.  I’m almost there, but I’ve often heard that almost only counts in horse shoe throwing, hand grenade throwing, and bikinis.

Lots of things are coming up on Nights of Passion. I will be announcing my guest blogging and travels to other blogs as they come up.  Romance author Roxanne Rhoads will be having a contest and interview celebrating her book ETERNAL DESIRE on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday and Saturday will be my Book Launch Party though WHEN LOVE SURVIVES will be available from http://www.allromanceebooks.com  Thursday afternoon.  So we’re hopping here and reving up for Halloween as well with guest bloggers.

Now I’m back to writing, and it’s raining love here. How’s the weather where you are?

The 25 most difficult questions asked in an Interview Part III - Last

 

 

 Part III

 

16. What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a manager or executive?

Mention planning, execution, and cost-control. The most difficult task is to motivate and manage employees to get something planned and completed on time and within the budget.

 

17. What important trends do you see in our industry?

Be prepared with two or three trends that illustrate how well you understand your industry. You might consider technological challenges or opportunities, economic conditions, or even regulatory demands as you collect your  thoughts about the direction in which your business is heading.

 

18. Why are you leaving (did you leave) your present (last) job?

Be brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself. Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. where you considered this topic as you set your reference statements. If you were laid off in an across-the-board cutback, say so; otherwise, indicate that the move was your decision, the result of your action. Do not mention personality conflicts. The interviewer may spend some time probing you on this issue, particularly if it is clear that you were terminated. The “We agreed to disagree” approach may be useful. Remember that your references are likely to be checked, so don’t concoct a story for an interview.

 

19. How do you feel about leaving all your benefits to find a new job?

Mention that you are concerned, naturally, but not panicked. You are willing to accept some risk to find the right job for yourself. Don’t suggest that security might interest you more than getting the job done successfully.

 

20. In your current (last) position, what features do (did) you like the most? The least?

Be careful and be positive. Describe more features that you liked than disliked. Don’t cite personality problems. If you make your last job sound terrible, an interviewer may wonder why you remained there until now.

 

21. What do you think of your boss?

Be as positive as you can. A potential boss is likely to wonder if you might talk about him in similar terms at some point in the future.

 

22. Why aren’t you earning more at your age?

Say that this is one reason that you are conducting this job search. Don’t be defensive.

 

23. What do you feel this position should pay?

Salary is a delicate topic. We suggest that you defer tying yourself to a precise figure for as long as you can do so politely. You might say, “I understand that the range for this job is between $______ and $______. That seems appropriate for the job as I understand it.” You might answer the question with a question: “Perhaps you can help me on this one. Can you tell me if there is a range for similar jobs in the organization?”

If you are asked the question during an initial screening interview, you might say that you feel you need to know more about the position’s responsibilities before you could give a meaningful answer to that question. Here, too, either by asking the interviewer or search executive (if one is involved), or in research done as part of your homework, you can try to find out whether there is a salary grade attached to the job. If there is, and if you can live with it, say that the range seems right to you. If the interviewer continues to probe, you might say, “You know that I’m making $______ now. Like

everyone else, I’d like to improve on that figure, but my major interest is with the job itself.” Remember that the act of taking a new job does not, in and of itself, make you worth more money. If a search firm is involved, your contact there may be able to help with the salary question. He or she may even be able to run interference for you. If, for instance, he tells you what the position pays, and you tell him that you are earning that amount now and would Like to do a bit better, he might go back to the employer and propose that you be offered an additional 10%. If no price range is attached to the job, and the interviewer continues to press the subject, then you will have to respond with a number. You cannot leave the impression that it does not really matter, that you’ll accept whatever is offered. If you’ve been making $80,000 a year, you can’t say that a

$35,000 figure would be fine without sounding as if you’ve given up on yourself. (If you are making a radical career change, however, this kind of disparity may be more reasonable and understandable.) Don’t sell yourself short, but continue to stress the fact that the job itself is the most important thing in your mind. The interviewer may be trying to determine just how much you want the job. Don’t leave the impression that money is the only thing that is important to you. Link questions of salary to the work itself. But whenever possible, say as little as you can about salary until you reach the “final” stage of the interview process. At that point, you know that the company is genuinely interested in you and that it is likely to be flexible in salary negotiations.

 

24. What are your long-range goals?

Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. Don’t answer, “I want the job you’ve advertised.” Relate your goals to the company you are interviewing: ‘in a firm like yours, I would like to…”

 

25. How successful do you you’ve been so far?

Say that, all-in-all, you’re happy with the way your career has progressed so far. Given the normal ups and downs of life, you feel that you’ve done quite well and have no complaints. Present a positive and confident picture of yourself, but don’t overstate your case. An answer like, “Everything’s wonderful! I can’t think of a time when things were going better! I’m overjoyed!” is likely to make an interviewer wonder whether you’re trying to fool him . . . or yourself. The most convincing confidence is usually quiet confidence.

ALL THE BEST

yeS yeS way

Finding Your Passion

How does one find their passion?  How does one even define the word – passion?  The dictionary gives a few definitions. I’ll cite two:
- “intense or overpowering emotion such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.”
- “the object of somebody’s intense interest or enthusiasm”

Passion isn’t something you can teach someone – you just have to have it inside of yourself.  If you’re passionate about something – you just know.  I’m a photographer and a filmmaker .  But my passion is “telling the story” and I use my craft as a means to that end.  I’m interested in the human story and the cultural context that gives birth to those stories.

My insatiable desire to seek out and explore the human story has led me down many wonderful paths in my life. One of those paths led me to shoot a personal multimedia project on The Delta Blues Musicians.  My goal was to shoot environmental still portraits– as well as shoot video interviews of them .  I met my goal – at least in terms of creating an exhibition of still images and a short documentary – but I’ve never thought of this project as really being finished.  And that’s because I’m so passionate about the subject – “the blues”.

This past Friday, I headed down to Mississippi for Pinetop Perkins homecoming.  Pinetop Perkins is a legendary boogie woogie piano player in the blues world.  He’s 96 years old and still going strong.  He is living proof of a man who is “living his passion.  I’ve become friends with Pinetop’s manager over the years and yesterday we got together over lunch to catch up on what was going on in our lives. I hadn’t been to the Delta for a few years and she was giving me the latest news on some of the musicians that I had interviewed for my film.  Four have since died – Little Milton, Robert Lockwood Jr., Ike Turner and most recently Sam Carr.

Pinetop’s manager is a very interesting woman who used to be an Anthropology professor at University of California at Berkeley.  She taught interview techniques as part of her ethnology classes.  When I had originally called her up to request an interview with Pinetop – she turned me down.  But not being one to take my first no – I asked her to check out my website and I also sent her a portrait I had taken of Sam Carr.  When she saw the photo I had taken of Sam – she changed her mind – she gave me my time with Pinetop.  She said that after she saw the portrait I took of Sam – she knew that  I understood “cultural context”

Yesterday at lunch she paid me another high compliment.  She told me that while she couldn’t quite dissect my “interview technique” (and she kind of rolled her eyes as she said it – because at times my techniques are quite comical) – she said that people just seem to be comfortable with me and  because of that they wanted to talk.  She also told me that I’ve been the only one to get a smile out of Robert Lockwood Jr. in an interview – but that’s another story.  Those comments were rewards in themselves for the efforts I’ve made on this project over the years – but there have been so many more.  Many rewards – all because of my passion for “the blues”.

Later that evening I got a chance to see Pinetop perform again.  I was backstage at the main festival stage – it was unusually chilly and I had a blanket with me.  Pinetop was sitting in the wings and I gave him my blanket as he waited for his cue.  He seemed so small and fragile.  When he got up to walk on stage and take his place at his keyboard before the crowd – he came alive.  And when he played his first note – I caught “it” in his eyes – a passion for his music and more than that – a passion to play for “his people”.  He didn’t want to leave last night – he played another song for “his people” and raised his arms in joy as the crowd embraced him.  It was a moment I’ll never forget.