Scores 7V47  Main Challenge

August 2001 Scores

Analyses  by Richard Pavlicek

The “Dog Days of Summer” play contest had 327 participants, and everyone scoring above average is listed here. Ties in the rankings are broken by the date and time of submission (earliest wins). At the end of this page is a “Bot’s Eye View,” which shows how various computer programs fared.

Top 100

101

Location Ranking

Bot’s Eye View

Participation Stats

Number of participants	327
Number of locations	83
Highest score	59
Median score	42
Lowest score	22
Average score	41.88

Top 100 Places

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	59	PL	Wojtek Siwiec	B	A	C	C	C	F
2	59	IN	Prakasam Narasimhan	B	A	C	F	C	E
3	58	UKen	Michael Clark	B	D	C	C	C	F
4	58	RO	Radu Mihai	B	E	C	C	C	E
5	58	USny	Micki Kaufman	B	D	C	F	C	E
6	58	USca	Rob Stevens	B	E	C	C	C	E
7	57	UKen	John Reardon	B	E	C	F	C	E
8	57	CAon	Malcolm Ewashkiw	C	D	C	C	C	F
9	57	CAon	Gabriel Nita-Saguna	B	D	C	F	C	F
10	56	USca	Stephen Tu	C	A	E	F	C	E
11	56	UKen	Michael Scanlon	B	D	E	C	C	F
12	56	IL	Yoram Bavli	B	D	E	F	C	E
13	56	HK	Walter Lee	C	D	C	C	A	E
14	55	UKen	Neil Morgenstern	D	A	E	C	C	E
15	55	USnj	Leonard Helfgott	D	A	E	C	C	E
16	55	USwa	N. Scott Cardell	B	D	E	D	C	E
17	55	PT	Manuel Paulo	D	E	C	C	C	E
18	55	USma	Jonathan Weinstein	C	A	A	F	C	E
19	55	HR	Tonci Tomic	C	A	C	C	C	D
20	55	UKen	Gareth Birdsall	A	A	C	C	C	E
21	55	USpa	Steve White	D	A	E	C	C	E
22	54	USal	Bob Simkins	D	D	E	C	C	E
23	54	ZA	Sid Ismail	C	D	A	C	C	F
24	54	USil	Charles Blair	D	D	C	D	C	E
25	54	EE	Aivar Tihane	D	A	E	F	C	E
26	53	UStx	Herbert Wilton	D	A	E	F	C	F
27	53	CApq	Michael Kanigsberg	B	A	E	F	C	D
28	53	USca	Anne Bell	D	D	C	F	A	E
29	53	UKsc	Martin Kane	B	D	E	C	D	F
30	53	HK	Tommy Cho	B	A	E	F	C	D
31	53	CAon	Doug Smyth	B	A	E	F	B	E
32	53	TR	Hasan Gedik	A	A	C	C	A	E
33	53	IN	Venkatesh Ramaratnam	D	D	E	F	C	E
34	53	USca	Grant Peacock	C	B	C	F	C	E
35	52	USil	George Klemic	A	A	E	F	C	E
36	52	IN	Govindarajan Srinivasan	A	A	E	C	C	F
37	52	RS	Branko Vlajnic	D	A	A	F	C	F
38	52	AU	Bill Hearn	B	B	C	D	C	F
39	52	CAbc	David Breton	B	B	E	F	C	E
40	52	RU	Alex Perlin	D	A	C	D	D	E
41	51	NL	Frans Buijsen	A	D	E	C	C	F
42	51	CAab	Dick Yuen	A	E	E	C	C	E
43	51	USca	Jeff Goldsmith	D	A	A	F	A	E
44	51	ES	Raimon Tatxe	D	E	E	F	C	F
45	51	IE	Colin Smith	A	A	E	F	C	F
46	51	UKsc	Nigel Guthrie	D	A	D	F	C	E
47	51	EG	Andrew de Sosa	D	A	C	D	C	D
48	50	FR	Ron Tacchi	A	A	E	C	D	E
49	50	USca	Michael Day	E	D	E	F	C	E
50	50	IN	Gowniyan Vaideeshwar	A	E	E	F	C	E
51	50	USny	Franco Baseggio	F	D	C	C	A	E
52	50	AU	Niclas Jonsson	A	E	C	C	D	E
53	50	ID	Didik Koesbianto	A	E	E	F	C	E
54	50	NO	Kay Strand	E	D	E	C	C	F
55	50	AU	Bill Jacobs	D	A	E	F	D	F
56	50	RU	Leonid Ulanovsky	F	A	C	F	A	E
57	50	CAbc	Brad Bart	D	B	E	C	C	E
58	50	USil	James Hudson	E	A	A	F	C	E
59	49	USva	Larry Kahn	A	A	E	F	D	E
60	49	CAon	Sheila McDonald	C	E	C	C	B	D
61	49	DE	Rainer Herrmann	F	A	A	C	C	F
62	49	USma	Darrell Gibson	D	A	F	F	C	E
63	49	USma	Bob Boudreau	C	A	F	F	A	E
64	49	USak	Rick Kelly	E	D	C	F	D	E
65	48	IT	Giovanni Bobbio	F	D	E	D	C	E
66	48	USoh	Mark Rishavy	D	A	E	C	F	E
67	48	UKen	Douglas Dunn	F	D	E	F	C	F
68	48	IN	Satyabrata Lahiri	E	A	D	F	C	E
69	47	SE	Robert Larsson	A	E	D	F	C	E
70	47	USca	Bill Cubley	A	D	E	F	C	D
71	47	DE	Ulrich Voigt	D	A	F	C	D	E
72	47	CApq	Peter Schwartz	D	D	E	C	C	A
73	47	US	Dave Scott	D	D	E	F	C	B
74	47	SE	Roger Karlsson	E	B	C	F	C	F
75	47	CL	Constantino Sifaqui	E	E	E	C	D	E
76	47	USmn	Brian Weikle	E	D	C	C	C	B
77	47	AU	Arian Lasocki	A	A	D	C	D	E
78	47	ID	Noer Imanzal Kartamadjana	A	B	C	C	D	E
79	47	NL	Wim van Roon	E	A	F	C	C	E
80	47	IN	Sivakumar Salem	A	E	D	F	C	E
81	47	CAbc	Ross Lam	F	A	E	C	B	E
82	47	SG	Gary Ang	A	D	C	F	C	B
83	47	UKen	Jonathan Jacobs	E	D	C	F	B	F
84	47	HU	Gyula Argay	F	D	E	F	A	E
85	47	FR	Michel Mayeur	E	D	E	C	D	F
86	47	AU	Sartaj Hans	D	B	E	C	D	E
87	46	USny	Barry Rigal	B	B	D	C	C	D
88	46	AU	Bill Powell	F	E	A	F	C	F
89	46	CApq	Diane Mongeau	B	E	E	C	B	B
90	46	FI	Erkki Malkamaki	D	A	A	E	D	E
91	46	CAns	Bryson Crowell	F	A	E	D	D	E
92	46	UKni	Robin Burns	F	A	A	F	D	E
93	46	USil	Walt Schafer	A	D	D	F	A	E
94	46	US	Ralph Kuhlman	F	E	E	C	D	E
95	46	USva	Rick Bingham	E	A	F	F	C	E
96	46	FR	Jacques Normand	E	D	F	C	C	E
97	46	USfl	Fitzhugh O’Neill	B	E	A	C	E	E
98	46	SE	Dick Andersson	A	C	E	C	C	F
99	46	ID	Dayle Gilliatt	F	B	C	C	A	E
100	46	RU	Anton Evseev	F	E	D	C	C	E

Scores 7V47 Main Challenge

Analyses Top August 2001 Scores

All Others Above Average

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
101	46	IN	Anil Upadhyay	A	E	E	F	B	E
102	46	HU	Bernadette Magyar	D	B	A	F	A	E
103	46	USnj	Dirk Enthoven	E	E	A	C	A	F
104	45	NL	Dale Rudrum	D	E	E	C	F	F
105	45	TR	Cengiz Oncu	E	B	A	C	C	F
106	45	TR	Turgay Urla	E	B	A	C	C	F
107	45	TW	Zeno Lin	D	E	E	A	C	F
108	45	NO	Idar Pedersen	A	E	E	C	C	B
109	45	FI	Mikko Sarela	A	E	E	C	C	B
110	45	UKen	Stephen Down	B	B	A	C	C	A
111	45	USmd	Pete Jackson	E	A	D	C	C	D
112	45	USma	Vincent Harackiewicz	A	D	E	C	F	E
113	45	IN	Arvind Ranasaria	F	D	F	C	C	E
114	44	USwa	Josh Sinnett	E	B	E	C	D	E
115	44	USca	Sandy Barnes	F	A	E	F	C	B
116	44	NL	Rosalind Hengeveld	F	A	E	F	C	B
117	44	RO	Bogdan Vulcan	E	E	C	C	B	D
118	44	USok	Linda Waggener	E	E	E	F	B	F
119	44	USca	Phil Clayton	A	A	E	D	F	E
120	44	UKen	David Levene	E	B	C	C	B	F
121	44	USoh	Craig Satersmoen	D	C	E	D	A	F
122	44	RO	Cristian Guidea	E	E	E	C	C	B
123	44	USmn	Kathleen Wetterstrom	A	D	E	C	A	B
124	44	BR	Marcos Paiva	E	D	C	E	B	E
125	44	CAon	Jerry Smee	B	B	D	C	C	B
126	44	IN	S.T. Arasu	F	B	A	F	C	E
127	44	CAon	Mihai Valcu	E	B	E	C	D	E
128	44	HR	Vedran Zoric	F	B	E	C	A	E
129	44	TW	Chen Jye Chwu	A	B	E	C	C	D
130	43	USil	Donald Link	E	E	E	F	C	B
131	43	USca	Jojo Sarkar	F	D	E	C	D	D
132	43	PT	Carlos Santos	E	E	D	C	C	D
133	43	CAns	Brian Hansen	A	C	E	F	A	F
134	43	IL	Hillel Rosen	A	C	E	C	C	D
135	43	USca	Betsy Marcus	A	D	D	C	C	B
136	43	SI	Egon Novak	A	C	E	C	C	D
137	43	USva	Darwin Afdahl	A	D	E	C	E	E
138	43	CAon	Daniel Korbel	D	A	C	A	D	D
139	43	USfl	Lois Blume	A	E	E	F	D	D
140	43	USny	Jack Presser	E	E	C	F	F	F
141	43	USmo	Bill Finkenstadt	E	E	C	C	D	B
142	43	UStx	Brian Baresch	E	D	D	F	C	D
143	43	USsc	Rick Giles	A	B	C	C	D	D
144	43	USil	Will Engel	F	D	F	D	C	E
145	43	CAab	David Johnson	E	E	C	C	D	B
146	43	USal	Curtis Loftis	A	C	C	C	C	B
147	43	TW	Hang Chang	F	D	E	C	D	D
148	43	IT	Stefano Biciocchi	D	B	E	C	C	A
149	43	UKen	Sonia Zakrzewski	A	C	E	C	C	D
150	43	CAon	John Cunningham	D	B	C	F	B	D
151	43	IN	Sourendra Coomer Dutt	E	E	E	F	C	B
152	43	DE	Zuzana Herrmann	A	D	E	E	C	D
153	43	BE	Luc Segers	A	D	E	C	D	B
154	43	AU	Dennis Yovich	E	E	C	E	D	F
155	43	PL	Michal Nowak	B	A	E	E	D	A
156	43	TR	Dogan Gokbel	E	C	D	C	C	E
157	42	CAns	Gerald Murphy	E	F	C	D	A	E
158	42	RO	Radu Blejeru	A	D	E	C	D	A
159	42	USca	Milton Spinner	A	A	D	C	A	B
160	42	CAns	Kok-Keong Tan	A	B	E	C	C	B
161	42	AU	Margaret Lindgren	A	B	C	F	C	A
162	42	UKsc	Tim McKay	E	B	D	D	C	E
163	42	AR	Raul Martino	E	E	D	C	B	F
164	42	UK	Andrew Willis	E	A	E	A	D	E
165	42	CN	Weidong Yang	F	A	E	F	F	F
166	42	IN	Arpan Banerjee	B	B	E	C	D	C
167	42	USca	Marina Fomenkova	E	C	E	C	B	E
168	42	USmd	Jerrold Miller	A	E	C	A	D	F
169	42	USmt	Bruce Cook	D	F	C	C	F	E
170	42	USfl	Robert Markley	E	E	E	F	F	E
171	42	USfl	Marcia Greenstein	D	B	D	F	B	E

Names with accented or non-English letters have been converted to an English representation with a 26-letter alphabet. Many people use erratic capitalization, so I determine proper case by algorithm; if this does not correctly display your name, please advise and I will add it to the exception list. If you wish to contact someone whose name you see listed (such as a lost friend) give me permission to send your address to that person, then he or she can contact you. I will not give out e-mail addresses (these are private and go nowhere from me).

Scores 7V47 Main Challenge

Analyses Top August 2001 Scores

Location Ranking

This table lists all the participating locations, ranked by the average score of their entries. The “Best” column shows the best finish (by rank) of any player in that location. Locations with less than five entries are ineligible for the top ranking and grouped separately.

Rank	Average	Best	LC	Location	Entries
1	47.80	18	USma	Massachusetts	5
2	45.20	4	RO	Romania	5
3	44.22	24	USil	Illinois	9
4	43.37	2	IN	India	19
5	43.00	29	UKsc	Scotland	5
6	42.85	38	AU	Australia	13
7	42.80	12	IL	Israel	5
8	42.35	6	USca	California	23
9	42.25	5	USny	New York	8
10	42.20	8	CAon	Ontario	15
11	41.48	3	UKen	England	23
12	41.33	107	TW	Taiwan	6
13	41.25	39	CAbc	British Columbia	8
14	41.20	26	UStx	Texas	5
15	40.71	69	SE	Sweden	7
16	40.14	41	NL	Netherlands	7
17	39.38	91	CAns	Nova Scotia	8
18	38.38	97	USfl	Florida	13
19	38.11	65	IT	Italy	9

Rank	Average	Best	LC	Location	Entries
20	55.00	21	USpa	Pennsylvania	1
21	54.50	13	HK	Hong Kong	2
22	51.00	1	PL	Poland	2
23	51.00	47	EG	Egypt	1
24	49.33	40	RU	Russia	3
25	49.00	64	USak	Alaska	1
26	48.50	22	USal	Alabama	2
27	47.67	53	ID	Indonesia	3
28	47.50	54	NO	Norway	2
29	47.00	15	USnj	New Jersey	3
30	47.00	25	EE	Estonia	2
31	47.00	75	CL	Chile	1
32	47.00	82	SG	Singapore	1
33	46.75	27	CApq	Quebec	4
34	46.50	32	TR	Turkey	4
35	46.50	84	HU	Hungary	2
36	46.00	59	USva	Virginia	3
37	46.00	92	UKni	Northern Ireland	1
38	45.50	76	USmn	Minnesota	2
39	45.50	90	FI	Finland	2
40	45.00	44	ES	Spain	2
41	44.00	37	RS	Serbia	2
42	44.00	118	USok	Oklahoma	1
43	44.00	124	BR	Brazil	1
44	43.75	48	FR	France	4
45	43.67	17	PT	Portugal	3
46	43.00	73	US	United States	3
47	42.67	66	USoh	Ohio	3
48	42.00	141	USmo	Missouri	2
49	42.00	164	UK	United Kingdom	1
50	42.00	165	CN	China	1
51	42.00	169	USmt	Montana	1
52	41.25	19	HR	Croatia	4
53	41.25	23	ZA	South Africa	4
54	41.00	143	USsc	South Carolina	2
55	41.00	173	USne	Nebraska	1
56	40.75	16	USwa	Washington	4
57	40.25	61	DE	Germany	4
58	40.00	185	USnv	Nevada	1
59	39.00	176	GR	Greece	3
60	39.00	200	JP	Japan	1
61	38.50	42	CAab	Alberta	4
62	38.50	45	IE	Ireland	4
63	38.50	153	BE	Belgium	2
64	38.00	111	USmd	Maryland	3
65	38.00	214	USga	Georgia	1
66	37.67	163	AR	Argentina	3
67	37.50	136	SI	Slovenia	4
68	37.50	216	CA	Canada	2
69	37.00	236	CAmb	Manitoba	1
70	37.00	237	USco	Colorado	1
71	37.00	238	USnh	New Hampshire	1
72	37.00	241	MT	Malta	1
73	37.00	246	CAsk	Saskatchewan	1
74	36.00	266	UStn	Tennessee	1
75	35.67	219	USnc	North Carolina	3
76	35.00	202	USin	Indiana	2
77	34.50	257	USaz	Arizona	2
78	34.00	235	NZ	New Zealand	2
79	33.50	221	UKwa	Wales	2
80	33.00	290	USor	Oregon	1
81	32.00	300	CH	Switzerland	1
82	28.00	319	USar	Arkansas	1
83	25.00	325	CY	Cyprus	1

Scores 7V47 Main Challenge

Analyses Top August 2001 Scores

Bot’s Eye View

I posed these play problems to some of the well-known bridge computer programs, and the results are tabulated below. (These results are not included in the “number of participants” shown above, nor in the calculation of the median or average score.) Most of the programs had different skill settings (thinking time), and this was set to the highest level within reason. The scores and rankings, based on six specific problems, are not necessarily indicative of each program’s overall capability.

In many cases a bot’s actual line of play did not match any of the choices. If the play was effectively the same as Line A-F (e.g., a transposition of plays), that choice was credited, however, if the line was considerably off base (i.e., worse than any of the options) I indicated this by the letter G. For scoring purposes, “Line G” counts the same as the lowest of Line A-F (it wouldn’t be fair to score it zero because the bot would have guessed if it understood the multiple-choice format).

Congratulations to Bridge Buff for a stunning performance, and the only bot to break average. The usual card-play champ GIB had an off month, though it still managed to grab second place. Overall, however, the bot performances were unimpressive and, in a few cases, egregious, such as drawing three rounds of trumps on Problem 5. The consistency award goes to HAL — its steady play gave a whole new meaning to the word “G-string.”

August 2001 Rankings

Rank	Score	LC	Program version	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	49	CA	Bridge Buff 8.0	A	E	A	C	C	F
2	35	US	GIB 4.1.12	A	E	C	G	G	E
3	32	UK	Blue Chip Bridge 3.4.3	A	E	E	G	B	B
4	28	DE	Q-plus Bridge 6.1	A	G	A	G	C	A
5	18	US	Finesse Bridge 2.5	G	B	D	G	G	A
6	16	US	Bridge Baron 11.0	G	G	A	G	G	G
7	13	JP	Micro Bridge 9.01	E	G	B	A	G	G
8	10	US	HAL 9000	G	G	G	G	G	G

Bots Tested (alphabetical)

Program	Author/Creator
Blue Chip Bridge	Ian Trackman and Mike Whittaker
Bridge Baron	Tom Throop and Stephen Smith
Bridge Buff	Doug Bennion
Finesse Bridge	Mark and Aaron Marin
GIB	Matthew Ginsberg
HAL	Someone with a warped mind
Micro Bridge	Tomio and Yumiko Uchida
Q-plus Bridge	Hans Leber

Scores 7V47 Main Challenge

Analyses Top August 2001 Scores

© 2001 Richard Pavlicek