Scores 7X15  Main Challenge

December 2002 Scores

Analyses  by Richard Pavlicek

The “Visions of Sugar Plums” play contest had 637 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

201

301

Location Ranking

Bot’s Eye View

Participation Stats

Number of participants	637
Number of locations	94
Highest score	60
Median score	40
Lowest score	22
Average score	40.64

Top 100 Places

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	60	PL	Wojtek Siwiec	D	D	E	B	C	D
2	60	HR	Tonci Tomic	D	D	E	B	C	D
3	60	DE	Alexei Vinogradov	D	D	E	B	C	D
4	59	BG	Zahary Zahariev	D	D	B	B	C	D
5	59	CAon	Gabriel Nita-Saguna	D	E	E	B	C	D
6	59	RU	Sergey Kustarov	D	E	E	B	C	D
7	59	USca	Rob Balas	D	D	B	B	C	D
8	58	HK	Walter Lee	D	E	B	B	C	D
9	58	UKen	Frances Hinden	D	D	A	B	C	D
10	58	USwa	N. Scott Cardell	D	E	B	B	C	D
11	58	CAon	David Lindop	D	D	A	B	C	D
12	58	USma	Jonathan Weinstein	D	E	B	B	C	D
13	58	USil	Nikolay Demirev	D	E	B	B	C	D
14	58	RO	Radu Mihai	E	D	B	B	C	D
15	57	UKen	John Reardon	E	E	B	B	C	D
16	57	UK	Marcus Chiloarnus	E	E	B	B	C	D
17	57	PL	Andrzej Krakowiak	D	D	B	C	C	D
18	57	USil	Charles Blair	E	E	B	B	C	D
19	56	PL	Darek Kardas	E	D	B	C	C	D
20	56	CN	Weidong Yang	D	D	A	C	C	D
21	55	PL	Slawek Cwiek	E	D	A	C	C	D
22	55	PL	Wojtek Urban	E	D	A	C	C	D
23	55	PL	Jacek Masiarek	E	D	A	C	C	D
24	55	EG	Andrew de Sosa	D	E	B	D	C	D
25	55	UKen	Julian Wightwick	D	D	B	B	B	B
26	54	UKen	Gareth Birdsall	E	D	F	B	C	D
27	54	EE	Meelis Tiitson	E	F	E	C	C	D
28	54	CAon	Dale Freeman	D	E	B	B	B	B
29	54	FR	Albert Ohana	D	E	B	C	B	D
30	54	HU	Imre Csiszar	D	F	B	B	C	B
31	54	FI	Erkki Malkamaki	E	A	E	B	C	D
32	54	USca	Grant Peacock	E	E	A	B	C	B
33	53	UKsc	Paul Gipson	D	E	B	C	D	D
34	53	SE	Gunnar Andersson	E	E	E	B	C	F
35	53	UKwa	Julian Pottage	D	E	B	D	B	D
36	53	AU	Bill Powell	D	E	B	D	C	B
37	52	UShi	Mark Bennett	D	F	B	F	C	D
38	52	CN	Jacky Li	E	F	E	C	B	D
39	52	UKen	Anthony Golding	E	D	B	C	F	D
40	52	PT	Manuel Paulo	F	D	E	D	C	D
41	52	NL	Peter van Montfoort	E	E	E	C	B	B
42	52	DE	Hans Fleischhack	E	E	E	C	B	B
43	52	BG	Chavdar Kochkov	E	E	E	D	D	D
44	52	CH	Olivier La Spada	E	F	A	B	C	B
45	52	CZ	Tomas Mecl	D	E	E	D	B	B
46	52	USva	Tibor Koos	D	E	B	C	B	B
47	52	CAab	Daniel Bertrand	D	E	B	C	B	B
48	52	DE	Rainer Herrmann	D	D	E	B	E	D
49	52	USde	Bob Zorn	D	E	A	D	B	D
50	51	PL	Kazik Drozdz	E	A	B	C	C	D
51	51	PL	Marcin Zbroja	E	A	B	C	C	D
52	51	USak	Dave Jackson	E	F	A	D	C	D
53	51	IT	Antonio de Gregorio	D	D	F	C	B	D
54	51	NL	Frans Buijsen	D	A	B	D	C	D
55	51	USfl	Lois Wiener	E	E	E	C	C	F
56	51	USct	Jim Brennan	E	E	E	B	A	D
57	51	UKen	Douglas Dunn	D	E	B	D	C	A
58	50	NO	Magnus Skaar	E	F	A	C	B	D
59	50	CAbc	Ross Lam	D	E	E	D	B	A
60	50	UStx	Richard Higgins	D	A	B	C	C	B
61	50	AU	David Stern	D	F	F	C	C	D
62	50	USnv	Carol A. Stewart	E	F	B	C	D	D
63	50	USfl	Peter Cleaves	E	E	B	C	D	B
64	50	IT	Nicola Farina	D	D	D	C	C	D
65	50	UStx	John Stieber	E	E	B	C	C	F
66	50	USin	Tim DeLaney	D	E	B	E	C	D
67	50	USga	Tom Carmichael	E	E	B	C	D	B
68	50	USca	Jeff Tang	D	E	B	D	D	B
69	50	PL	Roman Kujaczynski	D	D	E	C	E	D
70	50	AT	Michael Palitsch	E	F	A	B	B	B
71	50	IN	Neelotpal Sahai	E	F	B	C	D	D
72	50	AU	Merrelyn Daly	E	F	B	B	C	F
73	49	USmn	Andy Caranicas	E	E	E	D	B	A
74	49	USny	Bruce Ross	E	E	A	B	D	A
75	49	CL	Constantino Sifaqui	E	F	B	B	F	B
76	49	US	Homer Wang	D	E	A	D	D	B
77	49	USca	Earl Semones	E	F	E	B	B	F
78	49	GR	Loukas Nikainas	E	E	A	C	D	B
79	49	USfl	Robert Guida	A	E	E	C	C	D
80	49	USil	David Shelton	E	E	E	C	D	A
81	49	PT	Paulino Correa	E	D	A	D	C	F
82	49	BG	Ognian Smilianov	D	F	B	D	C	A
83	49	CN	Qing Ye	D	E	B	C	D	A
84	49	BG	Ludmil Mirov	E	F	B	C	B	B
85	49	UKsc	Nigel Guthrie	D	F	F	D	C	D
86	48	ZA	Sid Ismail	E	E	A	C	B	A
87	48	NZ	Pieter Verhoek	E	D	F	B	F	B
88	48	USca	Ron Landgraff	E	F	E	C	B	A
89	48	BR	Paulinho Brum	E	F	F	D	C	D
90	48	USva	Rick Bingham	E	E	A	B	D	F
91	48	TW	Roy Tsai	E	D	A	D	B	A
92	48	USnj	Mani Gupta	E	E	E	D	B	F
93	48	USor	James Weider	E	E	B	D	B	A
94	48	PL	Arek Kulawik	D	D	D	C	B	D
95	48	IL	Rafi Amado	E	C	B	D	C	D
96	48	USnc	Tim Hemphill	E	E	E	D	D	A
97	48	CAon	David Grainger	E	E	B	D	B	A
98	48	SE	P.A. Eriksson	E	E	B	C	A	D
99	48	RO	Laci Baranyi	E	E	E	D	B	F
100	48	USin	Doug Avery	D	E	B	A	C	A

Scores 7X15 Main Challenge

Analyses Top December 2002 Scores

Places 101-200

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
101	48	TR	Ufuk Cotuk	E	A	B	D	C	B
102	47	USca	Len Vishnevsky	E	E	E	C	A	B
103	47	EE	Aivar Tihane	E	F	B	C	B	A
104	47	IL	Amiram Millet	B	D	E	F	C	B
105	47	US	Valerie Stone	E	F	E	C	B	F
106	47	ZA	Harold Bernstein	E	F	B	C	B	A
107	47	USmi	Gordon Parnes	E	E	B	D	B	F
108	47	NL	William Claassen	D	E	B	A	C	F
109	47	RO	Andrei Cosmanescu	E	E	E	D	F	A
110	47	USma	K. Scott Kimball	D	E	F	B	B	F
111	47	USil	James Hudson	E	F	E	D	F	B
112	47	CA	Bill Turnbull	E	F	E	C	A	D
113	47	CApq	Peter Schwartz	E	E	B	D	D	A
114	47	USct	Gary Seckinger	E	F	B	B	F	A
115	47	TR	Dertugrul Onal	E	D	F	D	B	B
116	47	CAon	Sheila McDonald	E	F	E	C	D	A
117	47	HR	Ivan Mosettig	E	F	A	B	B	F
118	47	CAon	Doug Smyth	E	E	B	C	F	A
119	47	RO	Mircea Popescu	E	E	F	C	F	D
120	47	CAns	Del Knox	E	E	B	D	B	F
121	47	BG	Tchavdar Nikolov	E	F	E	B	F	F
122	47	USfl	Judith Waxman	E	E	A	C	B	F
123	47	UKen	Roger Morton	D	D	A	C	A	B
124	47	USca	Harvey Jaffe	D	E	A	C	E	D
125	46	USpa	James Mesbur	E	E	B	D	D	F
126	46	IL	Or Shoham	D	C	E	C	D	B
127	46	DE	Roland Watzdorf	E	F	E	D	B	F
128	46	HK	Kongo Kong	E	F	A	C	B	A
129	46	RO	Florentin Axinte	D	F	D	D	C	D
130	46	SE	Carsten Kofoed	E	E	B	D	C	C
131	46	USca	Paul Nelson	E	F	B	D	B	A
132	46	USsc	Rick Giles	E	F	E	D	B	F
133	46	USoh	Barbara Bisesi	F	F	E	F	B	D
134	46	CAbc	Ian Ho	E	E	A	A	C	A
135	46	CAon	Jerry Smee	E	E	A	D	B	F
136	46	USca	Mike Roney	E	F	A	C	B	A
137	46	USca	Roger Boyar	D	D	E	E	B	A
138	46	USwa	Marsha Rayton	C	F	E	C	F	B
139	46	LV	Ivars Rubenis	E	E	B	D	F	A
140	46	USva	Mariana Koos	E	C	A	C	C	B
141	46	USfl	Dick Burns	E	E	E	D	F	F
142	46	UKen	Peter Buttery	E	F	E	C	D	F
143	46	CAon	Mike Cafferata	D	F	A	D	F	B
144	46	CAab	David Johnson	C	E	A	B	F	A
145	46	TR	Altay Alp	C	E	B	D	B	A
146	46	USpa	Lois Stuart	D	F	E	D	F	A
147	46	USfl	Paul Frank	E	E	E	C	E	B
148	46	AU	Ross Crichton	E	F	E	D	B	F
149	46	PE	Vladana Diaz	E	F	F	B	C	F
150	46	ES	Francisco Plana	D	E	B	E	B	B
151	45	CAon	John Cunningham	D	D	B	C	E	A
152	45	TW	Hang Chang	E	E	B	D	F	F
153	45	USca	Clark Millikan	D	E	B	A	A	D
154	45	USca	Ronald Kow	E	F	B	C	F	A
155	45	CA	Mo Wallace	E	F	A	B	F	F
156	45	USva	Bette Segal	E	E	C	C	D	A
157	45	ID	Maryadi Surya Hartadi	E	E	F	C	B	A
158	45	USca	Ralph Weil	E	B	C	B	C	A
159	45	SI	Tomaz Butina	E	F	A	D	B	A
160	45	SE	Daniel Auby	D	E	A	E	B	B
161	45	SE	Dan Walivaara	F	E	E	B	F	F
162	45	RO	Alin Salinacki	E	F	B	C	D	F
163	45	UStx	Bill Erwin	D	F	A	D	B	F
164	45	USnj	Vish Viswanathan	E	D	A	D	F	F
165	45	NL	Martijn Schoonderwoerd	E	F	A	C	D	A
166	45	CAon	Malcolm Ewashkiw	F	D	E	C	E	D
167	45	AU	Peter Tall	E	F	A	C	D	A
168	45	USnj	James Connell	D	E	F	D	B	A
169	45	AT	Werner Hackl	E	F	A	C	B	F
170	45	IN	Sriram Narasimhan	E	E	D	C	D	D
171	44	SI	Simon Pirjevec	E	E	A	C	B	C
172	44	DE	Harro Wimmel	C	E	B	B	A	A
173	44	UKen	Neil Morgenstern	F	D	F	A	C	D
174	44	CAab	Dick Yuen	D	F	B	B	E	A
175	44	USca	Sandy Barnes	E	F	F	D	B	B
176	44	IL	Moshe White	C	E	F	C	D	B
177	44	CAbc	Michael Dimich	E	F	B	F	B	F
178	44	BM	Sven Pride	E	E	E	C	A	F
179	44	AU	Tania Gariepy	F	F	B	C	C	F
180	44	UKen	Ruth Lister	E	F	D	C	C	B
181	44	TR	Noyan Ekici	D	D	D	B	C	C
182	44	BE	Jean Verbeke	D	E	F	D	B	F
183	44	USca	Stacy Weeks	E	E	F	D	B	A
184	44	UKsc	Tim McKay	D	F	A	D	D	F
185	44	USct	Scott Maramo	E	F	C	B	F	A
186	44	USmd	Jerrold Miller	F	D	F	C	C	A
187	44	USnc	Jim Masson	F	E	A	C	B	A
188	44	EG	Ehab Ragab	E	F	A	D	D	A
189	44	USca	George Fisher	E	E	F	C	B	F
190	44	AU	Ed Barnes	F	E	A	C	B	A
191	44	FR	Daniel Tixier	E	E	A	C	E	B
192	44	USnc	Collins Williams	E	E	F	D	B	A
193	44	USwa	John Givins	E	E	B	A	A	D
194	44	USin	Michael Spurgeon	C	F	E	D	B	F
195	44	TR	Yavuz Ovacik	E	F	B	C	F	F
196	44	USmn	Julie Drexler	F	E	E	D	D	A
197	44	HU	Gyula Argay	B	E	A	B	B	A
198	43	NL	Jan de Kleijn	F	E	B	C	D	F
199	43	USny	Jay Levy	E	E	B	C	D	E
200	43	NL	Dale Rudrum	D	F	B	D	E	B

Scores 7X15 Main Challenge

Analyses Top December 2002 Scores

Places 201-300

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
201	43	CN	Ligang Ling	E	D	A	C	A	F
202	43	UKen	Dom Goodwin	B	F	E	B	B	F
203	43	SE	Bengt-Eric Fredriksson	B	E	E	C	D	A
204	43	USma	French Wall	E	E	C	D	D	F
205	43	USco	David Caprera	E	F	B	D	A	B
206	43	USfl	Cecil Livingston	E	D	E	E	F	A
207	43	USin	Kenneth Woodman	E	C	A	C	C	F
208	43	USma	Arthur Shahian	E	F	A	C	A	B
209	43	HU	Greg Udvari	F	D	E	D	F	F
210	43	USfl	Robert Markley	C	F	C	D	B	B
211	43	USca	Jack Shiffer	E	F	C	C	D	A
212	43	IT	Davide Gentile	E	F	E	D	B	C
213	43	CAon	Robert Burns	E	C	E	F	C	F
214	43	SE	Ove Mattsson	E	A	F	C	C	A
215	43	USfl	Betty Parker	E	F	B	B	A	F
216	43	USga	Gladys Hardcastle	E	F	E	D	B	C
217	43	USfl	Florence Rosenthal	E	F	E	A	B	F
218	43	AU	Heather Scott	E	F	B	C	B	C
219	43	CAab	Nicolae Vartosu	C	F	A	C	B	F
220	43	DK	Torben Paving	E	E	F	D	B	F
221	43	UY	Sara Rathauser	E	E	A	D	B	C
222	43	SG	Roddy Kok	D	F	F	D	B	A
223	43	UStx	Albert Sekac	E	F	B	B	E	A
224	43	USdc	Jonathan Siegel	E	E	F	C	D	F
225	43	UKen	Toby Kenney	F	D	A	C	D	F
226	43	ID	Noer Imanzal Kartamadjana	E	D	D	C	B	A
227	43	RO	Horia Carlan	E	F	E	E	D	B
228	43	AU	Sandy Regan	E	C	A	C	C	F
229	43	GR	Antonis Kokkalidis	C	F	F	C	B	B
230	42	CAon	Jeff Mayhew	E	D	F	D	F	F
231	42	DE	Zuzana Herrmann	E	F	A	C	B	C
232	42	IT	Pierluigi Sessolo	D	E	F	C	B	C
233	42	SI	Egon Novak	F	E	E	A	B	A
234	42	CN	Chen Lei	E	F	A	D	F	F
235	42	US	Scott Joehlin	C	F	A	E	C	B
236	42	IL	Judy Nahmias	E	F	E	C	F	C
237	42	NL	Philip Mokveld	C	A	F	C	D	D
238	42	USnj	Leonard Helfgott	D	F	F	C	E	D
239	42	ZA	Bernard Donde	E	F	E	C	F	C
240	42	FR	Thibault Wolf	E	F	F	C	B	F
241	42	FI	Mikko Kekki	C	E	E	C	D	E
242	42	USoh	Anton Habash	E	E	A	D	D	C
243	42	NL	Gerrit de Ruiter	F	F	B	C	B	F
244	42	UStn	Joseph Hawes	F	E	E	C	B	C
245	42	UStx	Gayle Mauldin	E	C	A	B	D	F
246	42	CAsk	Jim Graham	E	D	E	C	A	C
247	42	USca	Brent Draney	E	D	F	F	C	C
248	42	BG	Rossen Georgiev	E	C	B	D	F	B
249	42	UKen	Jim Grant	E	F	E	C	A	F
250	42	USnj	Chazz Rearick	E	D	F	F	C	C
251	42	USfl	Mel Klein	E	F	F	C	D	A
252	42	CAns	Myrna Murphy	C	E	F	F	C	F
253	42	CAns	Gerald Murphy	D	E	A	C	E	F
254	42	USfl	Alan Kravetz	E	F	E	C	A	F
255	42	CAon	Mihai Valcu	B	E	B	C	B	F
256	42	UKsc	Geoffrey Linnitt	E	C	E	D	A	D
257	42	USca	Phillip Mackler	E	F	E	C	A	F
258	42	CAon	Paul Hardy	D	D	A	D	E	F
259	42	ZA	Philip van Zijl	E	F	E	D	A	A
260	42	SG	Eugene Ho	E	F	F	C	D	A
261	42	USca	Martin Hertz	E	F	C	D	B	F
262	42	USmi	Douglas Ogozaly	E	E	E	F	F	C
263	42	AR	Raul Martino	E	F	A	C	E	B
264	42	CAns	B. Downey Grover	E	F	E	C	F	C
265	42	AU	Bill Hearn	E	F	B	B	E	F
266	42	AU	Diana Hearn	E	F	A	B	A	F
267	42	UKen	Ian Coombs	D	F	F	C	F	A
268	42	HR	Zoran Bohacek	E	F	F	B	F	F
269	42	IN	Krishna Chakravartula	F	F	F	D	B	D
270	42	USca	Edward Wang	F	F	E	C	F	A
271	42	TR	Dogan Gokbel	E	A	B	C	A	B
272	42	UKen	James Mates	D	F	E	D	F	C
273	42	USnj	Dirk Enthoven	A	E	E	C	D	A
274	41	UKen	Ben Cowling	C	E	E	E	B	F
275	41	TR	Erdinc Erbil	D	D	F	C	A	F
276	41	TR	Senih Inal	E	E	E	C	A	C
277	41	SG	Fabian Tan	E	E	F	A	B	A
278	41	USca	Eugene Hung	E	F	B	E	B	A
279	41	IL	Alex Dov	D	E	B	E	A	B
280	41	NZ	Kerry Kelly	E	E	A	D	F	C
281	41	USca	Yu Chang	E	F	A	C	A	A
282	41	HU	Zoltan Ruzsa	D	F	F	F	D	A
283	41	SE	Ola Stavas	E	F	A	D	E	B
284	41	CApq	Norman Wolfe	D	F	F	D	F	A
285	41	HK	Anthony Leung	E	E	A	C	E	F
286	41	UKsc	Ken Nicholson	D	E	C	F	B	C
287	41	IN	Shreerang Joshi	E	F	E	D	F	C
288	41	USca	Alan Holmes	B	F	E	C	D	A
289	41	NL	Peter van der Stap	D	D	F	C	D	E
290	41	ES	James Calabut	C	E	F	C	D	F
291	41	CAab	Sheldon Spier	E	E	E	E	A	B
292	41	USwa	Ovidiu Burlacu	E	F	A	A	D	A
293	41	NZ	Mark Hangartner	E	F	C	D	D	F
294	41	IT	Valter Boetti	E	F	A	D	B	C
295	41	USpa	Janet Stine	F	F	A	C	B	F
296	41	SE	Eva Strandberg	B	E	B	C	D	F
297	41	USma	Donald MacMillan	F	E	E	F	F	F
298	41	USdc	Ron Zucker	F	E	B	E	B	B
299	41	UKen	Carlos Dabezies	D	C	B	E	D	D
300	41	USfl	Muriel Altus	E	E	B	A	B	C

Scores 7X15 Main Challenge

Analyses Top December 2002 Scores

All Others Above Average

Rank	Score	LC	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6
301	41	LV	Aigars Germanis	E	F	E	E	B	F
302	41	UStn	Charles Cohen	E	E	A	D	A	F
303	41	CApq	Ansar Burney	E	F	B	D	A	A
304	41	UKen	Paul Huggins	E	F	D	D	C	A
305	41	USpa	John Policella	A	E	E	A	C	A
306	41	USia	Bob McCurdy	E	F	F	C	E	D
307	41	SG	Xinning Lan	E	F	A	D	B	C
308	41	FR	Gilles Korngut	E	F	A	E	D	B
309	41	USca	Rai Osborne	D	E	A	D	E	F
310	41	AU	Judy Jessop	C	E	A	C	A	A

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 7X15 Main Challenge

Analyses Top December 2002 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	49.36	1	PL	Poland	14
2	48.40	20	CN	China	5
3	45.80	33	UKsc	Scotland	5
4	45.25	3	DE	Germany	8
5	44.22	14	RO	Romania	9
6	43.50	4	BG	Bulgaria	10
7	43.44	13	USil	Illinois	9
8	43.40	56	USct	Connecticut	5
9	42.17	46	USva	Virginia	6
10	42.08	5	CAon	Ontario	25
11	42.00	53	IT	Italy	9
12	41.92	41	NL	Netherlands	13
13	41.71	9	UKen	England	34
14	41.29	66	USin	Indiana	7
15	41.25	10	USwa	Washington	8
16	41.25	120	CAns	Nova Scotia	8
17	41.20	96	USnc	North Carolina	5
18	40.89	60	UStx	Texas	9
19	40.63	95	IL	Israel	8
20	40.57	125	USpa	Pennsylvania	7
21	40.56	47	CAab	Alberta	9
22	40.43	86	ZA	South Africa	7
23	40.20	92	USnj	New Jersey	10
24	40.14	113	CApq	Quebec	7
25	40.04	7	USca	California	56
26	40.00	29	FR	France	8
27	39.90	55	USfl	Florida	29
28	39.89	36	AU	Australia	28
29	39.44	59	CAbc	British Columbia	9
30	39.40	157	ID	Indonesia	5
31	39.38	30	HU	Hungary	8
32	39.17	40	PT	Portugal	6
33	39.17	76	US	United States	6
34	39.13	101	TR	Turkey	15
35	38.71	222	SG	Singapore	7
36	38.40	159	SI	Slovenia	5
37	38.38	87	NZ	New Zealand	8
38	38.05	34	SE	Sweden	20
39	37.85	12	USma	Massachusetts	20
40	37.53	71	IN	India	17
41	37.43	186	USmd	Maryland	7
42	37.40	133	USoh	Ohio	5
43	36.25	74	USny	New York	20
44	35.60	182	BE	Belgium	5

Rank	Average	Best	LC	Location	Entries
45	59.00	6	RU	Russia	1
46	53.00	35	UKwa	Wales	1
47	52.00	37	UShi	Hawaii	1
48	52.00	45	CZ	Czech Republic	1
49	51.00	52	USak	Alaska	1
50	49.67	2	HR	Croatia	3
51	49.50	24	EG	Egypt	2
52	48.33	8	HK	Hong Kong	3
53	48.00	89	BR	Brazil	1
54	47.50	70	AT	Austria	2
55	46.00	49	USde	Delaware	2
56	46.00	149	PE	Peru	1
57	45.00	27	EE	Estonia	3
58	45.00	62	USnv	Nevada	2
59	43.67	78	GR	Greece	3
60	43.50	139	LV	Latvia	2
61	43.33	112	CA	Canada	3
62	43.00	91	TW	Taiwan	3
63	43.00	205	USco	Colorado	1
64	43.00	221	UY	Uruguay	1
65	42.50	44	CH	Switzerland	2
66	42.50	73	USmn	Minnesota	4
67	42.25	67	USga	Georgia	4
68	42.00	178	BM	Bermuda	2
69	42.00	224	USdc	Washington DC	2
70	41.75	31	FI	Finland	4
71	41.33	107	USmi	Michigan	3
72	41.00	306	USia	Iowa	1
73	40.67	58	NO	Norway	3
74	40.50	16	UK	United Kingdom	2
75	40.33	75	CL	Chile	3
76	40.00	150	ES	Spain	4
77	40.00	328	USal	Alabama	1
78	39.00	334	USaz	Arizona	3
79	39.00	368	USok	Oklahoma	1
80	38.75	93	USor	Oregon	4
81	38.33	220	DK	Denmark	3
82	37.50	331	CApe	Prince Edward Island	2
83	37.50	370	RS	Serbia	2
84	37.33	132	USsc	South Carolina	3
85	36.75	244	UStn	Tennessee	4
86	36.33	413	USnh	New Hampshire	3
87	35.50	246	CAsk	Saskatchewan	2
88	35.50	460	USky	Kentucky	2
89	35.33	427	IS	Iceland	3
90	35.00	400	USmo	Missouri	3
91	34.75	263	AR	Argentina	4
92	34.67	438	IE	Ireland	3
93	32.00	571	MY	Malaysia	1
94	29.00	605	USwi	Wisconsin	1

Scores 7X15 Main Challenge

Analyses Top December 2002 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 have 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.

*More specifically, I do not allow any setting that takes more than two minutes to make a play. I conduct the tests on a 2.0 GHz CPU (512 MB RAM) running Windows 98.

Congratulations to GIB, once again topping all the bots in what proved to be a difficult set of problems. The only other program to beat the average human score was new-kid-on-the-block Jack, winner of the last World Computer Bridge Championship in Montreal.

Finesse Bridge has been removed from my testing as of this month because it is no longer available (its web site even disappeared, or changed ownership). This program, available free, was more or less a fill-in to begin with, rather than a serious contender — well, except maybe to HAL. I tried to get rid of HAL, too, but it lashed back, threatening to destroy my web site with its “conventions of mass destruction.” No court would issue a restraining order, so I may be stuck with it for life.

Presenting matchpoint problems to bots is a challenge because most are programmed for total-point or IMP strategy, in which the only goal is to make the contract. Therefore, to get a better perspective on Problems 3 and 4, I augmented the contracts to 6 and 4 NT. Now, instead of looking for overtricks (as intended by the problem) the bots could work on making the inflated contract. For uniformity, I did this on all the programs, even those that had a setting for matchpoint strategy.

As usual in my contests with multiple-choice answers, the bots often go off the charts with their actual plays. If the difference is trivial (e.g., a transposition of plays) or effectively the same, I give credit for the listed choice. My indication of “Line G” means the choice was not only off the charts but also inferior (or equal) to the worst listed choice. For scoring purposes, Line G gets the lowest listed award.

December 2002 Rankings

Rank	Score	LC	Program version	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	43	US	GIB 6.1.0	B	D	E	C	E	D
2	42	NL	Jack 2.0	B	G	E	C	B	D
3	34	CA	Bridge Buff 8.0	B	A	G	F	B	D
4	31	UK	Blue Chip Bridge 4.0.1	E	G	A	D	E	C
5	30	JP	Micro Bridge 9.01	E	G	G	C	G	A
6	27	DE	Q-plus Bridge 7.1	E	G	F	D	G	G
7	18	US	Bridge Baron 11.0	A	G	G	D	A	G
8	12	US	HAL 9000	A	C	D	E	E	E

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
GIB	Matthew Ginsberg
HAL	Someone with a warped mind
Jack	Hans Kuijf
Micro Bridge	Tomio and Yumiko Uchida
Q-plus Bridge	Hans Leber

Thanks to Frans Buijsen (Amsterdam, Netherlands) for his help in running the tests on the Jack program.

Scores 7X15 Main Challenge

Analyses Top December 2002 Scores

© 2002 Richard Pavlicek