Rybka Fossils

old builds (from 2009) of early Rybka engines
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=10070

Last edited by Steve.R on Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:41 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : Correction no.2)

Awesome! Thanks Steve! Let us never forget how our forefathers influenced the future:

Rybka was one of the engines that paved the road for Houdini and Stockfish and Komodo!

Steve.R wrote:

these are old Jim Ablett builds (from 2009) of early Rybka engines

Hi,

Unless my memory of computer chess history is way off I don't recall reading anywhere, in the past, that Jim Ablett ever built/compiled any Rybka version.

@Charles Browne wrote:

Steve.R wrote:

these are old Jim Ablett builds (from 2009) of early Rybka engines

Hi,

Unless my memory of computer chess history is way off I don't recall reading anywhere, in the past, that Jim Ablett ever built/compiled any Rybka version.

Hi, can be found in http://www.computer-chess.org/doku.php?id=computer_chess:wiki:download:engine_download_list

Ron writes: old Rybka versions compiled by Jim Ablett.

Correction:
- these builds are by Dann Corbit, not by Jim Ablett
- in the past Jim hosted these files
Download: http://www.computer-chess.org/data/media/computer_chess/wiki/download/rybka_fossils-dc.zip

What do you think now, Charles?

Steve.R wrote:

What do you think now, Charles?

Hi Steve,

I think that Ron deserves a lot of thanks from the computer chess community for his work on his Computer-Chess Wiki pages and providing the information to us, and he also deserves thanks for his freely given chess engine - Horizon.

Since Dann Corbit did at one time provide a lot of chess engines, that he (Dann Corbit) did compile, for download on his web pages it would be very easy for anyone to read the below Rybka forum thread and come away with the idea that Dann Corbit had also compiled those Rybka engines that he once provided for download on his website.

http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=9971

The same would be true of the below Winboard forum thread in regards to Jim Ablett. Since Jim Ablett once had a web page where he provided a lot of chess engines for download that he (Jim Ablett) did compile, it would be easy to get the idea that Jim Ablett had compiled those Rybka engines.

http://www.open-aurec.com/wbforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52710

I think that Dann Corbit only "hosted" the free Rybka engines in 2009 and didn't compile them. What happened in the above Rybka forum thread is that Dann Corbit said he had the earlier Rybka engines in his possession and so volunteered to host them and he was given permission by the Rybka author to do so.

If Jim Ablett or Dann Corbit had ever had all of the source code to all of those Rybka versions so that they could compile them, either one of their names would have come up in the Rybka investigation as a person that once had the source codes; even if either one of them had said something like - Yea, I had the source codes but destroyed them after I compiled the engine(s). But, as far as I remember, neither one of their names came up in the investigation as people that once had Rybka source codes in their possession.

In the below Talkchess thread Dann Corbit wrote in reply to someone that he didn't have the source code to a particular Rybka version.

http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=118151&t=13716

I believe all of the Rybka versions were, and I'll say it without really knowing for certain, compiled by the Rybka author.

In the past I had a few private message and e-mail exchanges with Ron so I know that he is a good guy and I know he likes to be accurate on things. Like I wrote above it was an easy error to make, and definitely not end-of-the-world stuff.

@Charles Browne wrote:

In the past I had a few private message and e-mail exchanges with Ron so I know that he is a good guy and I know he likes to be accurate on things. Like I wrote above it was an easy error to make, and definitely not end-of-the-world stuff.

So funny, correction no.2 by Ron:
the builds were not by Jim Ablett nor by Dann Corbit -- they are available elsewhere
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=10070 (alt download)

Hi, has Vasik Rajlich been freed from the blame[1] of 2011?

[1] http://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/World+Computer+Chess+Championship#Rybka%20Disqualification%202011

Steve.R wrote:

@Charles Browne wrote:

In the past I had a few private message and e-mail exchanges with Ron so I know that he is a good guy and I know he likes to be accurate on things. Like I wrote above it was an easy error to make, and definitely not end-of-the-world stuff.

So funny, correction no.2 by Ron:
the builds were not by Jim Ablett nor by Dann Corbit -- they are available elsewhere
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=10070 (alt download)

Yea it is funny, but in a really sad way.

When I first saw in this thread that the Rybkas were being attributed as builds of Jim Ablett I sent a message to Norbert (of the Wiki) and then posted the first post I made in this thread because I thought maybe someone here might have information that I didn't on the Rybkas actually being builds of Jim Ablett (even though I didn't think they were).

I hadn't had any communication with Ron in years. When the Rybkas were changed to have been built by Dann Corbit I sent Ron an inquiry along with some links.

All of my assumptions were incorrect of information on different web pages having been used by Ron to conclude that Jim Ablett, and then Dann Corbit, had compiled the Rybkas.

It turned out that the Rybkas were first attributed as builds of Jim Ablett because Norbert found the Rybka fossils on the site where Kirill Kryukov is hosting Jim Ablett's chess engine files, and Norbert might have assumed the fossils were Jim Ablett builds because the files were in Jim Ablett's collection. And when I sent Norbert the message that I didn't think Jim Ablett had compiled the Rybkas, Norbert might have gotten the misumderstanding that I was saying that Dann Corbit had compiled them.


Lesson learned by me? If I ever see something that I think might be in error on the Internet and it doesn't directly involve me, or isn't a life and death situation, I think I will let it ride. I like myself better when I mind my own business.

Promoting Positive Participation in our community.