Moves Played Compared With Computer Choices
A computer-based method of analyzing chess abilities across history came from Matej Guid and Ivan Bratko from the Department of Computer and Information Science of University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2006. The basis for their evaluation was the difference between the position values resulting from the moves played by the human chess player and the moves chosen as best by the chess program Crafty. They also compared the average number of errors in the player's game. Opening moves were excluded, in an attempt to negate the progress in chess opening theory.
The method received a number of criticisms, including: the study used a modified version of Crafty rather than the standard version; even the standard version of Crafty was not strong enough to evaluate the world champions' play; one of the modifications restricted the search depth to 12 half-moves, which is often insufficient. As of 2006 Crafty's Elo rating was 2657, below many historical top human players and several other computer programs.
A similar project was conducted in 2007 using Rybka 2.3.2a and a modified version of Crafty 20.14. It arrived at the following results:
| Position | best year | best 2-year period | best 3-year period | best 5-year period | best 10-year period | best 15-year period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fischer | Fischer | Fischer | Fischer; Kasparov | Fischer; Capablanca | Capablanca |
| 2 | Kramnik | Kramnik; Capablanca; Kasparov | Capablanca; Kasparov | Karpov; Kramnik | ||
| 3 | Kasparov | Capablanca | Kramnik | |||
| 4 | Botvinnik | Smyslov | Kramnik; Botvinnik | Kasparov | Smyslov; Kasparov | |
| 5 | Capablanca | Karpov; Smyslov | Botvinnik | Karpov; Smyslov | ||
| 6 | Karpov | Kramnik | Smyslov | Fischer | ||
| 7 | Smyslov; Tal | Botvinnik; Alekhine | Karpov | Karpov; Lasker | Botvinnik; Spassky | Botvinnik; Spassky; Petrosian |
| 8 | Spassky; Lasker | |||||
| 9 | Petrosian | Anand | Alekhine; Anand | Anand | ||
| 10 | Euwe | Tal; Spassky | Anand | Lasker; Petrosian | Anand | |
| 11 | Spassky | Petrosian | Petrosian; Spassky | Tal | ||
| 12 | Alekhine; Anand | Lasker; Euwe | Tal; Alekhine | Tal; Alekhine | Alekhine; Lasker | |
| 13 | Euwe; Tal | |||||
| 14 | Lasker | Petrosian | Euwe | Euwe | Euwe | |
| 15 | Morphy | Morphy | Morphy | Steinitz | Steinitz | Steinitz |
| 16 | Steinitz | Steinitz | Steinitz |
An analysis done with Rybka 3 and comparisons with modern ratings can be found at http://web.zone.ee/chessanalysis/summary450.pdf.
Read more about this topic: Comparison Of Top Chess Players Throughout History
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