WCCC Ain't What It Used to Be

The first project on my list of Small Projects for 2014 is the World Computer Championship. The concern here is whether to continue updating my page for the World Chess Championship : Computer Chess (WCCC). As the following chart shows, the number of WCCC participants has been dropping steadily since peaking in the late 1990s.

Source: www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr

By the time the The Rybka Affair broke in 2011, the ICGA competitions no longer attracted or accepted the strongest programs. The three most recent events -- 2010, 2011, & 2013 -- have seen two separate competitions, hardware and software, where the software event is not considered as important as the equivalent TCEC competitions.

It's time to acknowledge that the ICGA tournaments are not real World Championships. I'll continue to list the ICGA events, but without crosstables or game scores.