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Topic: 2006 WC Games delayed (Read 1014 times) |
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omar
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2006 WC Games delayed
« on: Dec 4th, 2005, 11:43am » |
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An unexpected problem has cropped up on the arimaa.com server. The server freezes or starts giving I/O Error messages. When I do a remote reset, it works again for a while and then the problem occurs again. Im pretty sure it is a hardware problem since I have not installed any new packages or changed the config files on the server in several weeks. I am waiting on the ISP to have a tech identify the problem and resolve it.
The game between MrBrian and Ryan_Cable was interupted due to this problem. Once the problem is resolved the game will be restored and continued. Rather than trying to continue the other games on a flaky server I think it might be better to delay them until the problem is fixed.
I'll try to keep the server up as much as possible and keep everyone posted on the progress.
If you decide to play some games, I would suggest turning on unrated mode for now.
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| « Last Edit: Dec 4th, 2005, 11:45am by omar » |
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PMertens
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Arimaa player #692
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #1 on: Dec 4th, 2005, 12:26pm » |
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sad news 
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Fritzlein
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #2 on: Dec 4th, 2005, 12:28pm » |
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I think delaying is a good decision, Omar. Because everything currently works on a weekly schedule, are you aiming for exactly a one-week delay? That is to say, the six of us who didn't play our third-round games should all udpate our time preference for next week?
The World Championship was originally on track to end in the last week of December or the first week of January. A one-week delay will mean that it ends the first or second week of January. I actually see it as a slight positive if the 2006 champion is decided in 2006 rather than 2005. 
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omar
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #3 on: Dec 4th, 2005, 1:20pm » |
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Yes, Karl that's what Im shooting for. Hopefully the problem can be resolved on Monday and we can reschedule and continue the games so that round 3 will finish before the end of the week.
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omar
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #4 on: Dec 6th, 2005, 3:17pm » |
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Sorry about the long delay in trying to isolate the hardware problem. The ISP took down the server and put the disk in another system and tested it there. The disk seemed to be working fine there. They also could not find any hardware problem with the server machine. Because the problem had been occuring occasionally with the system working fine in between for several hours we kept the system under test for about 2 days. So we finially concluded that the I/O error may just have been due to a loose connector cable. So we are back up with the original disk again, hopefully connected better.
There is a slight possibility that some area of the disk is corupted and trying to write there is causing the I/O errors. Trying to find that requires doing an extensive write test after formating the disk. I didn't want to risk doing that. So if the problem happens again, I'll have no alternative but to reinstall the site on a new disk.
Sorry for the inconvience caused to all the players and the WC tourament.
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| « Last Edit: Dec 6th, 2005, 3:20pm by omar » |
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omar
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #5 on: Dec 6th, 2005, 3:28pm » |
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I'll let the remaining players from round 3 enter their times so we can try to get the games in later this week. The scheduling algorithm tries to schedule the games as late in the week as possible so don't worry about trying to fit all 30 of the perfered times in the later part of the week. Most likely it will find matches that will be in the future. In the event that the only matching times for a pair of players is in the past I'll notify the players to decide on a time and let me know and enter that manually.
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MrBrain
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #6 on: Dec 6th, 2005, 10:05pm » |
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Omar, will the game be restarted completely, or resumed where it left off?
Ryan had graciously offered to start a new game, and I would prefer it if possible. The reason is that during my setup, I was 3/4 of the way through setting up the pieces when they suddenly reset to their original positions. I scrambled to try to set them up again so as to not lose too much extra time, but I mistakenly switched a horse and a dog. I'm not sure how much it affected the game (and probably won't change the outcome regardless), but I'd like if possible to play a game where the interface doesn't mess us up.
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Ryan_Cable
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #7 on: Dec 6th, 2005, 11:58pm » |
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At this point, I too would prefer to start a new game rather than resume the old one, after we have had a week to analyze it.
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99of9
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #8 on: Dec 7th, 2005, 1:32am » |
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It's very fortuitous that it was only a few moves in. Perhaps some general principles should be agreed on in case it ever happens again in such an important game.
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Fritzlein
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #9 on: Dec 7th, 2005, 6:15am » |
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99of9, I agree that it makes sense to write something concrete into the rules to cover server crashes. Not knowing what is going to happen can cause uncertainty and worry. Of course, in this case the interface problem is a particular reason to start over, and both players have agreed to it, so it seems clear that the game should restart from scratch. In the future, however, the players might not be able to agree, so it could spare some hard feelings to have an established rule.
On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about what the rule should be. Automatically starting over wouldn't be fair to someone who is only a couple of moves away from goal when the server crashes. Yet automatically resuming from where the game left off is also unfair in a couple of ways. It benefits the person whose move is next, since he has unlimited time to analyze in a known position. Also it benefits whoever is on defense. For example, 99of9 will sometimes intentionally make "unsound" attacks knowing that his opponent will often make a blunder because the clock is ticking. Someone who is defending under a lot of pressure would get a huge benefit from a server crash which allows them to exhaustively analyze the position.
Given that any solution is unfair, maybe we can take a hint from baseball. (When a game suspended in basball it doesn't count if it was less than half over, and it does count if it was more than half over.) Why not say that if the server crashes before the game reaches move 20, then the players start over, so that no one gets an advantage from adjourning. If the server crashes in a game beyond 20 moves, however, it is likely that one player or the other already has a tangible advantage. In that case it would be more fair (or rather, less unfair) to resume the game from where it left off.
Having a 20-move cutoff is not a perfect rule, but its the best I can think of off the top of my head, and like 99of9 said, even just having a rule might be a good idea.
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99of9
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Gnobby's creator (player #314)
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #10 on: Dec 7th, 2005, 8:37am » |
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Another option is to count in pieces taken instead of moves made?
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omar
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #11 on: Dec 7th, 2005, 10:37pm » |
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I've brought the case of this interupted game to the attention of David Fotland who the tournament director. Im waiting for his decision.
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omar
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Re: 2006 WC Games delayed
« Reply #12 on: Dec 8th, 2005, 12:19pm » |
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David has decided that since the players are agreed on restarting the game and since the game has been interupted for a long time it is best to restart the game.
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