Computer clash in Israel

12th World Computer Chess Championship

The 12th World Computer Chess Championship will be held from July 4th – 12th 2004 at the Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. This 11-round Swiss is being organised by the International Computer Games Association (ICGA) and supported, amongst others, by the City of Ramat-Gan, Intel Israel, Israel Ministry of Tourism, Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Mercury Interactive, IBM Israel and Pitango. The full schedule of the event and all relevant links are given below.

Participants

Hardware

For the WCCC and the Olympiad the organisers are providing 36 loan machines with Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz processor, and 512 MB memory. Participants can install whatever they want on the machines. They are allowed to bring their own hardware as well. We are told that Fritz and Shredder will be playing on quad systems supplied by Transtec. They contain four AMD processors running at 4 x 2.0 GHz. Although these numbers are lower than the current Intel generation the AMD computers are much faster. We do not know on what hardware the third contender for the title, Junior, will be running.

The Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan

Ramat-Gan is located in west-central Israel, on the Plain of Sharon, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1921 as an agricultural settlement, planting wheat, barley and watermelons.

Today it is the largest satellite city in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, with the largest “Diamond Exchange” in the world and Israel's tallest skyscraper, the 244 meters City Gate. Ramat-Gan leads the country in the fields of Education, Culture and Social awareness, it has fine residential sections, extensive gardens and parks, including a national park. It is the home of Bar-Ilan University.

Accommodation

The main hotel for the event is the Optima Hotel, located in the center of the city of Ramat-Gan. Special rates are available: $50 single, $60 double and $70 room for three. For hotel reservation in the Optima Hotel send a fax to +972 3 675-4455 or phone +972 3 6754444 and mention that you are registering for "International computer competition – Bar-Ilan", to get the special rates. Ask them to confirm the registration. The hotel rooms are available on a first come first serve basis. Kfar Hamaccabiah is an alternative if the Optima Hotel is full. Rates include breakfast: $81 single, $92 double and $127 room for three.

Upon arrival to Tel-Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, take a taxi to the hotel. Everyday buses will take the participants from the hotel to the university, and back to the hotel in the evening.

Live coverage

We are planning live coverage of the 12th World Computer Chess Championship on the Playchess.com server. GM Boris Alterman will provide audio and video commentary.

Schedule

Links

• Official World Computer Chess Championship web site
• The Bar-Ilan University WCCC and computer Olympiad web site