- GIB 6.1: GIB 6 is out! As always,
we will also continue to support earlier versions of GIB, and will
continue to provide new deals and non-bridge related features at no
charge to our customers.
- GIB and Bermuda: GIB went 6-1 to
win the round robin, and easily won its semifinal and final matches to
win this event. As in 1998, it was the only program with a positive
score in the bidding contest (+8 in 2000; +2 in 1998), winning that
event easily. There is a separate page with
our comments on the event and GIB's performance in it.
- GIB and PBN: GIB uses Portable Bridge Notation to represent deals. This
allows access to a wide range of data, and a variety of free tools for
displaying and analyzing deals in this format. One of the best is
Max Durban's
viewer program.
- GIB and Meadowlark: Meadowlark Bridge won the
qualifying event in Maastricht to earn the right to challenge GIB for
the 2000 world computer championship. This event was to be supported
by Swiss financier Serge Fradkoff and to include a winner-take-all
$5000 purse.
Unfortunately, Rod Ludwig, the author of Meadowlark Bridge, has
decided to take some time off from computer bridge.
After discussing things at length, he said that he really didn't want
to play a match against GIB, and we agreed that there was no point in
having a match if we weren't both enhusiastic about it. We also
agreed that as a result, the results of computer play subsequent to
the world computer championship in Bermuda have been inconclusive with
regard to identifying a computer world champion.
- GIB and Moscito: We are doing our best to
respond to all of the questions we've had about this. You can look at
GIB's convention card for the event, or check
out the Frequently Asked Moscito Questions.
We've also made Bo-Yin Yang's Moscito notes available.
- GIB and Zia: Zia won his challenge match
against seven computers in London. Held at the Andrew Robson Bridge
Club, the computer participants were GIB, Meadowlark Bridge, Q-Plus Bridge, Micro Bridge, Blue Chip Bridge, Oxford Bridge, and a Saitek machine. Bridge
Baron refused to participate. As reported in the
London Times, GIB won the prize for the best played hand.
- GIB and the Master Solvers' Club: Directors
David Berkowitz and Larry Cohen have
decided to allow GIB a role in the Bridge World's Master Solvers'
Club. Its first appearance was in the May, 1999 issue, where it
recommended passing after 1
-P-P at game all at IMPs, holding 
Q42 
--- AK6542 
AKQ2. Pass earned GIB 100
points on this problem; GIB's second choice (1NT) wasn't even
mentioned by the panelists!
GIB's next appearance in the MSC is scheduled for the September issue,
and GIB was also the topic of the Bridge World editorial in July.
- $100,000 challenge match: Swiss financier Serge
Fradkoff has decided to sponsor a challenge match between a team of
four GIB's and a team of human world champions. The match will take
place when GIB is ready, and the humans will probably be the
then-current world champions. Scoring will be at IMPs; other
conditions of contest have yet to be determined.
- GIB in Lille: Jose Damiani, President of the World Bridge Federation, invited GIB
to compete in the Par Contest at the 1998 world
championships in Lille, France.
GIB finished 12th. It was winning after the second session (of four),
but the humans stormed back on the final day to beat it convincingly.
Michael Rosenberg won the event with a score of 16850 (out of a
possible 24000); also beating GIB were (among others) Rodwell,
Meckstroth and Hamman. GIB, with a score of 11210, finished ahead of
(among others) Benito Garozzo, the winner of the previous par contest,
and Zia Mahmoud.
Of the approximately 13000 points lost by GIB, about 1000 were due to
time (there was a 10 point penalty per minute spent, and an overall
time limit of 480 minutes). Approximately 6000 were due to GIB not
understanding the auction (e.g., 1N-(2S)-X-(P)-P-(2N) shows spades and
both minors), and 6000 were due to GIB's inability to handle certain
types of hands where chances must be combined from a variety of
different possibilities.
- GIB loses narrowly to Zia/Rosenberg: GIB lost
its two-hour challenge match against Zia
Mahmood and Michael Rosenberg by 6.31 IMPs over 14 deals. The match
was watched by about 120 OKBridge spectators, and about 20
people at each of the North American
Bridge Championships in Chicago and the
national conference on artificial intelligence in Madison.
Zia is the originator of an infamous (and now retracted)
million pound bet that no team of four computers would ever beat a
team of four humans of his choosing. He has declined to reinstate the
bet on any terms whatsoever.
- GIB and the ACBL: After allowing GIB to join,
the American Contract Bridge
League's next move was to send it material on junior events --
after all, GIB's birthdate of 1 June 1994 (when work began on GIB)
makes it eligible for such events with room to spare! Unfortunately,
when the ACBL realized that GIB was a computer, its membership was
revoked.
I'm delighted to be able to report that GIB's membership has since
been reinstated. GIB is looking forward to reading the Bulletin each
month and participating in ACBL activities.
