TalkChess.com

[Erik Roggenburg]

In the Pruned List, which consists only of the "best/strongest" engine versions that have been tested, Loop 13.5.32 2CPU takes over the #2 position from HIARCS 11.1 MP UCI. It is a very, very close, and statistically speaking, the engines are identical in strength.

From a stability standpoint, Loop did not crash once in 1,400 games, so that makes me very happy.

What is going to be interesting on a go forward basis is seeing whether or not engines like HIARCS, Loop, and Rybka maintain the amount that they improve from old version to new version.

HIARCS 11.1 MP UCI was a 35 Elo improvement over HIARCS 11 MP UCI according to the FULL LIST. That's about a 1.3% improvement.

Loop 13.5.32 2CPU was a 25 Elo improvement over LoopMP 12.32 2CPU, a .92% improvement.

Rybka 2.3.1 mp 32-bit was a 11 Elo improvement over Rybka 2.2 mp 32-bit, a .39% improvement.

What might this indicate? Well, it indicates that it could get harder and harder to squeeze Elo improvement out of an existing engine. Sort of a law of diminishing returns in the programming world, I guess.

Let's speculate for fun! What if HIARCS team squeezes out a .75% improvement in their next version over HIARCS 11.1 MP UCI? That would put them at 2751 Elo.

Now, what if Vas and company eek out the same .39% improvement in their next version over Rybka 2.3.1 mp 32-bit? That would put them at 2839 Elo.

Rybka still would have a commanding lead in the Elo race, but it would be shrinking.

What if the HIARCS team pulls off another fine improvement, and eeks out 1.3% instead of the previously assumed .75%? That puts HIARCS at 2813 Elo. AHA! Now things start to get interesting!

As a fan of computer chess engines, I truly hope that one or two engines can continue to make the kinds of strides that they have been able to make lately. I'd like to see the performance gap closed a bit between Rybka and the rest of the field. I bet the playchess.com server would become a more interesting place if Rybka were no longer a clear #1. Remember the days when Shredder was #1? It was #1, but it wasn't a DOMINANT #1, so folks could toss out HIARCS, Fritz, Chess Tiger, Junior, etc. and still be competitive.

We'll see what develops!

PRUNED LIST: