critter - what's it good for??

[yanquis1972]

pardon the inflammatory title, but it was the first thing i thought of, & the question is genuine, though not meant to offend or stir debate. it seems critter is fast on the rise & has even now become strong enough to work into my 'canon' (i -still- haven't managed to include stockfish, but critter is almost at that level now, fortunately) -- ie the ~3-4 engines i'm most likely to use in addition to my primary one (right now this is most often rybka 4, sometimes houdini).

it's very easy to know what positions it might be interesting to get an opinion on from shredder & junior, for example, & to a lesser extent hiarcs. where do critter's primary strengths lay -- in comparison to other strong engines, of course -- from those who have used or watched it extensively?

looking to DL the gaviota TBs today as well; just noticed they are now available for direct download here -- http://www.olympuschess.com/egtb/gaviota/

[bhlangonijr]

pardon the inflammatory title, but it was the first thing i thought of, & the question is genuine, though not meant to offend or stir debate. it seems critter is fast on the rise & has even now become strong enough to work into my 'canon' (i -still- haven't managed to include stockfish, but critter is almost at that level now, fortunately) -- ie the ~3-4 engines i'm most likely to use in addition to my primary one (right now this is most often rybka 4, sometimes houdini).

it's very easy to know what positions it might be interesting to get an opinion on from shredder & junior, for example, & to a lesser extent hiarcs. where do critter's primary strengths lay -- in comparison to other strong engines, of course -- from those who have used or watched it extensively?

looking to DL the gaviota TBs today as well; just noticed they are now available for direct download here -- http://www.olympuschess.com/egtb/gaviota/

The first thing that came to my mind is: Critter is very good for chess - specially the one that you play in your computer.

[Milos]

The first thing that came to my mind is: Critter is very good for chess - specially the one that you play in your computer.

It is also an excellent way to keep cores of your processor busy or your computer memory full.

[yanquis1972]

heh -- well at least i got one unwinking answer, so thanks. spark level tactics, but it of course performs at a much higher level overall. that could be a big part of the key though, if it's overall game is more natural.

no one else to chime in re phases or specific elements of the game in which critter excels at?

i'll try to run an eng-eng tournament tonight perhaps. i can usually get a good feel after just a few blitz games, but, though it tends to match the 'company line', i always have to second guess myself.

for those who don't have them, i highly recommend the GTBs. they take up a little over 6 GBs & seem to be quite fast.

[Martin Thoresen]

for those who don't have them, i highly recommend the GTBs. they take up a little over 6 GBs & seem to be quite fast.

I couldn't agree more!

Great work, Miguel.

[yanquis1972]

yes, have been meaning to say it & might as well here -- very big thanks to richard vida for literally giving us critter & implementing GTB & just as big a thanks to miguel for making the latter possible. amazing work, both of you.

[Kirk]

This may answer your question

http://sites.google.com/site/strategict ... st-results

http://sites.google.com/site/strategict ... edirects=0

[Damir]

Hi Miguel

Any idea of implementing 6 men GTB ?

Damir

[Robert Flesher]

pardon the inflammatory title, but it was the first thing i thought of, & the question is genuine, though not meant to offend or stir debate. it seems critter is fast on the rise & has even now become strong enough to work into my 'canon' (i -still- haven't managed to include stockfish, but critter is almost at that level now, fortunately) -- ie the ~3-4 engines i'm most likely to use in addition to my primary one (right now this is most often rybka 4, sometimes houdini).

it's very easy to know what positions it might be interesting to get an opinion on from shredder & junior, for example, & to a lesser extent hiarcs. where do critter's primary strengths lay -- in comparison to other strong engines, of course -- from those who have used or watched it extensively?

looking to DL the gaviota TBs today as well; just noticed they are now available for direct download here -- http://www.olympuschess.com/egtb/gaviota/

Although Houdini is stronger, it's great for attacking games like this!

[Event "Microsoft, Blitz:10'"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "2010.12.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Critter 0.90 64-bit SSE4"]
[Black "Houdini 1.03a x64 POPCNT 4_CP"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C92"]
[PlyCount "127"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. a4 h6 13. Bc2 exd4 14. cxd4 Nb4 15.
Bb1 c5 16. d5 Nd7 17. Nf1 f5 18. exf5 Nf6 19. Nh4 Rxe1 20. Qxe1 Bxd5 21. Ng6
Bf7 22. Nxf8 Qxf8 23. Bf4 bxa4 24. Rxa4 d5 25. Nd2 d4 26. Ne4 Nxe4 27. Bxe4 Re8
28. Bd2 Nd3 29. Qb1 Nxb2 30. Rxa6 Nc4 31. Bf4 Qe7 32. f3 Qh4 33. g3 Qe7 34. h4
Rd8 35. Kg2 Rc8 36. Kh3 Re8 37. Qc1 Qd7 38. Bxh6 gxh6 39. Qxh6 Ne5 40. Qg5+ Kf8
41. Rh6 Bg8 42. Rf6+ Bf7 43. h5 Qb5 44. f4 Qe2 45. Bd5 Rd8 46. Rh6 Qg4+ 47.
Qxg4 Nxg4 48. Rh8+ Ke7 49. Rxd8 Bxh5 50. Rc8 d3 51. Rxc5 d2 52. Bb3 Nf2+ 53.
Kh4 d1=Q 54. Bxd1 Bxd1 55. Rc6 Kf7 56. Ra6 Bf3 57. Ra3 Bd1 58. Ra2 Ne4 59. g4
Bf3 60. g5 Nd6 61. g6+ Kg7 62. Rd2 Ne4 63. Rd7+ Kg8 64. Rd3 1-0