Komodo release

[Steve Maughan]

Don -

I had no idea. I will pray for a full recovery and strength in the meantime.

Steve

[Dayffd]

Don,

There are many here that care allot about the release of a new Komodo version. I just care that you take as best care of yourself as is possible.

Wishing you all the best,
Ted

And this goes for me as well, Don.

[Edsel Apostol]

Don, I'm so sorry to hear about your illness. I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

[S.Taylor]

We plan a release of Komodo 6 on Friday.

This does come with some bad news concerning the future status of Komodo. As many of you know I have a fatal illness. It has progressed to a point where it has now become an acute form of Lukemia. I'm losing this battle. It is quite possible this will be the last Komodo release that I am involved in.

But there are plans in the works to continue with Komodo. Larry Kaufman of course is my business partner and friend and he is intimately familiar with Komodo and is a big part of what makes it so strong and he does plan to continue. But don't count me out quite yet, I'm still fighting but it's unclear if I will have the strength to continue with computer chess and I will be on a type of chemotherapy indefinitely. There are more important things than computer chess which come first but if the energy is there I may be able to continue for a short time.

I don't want to sound too melodramatic here but I would like to say that I have very much enjoyed being a part of the computer chess community even with the battles that have gone on here! And all of those bad things I said about you ..... I take them all back

Don

Don, I am inspired by your presence of mind and faith and acceptance. But that doesn't mean you won't get better.
Please open inbox asap for suggestion.

[jd1]

Don,

I'm really sad to hear about your illness. I pray for you and hope that God will grant you recovery.

Your helpfulness and enormous contribution to our hobby have been greatly appreciated.

Jerry

[Mithu]

You know Don, more than the engine that you are programming I appreciate you as a person for your humility and consideration.
Please give a tough fight and take your time out. We have many battles to fight...
Komodo is theoretically important as it is in the top three and that is no small achievement. Elo is for the devil... I look at creativity.

At the end of the day, you are immortal. We all are...

[Ron Murawski]

Hi Don,

I am very saddened by your illness. I am related to two people who survived and fully recovered from 'incurable' and aggressive forms of cancer, so there's always hope.

I have read every post you have ever written at CCC! I think everyone is aware of your mastery of chess programming. You have opened my eyes to novel approaches to programming the game of chess and I thank you for sharing your knowledge. But, in your posts, I most enjoy your wry wit, your infinite patience, and the kindness you show to others. Don, you are a class act!

Best regards,
Ron

[lkaufman]

Although I've been expecting this deterioration in Don's health for quite a while now, it is still hard to accept. Hopefully the treatments will work well enough to buy him a couple years, and if so we can always hope for a medical breakthrough that will add a few more. It's a longshot, but when we started work on Komodo it was a longshot to ever become the world's strongest program, which Komodo 6 may at least have some claim to being, although it's so close with Houdini 3 and latest Stockfish dev. version that it probably depends on hardware and time limit. Already after two days of chemo Don is still working hard to add a couple more elo and to get the release ready for Friday, since he anticipates that he might be too weakened to work beyond that for a while. We plan to add at least one new person to the Komodo project so that Don can work as little or as much as he feels is appropriate without stopping progress. We'll probably make an announcement about this in the near future.

[Mithu]

I would like to be the first person to order it. Not for the Engine-testing ( I care two hoots about Elo personally) but for my feeling of gratitude towards Don. I know that I am getting sentimental but let's just say that its payback time, as I have enjoyed and am still inspired by Don's posts far too much.

Thank you Don - again and again...

I will keep watching the Komodochess site frequently (have already checked 5 times today ) but please PM me someone, when it is up.

[Cardoso]

Hi Don,
it is indeed very true Rom. 8:22, all mankind is in pain together. Nevertheless your hope is true for me also ( Psalms 86:7; Psalms 5:11), and your abnegate work will never be forgotton and won't be without reward.
You and I and Dan Corbit, and Herson from Costa Rica, have something in common, let's rejoice on that. In fact it was Herson that alerted me of your illness.
Also I haven't yet had the decency to say thanks for you advices you sent me through Herson. Life here in portugal, is a real struggle just to survive.
Thanks for your help.
I hope this is just a bad episode for you, and that all of this will go away and you recover soon,

best wishes,
Alvaro Cardoso