Best Computer Chess Program

[leavenfish]

I am a chess enthusiast and like to play programs against one another.
Currently I have all the Stockfish engines ( up to 8 ) Deep Hiarcs 13.2
Komodo 10 and Houdini 4.Am I missing out on anything?
Cheers Allan

One could argue that you are...missing out on the joy/satisfaction from understanding playing the game yourself.

I can see 'cyber chess' or whatever it is called as a harmless past time...but little more. YMMV...

[rabbits23]

Hi Brian. I appreciate your feedback. In my original message I failed to state
that I do enjoy playing chess enormously and am frequently doing battle with
my chess programs. Playing the chess programs against one another helps me learn how to develop a plan of attack in a particular opening and how to grind out a win in close end-game battles.At this stage my knowledge of chess in these areas are not very strong but I am working on improving them. When I play a chess program I give myself a start of a few pieces ( Knight and Bishop or Rook and a couple of pawns) and am often able to organise a win . Without the handicap I get bulldozed fairly quickly though. Hopefully in time I can slowly change this.
Once again thanks for your thoughts
Cheers Allan

[rabbits23]

Thanks Frank there are several programs there that I shall definitely download.
Regards Allan

[rabbits23]

Hi Brendan: After reading several responses to my original message I
realize I confused people by not providing enough detail. A lot of this detail can be found in my reply to Brian Smith so I wont bother to rewrite it. I am going on 73 this year and find chess a fabulous way of keeping the mind sharp and
active. Thanks for your helpful observations.
Regards Allan

[rabbits23]

Hello again Brendan. Reading through many of the emails posted here
I realise that the forum is designed for chess programming enthusiasts and that my letter was not related to the subject. I'll avoid doing that in future.
Regards Al

[Sean Evans]

I am a chess enthusiast and like to play programs against one another.
Currently I have all the Stockfish engines ( up to 8 ) Deep Hiarcs 13.2
Komodo 10 and Houdini 4.Am I missing out on anything?
Cheers Allan

Hello Allan,

There are different ways to classify chess engines. The whole chess community is polluted with lying, disinformation and copyright violations.

There are two basic classifications: Original chess engines AND Derivative/Plagiarized chess engines.

Original:
The two best original tier one chess engines are Stockfish and Komodo. There are several strong tier two chess engines: Shredder, Junior, Hiarcs, ChessTiger and Fritz.

Derivative/plagiarized:
There are several strong chess engines that are derivatives: Houdini 5, Fire, Rybka, Andscacs, GullChess, etc.

You will have to make a decision as to which way you want to go, i.e. supporting original chess developers with your money or give it to those that plagiarize.

Good luck,

Sean

[BrendanJNorman]

I am a chess enthusiast and like to play programs against one another.
Currently I have all the Stockfish engines ( up to 8 ) Deep Hiarcs 13.2
Komodo 10 and Houdini 4.Am I missing out on anything?
Cheers Allan

Hello Allan,

There are different ways to classify chess engines. The whole chess community is polluted with lying, disinformation and copyright violations.

You forgot to mention "bitter".

The computer chess community has to be the most bitter subculture of hobbyists I have encountered in my life.

Indeed it seems in the CC community that newbies like Allan (and me as well not too long ago) can't come and ask the "experts" about chess engines without being dragged into the swamp as well.

Being polluted with lying, disinformation, copyright violations AND bitterness is probably putting it mildly.

There are programmers (I ADMIRE) who have absolutely brilliant minds in their own right, who 10-15 years later still despise each other at a stage of life when they should be sitting back to smell the roses.

It's very sad, but I don't see the point of dragging Allan into it.

Let's focus on the positive.

On another note...

Personally, I believe that any reasonable engine could be dominant (commercially, not in terms of ELO) by repackaging/repositioning their product and using the marketing strategy of "hit em where they aint" (aka niche down and specialize).

The ELO race is a race you can't win, but making your engine play in a very special, different way, add some bonuses and do some smart marketing (or partner with a smart marketer like me ) and you'll definitely carve out a niche.

I know that engines like Vitruvius tried this, but their marketing was rubbish and they too faded away.

Chessmaster didn't become the biggest selling chess franchise in history by selling The King 3.23 as a downloadable .rar file.

And even without the capital investment of an Ubisoft (to create that BEAUTIFUL GUI), I think a savvy programmer could make a commercial success of their engine with good MARKETING/positioning and a good offer, others who plagiarize their engine source code will fail and fade away quickly.

To quote Ben Shapiro: "capitalism is blind"

If anyone disagrees with me, remember to be civil...

I'm happy to share perspectives.

[leavenfish]

Personally, I believe that any reasonable engine could be dominant (commercially, not in terms of ELO) by repackaging/repositioning their product and using the marketing strategy of "hit em where they aint" (aka niche down and specialize).

The ELO race is a race you can't win, but making your engine play in a very special, different way, add some bonuses and do some smart marketing (or partner with a smart marketer like me ) and you'll definitely carve out a niche.

Makes sense. That's why I could find myself buying my 4th Komodo...IF it offered more than 'being reasonably close to Stockfish' when it comes to "ELO".

Mind you, it still needs to be about as strong...just offer me something more for my $$....and those of us who analyse chess positions (instead of play engine vs engine matches) surely outnumber those who don't understand chess itself as well, but like to pit their engine against another...even if they are trying to claim the credit for their wins in this 'cyber warfare' they find themselves attracted to.

[cdani]

Derivative/plagiarized:
There are several strong chess engines that are derivatives: Houdini 5, Fire, Rybka, Andscacs, GullChess, etc.

Where do you saw that Andscacs is a derivative??? I wrote Andscacs from the start.

[Damir]

Hi Daniel

Don't bother what Sean writes. He is just trolling around as usual. Please ignore him.