Next Komodo match on chess.com

[Nay Lin Tun]

I am just wondering whether it is possible to play full strength challenge vs a man, Lyudmil_Tsvetkov, who publicly declared that he could beat stockfish and komodo.( Btw, Carlsen lose to his handicapped apps(magnus age 18) in his iphone in a few months ago)

[lkaufman]

I am just wondering whether it is possible to play full strength challenge vs a man, Lyudmil_Tsvetkov, who publicly declared that he could beat stockfish and komodo.( Btw, Carlsen lose to his handicapped apps(magnus age 18) in his iphone in a few months ago)

There is nothing for us to gain by playing an untitled player just because he says something. If we did so probably lots of players would make similar claims to get a match. Of course he is welcome to play such a match himself and post the games, and people can decide for themselves if they believe the match was run fairly. This is not meant to imply anything negative about Lyudmil, just that we cannot verify his claims.

In all these matches we have either had the opponent present in person or else at least be on camera. Of course being on camera is not a guarantee against cheating, but it does make it more risky to cheat. In any case we have limited ourselves to matches against players we know well and who are considered honest. Based on results and the games, I don't believe anyone has cheated against Komodo yet.

[JJJ]

Still undefeated. You might want to try these exact same handicap against someone 100 elo stronger.

[lkaufman]

Still undefeated. You might want to try these exact same handicap against someone 100 elo stronger.

I don't know when we will get a 2700 FIDE or higher opponent next. For 2600 FIDE GMs I think we should try N (b1) for pawn (b7,c7,d7, and e7) next. So far at these handicaps we have a draw with IM Norowitz, a draw and two wins against FM Meyer, and the win over Hikaru Nakamura (who filled in at the last minute and so had no chance to prepare).

[Kappatoo]

Is there a site where Komodo's handicap games are collected? I think it would be great to have all the games and results in one place.

[Nordlandia]

Is there a site where Komodo's handicap games are collected? I think it would be great to have all the games and results in one place.

Look here ->

https://komodochess.com/store/pages.php?cmsid=17

Larry: any observation/prediction on how much odds increase per year based on engine development. Every new year chess engines get stronger and that mean more odds can be allocated human opponent to offset strength difference.

Considering top engines increase in playing strength each year, human players need considerable odds to have practical chances against strong engines.

Something similar to Moore's law for odds given to human opponents as engines advances

[Uri Blass]

Is there a site where Komodo's handicap games are collected? I think it would be great to have all the games and results in one place.

Look here ->

https://komodochess.com/store/pages.php?cmsid=17

Larry: any observation/prediction on how much odds increase per year based on engine development. Every new year chess engines get stronger and that mean more odds can be allocated human opponent to offset strength difference.

Considering top engines increase in playing strength each year, human players need considerable odds to have practical chances against strong engines.

Something similar to Moore's law for odds given to human opponents as engines advances

I think that we need to increase the playing strength of humans and not to increase the odds.

One way to do it is by using a longer time control.

[lkaufman]

Is there a site where Komodo's handicap games are collected? I think it would be great to have all the games and results in one place.

Look here ->

https://komodochess.com/store/pages.php?cmsid=17

Larry: any observation/prediction on how much odds increase per year based on engine development. Every new year chess engines get stronger and that mean more odds can be allocated human opponent to offset strength difference.

Considering top engines increase in playing strength each year, human players need considerable odds to have practical chances against strong engines.

Something similar to Moore's law for odds given to human opponents as engines advances

I think that we need to increase the playing strength of humans and not to increase the odds.

One way to do it is by using a longer time control.

I am planning to do that once chess.com makes automated play possible. Then we can give the opponent standard FIDE time (90 min plus 30 sec), double the current TC, while Komodo would get maybe 15 min plus 5 sec, still with material handicaps. This would keep the session length to only mildly more than at present, still acceptable for telecast. But it is not practical if I have to operate and input moves. Of course handicaps would be less than with current tc.

[lkaufman]

Is there a site where Komodo's handicap games are collected? I think it would be great to have all the games and results in one place.

Look here ->

https://komodochess.com/store/pages.php?cmsid=17

Larry: any observation/prediction on how much odds increase per year based on engine development. Every new year chess engines get stronger and that mean more odds can be allocated human opponent to offset strength difference.

Considering top engines increase in playing strength each year, human players need considerable odds to have practical chances against strong engines.

Something similar to Moore's law for odds given to human opponents as engines advances

The performance of Komodo in handicap games seems to be improving more than Kai predicted. We lost our very first handicap match badly at two pawn (c2,f2) handicap, but in the past year we have scored very highly against higher rated GMs at larger (based on evals) two pawn handicaps. We made a change before the latest match that might be very important in lost positions like handicap games although not significant in normal games. Contempt also makes a big difference (we didn't have it yet at the time of our first match). What I'm saying is that the improvements that matter in these handicap matches are not the same as the ones that matter against near-equal opponents in normal chess. If we doubled our speed humans might hardly be able to tell in handicap games, but Stockfish sure would see the difference in normal games!

[Uri Blass]

Is there a site where Komodo's handicap games are collected? I think it would be great to have all the games and results in one place.

Look here ->

https://komodochess.com/store/pages.php?cmsid=17

Larry: any observation/prediction on how much odds increase per year based on engine development. Every new year chess engines get stronger and that mean more odds can be allocated human opponent to offset strength difference.

Considering top engines increase in playing strength each year, human players need considerable odds to have practical chances against strong engines.

Something similar to Moore's law for odds given to human opponents as engines advances

The performance of Komodo in handicap games seems to be improving more than Kai predicted. We lost our very first handicap match badly at two pawn (c2,f2) handicap, but in the past year we have scored very highly against higher rated GMs at larger (based on evals) two pawn handicaps. We made a change before the latest match that might be very important in lost positions like handicap games although not significant in normal games. Contempt also makes a big difference (we didn't have it yet at the time of our first match). What I'm saying is that the improvements that matter in these handicap matches are not the same as the ones that matter against near-equal opponents in normal chess. If we doubled our speed humans might hardly be able to tell in handicap games, but Stockfish sure would see the difference in normal games!

I wonder if you test your changes in handicap matches against weaker engines to see if you get significantly better result against them.