Has anyone heard of this chess program

[CRoberson]

Vicki by Jaco van Niekerk

Anybody heard of it?

[Terry McCracken]

Vicki by Jaco van Niekerk

Anybody heard of it?

I have now...

http://www.vicki.co.za/

http://www.blogger.com/profile/05438999119366217740

http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/newspage.htm

[cooldalek]

very nice engine actually

[cooldalek]

and way stronger than 1200 elo I reckon. I'm going to run a tourney in Arena. It's an attacking program!

[gerold]

and way stronger than 1200 elo I reckon. I'm going to run a tourney in Arena. It's an attacking program!

It does attack and gets in trouble quick.
Dragon,Hamsters,Movei has won quick games with it.

Gerold.

[Tony Thomas]

Vicki by Jaco van Niekerk

Anybody heard of it?

It is a known engine. It was on Ron Murawski's private engine list, he removed it at my request a month or two ago at my request after I saw that it was available for download.

[sparky]

Wao. I didn't think people would take notice of Vicki! It is playing so badly at the moment!! My aim with the engine is not to create a strong overpowering engine at 2800 elo (perhaps I'll switch with the winboard "computer" command), but to create an engine a little less strong, say 2000 elo, that plays sacrificial chess, takes big risks and plays a kind of chess that we as humans will regard as beautiful. Who can forget the immortal game between Anderssen and Kieseritzky? That is what I am going for!

I am a bit frustrated with some of the commercial engines that plays such a cold, clinical game. Granted they win each time, but I find the beauty missing... I'd rather loose with a queen and rook up having half my pieces pinned and standing in awe at the beauty of the game than having the engine steamrolling over me with the same tactics each time.

This is what prompted me to try myself..., I find it hard, but very enjoyable.

Thanks for the interest. It is a great motivator!

[sparky]

and way stronger than 1200 elo I reckon. I'm going to run a tourney in Arena. It's an attacking program!

I think that is pretty accurate Maybe 1201 elo max ...and its endgame is really bad. But I am working on it... watch this space!!

[cooldalek]

In a gauntlet Vicki scored the following:

01: Vicki 0.031a 6.0/18 ··
02: Fire Fly 1.42 2.0/2 11
02: Hagrid 0.7.56 2.0/2 11
02: Pupsi 0.18 2.0/2 11
02: Gibbon 2.31g 2.0/2 11
02: Adam 3.1 uci 2.0/2 11
02: GreKo 5.2.5 2.0/2 11
08: Eveann 1.62 0.0/2 00
08: Monarch(1.5) 0.0/2 00
08: Piranha 0.5 0.0/2 00

Name of the tournament: Arena tourney: vicki in gauntlet
Site/ Country: United Kingdom
Level: Blitz 4/8
Hardware: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz with 1,024 MB Memory
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
PGN-File: C:\Program Files\Arena Chess\Arena.pgn
Website:
E-Mail Address:

[hgm]

What a very unbalanced result list! Not a single draw, it either wins both games or loses both games against the same engine, and it beats one of the strongest 2-0 while losing 0-2 to some of the weakest.

All opponents seem to be between 1900 and 2200. So I can't believe that Vicki is near 1200. It should be next to impossible to beat engines that are 800-1000 Elo stronger by 2-0...

Vicky might not be modelled well at all by the Elo formula, so describing it by a rating might be meaningless.