Xiphos and Ethereal / ponder

[ThatsIt]

Hi !

Both of them cannot ponder.
I wonder why.
Such strong engines ...

Best wishes,
G.S.
(CEGT team)

[AndrewGrant]

Ethereal does not have ponder because I do not see the point in it.
It adds complexity to the threading code. At some point I will do it, but not today.

Also, I may be reading this wrong, but what you said suggests that not having ponder implies something about Ethereal and xiphos ...

[ThatsIt]

[...snip...]
Also, I may be reading this wrong, but what you said suggests that not having ponder implies something about Ethereal and xiphos ...

No, no implies.
But these two engines are the strongest at the moment which cannot ponder.
And "the point in it" is real chess !

Best wishes,
G.S.
(CEGT team)

[mclane]

Ethereal does not have ponder because I do not see the point in it.
It adds complexity to the threading code. At some point I will do it, but not today.

Also, I may be reading this wrong, but what you said suggests that not having ponder implies something about Ethereal and xiphos ...

You don’t see a point in pondering?

[AndrewGrant]

Only point is if you are playing two different computers against each other.
If you are playing 2 programs on one machine ... just give them both 2 threads and turn off Pondering
If you are playing human vs machine ... why bother ? Give Ethereal 1 second and you will still lose.

[Ras]

You don’t see a point in pondering?

Even with 100% hit rate, that would amount to doubling the time, which could be worth 60 Elo. In reality, it's more like 30% hit rate, which is around 20 Elo and not really worth the effort for real games. On top of that, is doubles energy consumption for these 20 Elo, which is a deal e.g. on mobile phones.

Since engine matches for ranking are mostly done on the same computer, pondering is usually disabled anyway for ranking, so what.

[ThatsIt]

Many THX to both authors for integrating ponder now !

Best wishes,
G.S.
(CEGT team)

[AndrewGrant]

Many THX to both authors for integrating ponder now !

Best wishes,
G.S.
(CEGT team)

I think you messaged me ... if not someone from CEGT team, but talkchess inbox seems to have lost it.

The question was, "When will we see another release, now with Ponder"

The answer is, 12 more patches. I am on 10.88 now, with ~+50 elo.

12 patches of elo gainers, code cleanups, feature additions, ...., and I'll be posting back here.

Progress extremely slow recently, as I have taken a break after some months of grinding...

[ThatsIt]

I think you messaged me ... if not someone from CEGT team, but talkchess inbox seems to have lost it.

Yes, it was me.

The question was, "When will we see another release, now with Ponder"
The answer is, 12 more patches. I am on 10.88 now, with ~+50 elo.
12 patches of elo gainers, code cleanups, feature additions, ...., and I'll be posting back here.
Progress extremely slow recently, as I have taken a break after some months of grinding...

THX for the Information.

I will test with 10.88 and pb=on in the meantime:

http://cegt.forumieren.com/t1018-testin ... -10-88-x64

Best wishes,
G.S.
(CEGT team)