Will a new Komodo come out in the near future?

[Paloma]

Will a new Komodo come out in the near future?

because the last main release 12.0 is dated from Mai 2018 or
12.2 from Nov. 2018
12.3 from Dez. 2018

Dev version 2301, which plays in TCEC, seems to be an good progress

[Leo]

Komodo has gotten good at using a lot of cores.

[leavenfish]

Will a new Komodo come out in the near future?

because the last main release 12.0 is dated from Mai 2018 or
12.2 from Nov. 2018
12.3 from Dez. 2018

Dev version 2301, which plays in TCEC, seems to be an good progress

It lost to Xiphos 0.5.2 the other day...36 moves and Komodo as Black never had a piece or pawn pass onto the other side of the board except as part of a capture....it was a queen that hit the 5th rank again twice more before being driven back...then at last on move 90 a knight went to the fifth rank...by then Komodo was already lost.

One does not normally win that way.

It really got whipped.

[lkaufman]

Will a new Komodo come out in the near future?

because the last main release 12.0 is dated from Mai 2018 or
12.2 from Nov. 2018
12.3 from Dez. 2018

Dev version but2301, which plays in TCEC, seems to be an good progress

We have made good progress with Komodo MCTS since 12.3, but not with normal Komodo, so we decided not to release right now. In recent years we released new whole-numbered versions along with ChessBase in May, so that would be the obvious bet, but it's not a promise. We would like to have either a major new feature or decent progress in normal Komodo for Komodo 13.

[leavenfish]

Will a new Komodo come out in the near future?

because the last main release 12.0 is dated from Mai 2018 or
12.2 from Nov. 2018
12.3 from Dez. 2018

Dev version but2301, which plays in TCEC, seems to be an good progress

We have made good progress with Komodo MCTS since 12.3, but not with normal Komodo, so we decided not to release right now. In recent years we released new whole-numbered versions along with ChessBase in May, so that would be the obvious bet, but it's not a promise. We would like to have either a major new feature or decent progress in normal Komodo for Komodo 13.

'...major new feature '

Those are always exciting as one engine is about as good as another for most things. What would be some possible features Team K have been considering?

[konsolas]

It's quite strange that the standard, non-MCTS version of Komodo 12.3 is rated worse than the standard version of Komodo 11.2 on CCRL 40/40 and 40/4. Perhaps the improvements to MCTS mode have affected the behaviour of the standard mode.

[Werewolf]

We have made good progress with Komodo MCTS since 12.3, but not with normal Komodo, so we decided not to release right now. In recent years we released new whole-numbered versions along with ChessBase in May, so that would be the obvious bet, but it's not a promise. We would like to have either a major new feature or decent progress in normal Komodo for Komodo 13.

How close is Komodo MCTS to 12.3 now in terms of elo?

[lkaufman]

It's quite strange that the standard, non-MCTS version of Komodo 12.3 is rated worse than the standard version of Komodo 11.2 on CCRL 40/40 and 40/4. Perhaps the improvements to MCTS mode have affected the behaviour of the standard mode.

It is quite possible that having to check whether we're in MCTS mode or not at various places costs some time, but I would not expect it to be more than a percent (so roughly an elo point) or so. Anyway we have finally made some progress with normal Komodo so our next release should be at least ten elo improved from 12.3 in normal mode.

[lkaufman]

We have made good progress with Komodo MCTS since 12.3, but not with normal Komodo, so we decided not to release right now. In recent years we released new whole-numbered versions along with ChessBase in May, so that would be the obvious bet, but it's not a promise. We would like to have either a major new feature or decent progress in normal Komodo for Komodo 13.

How close is Komodo MCTS to 12.3 now in terms of elo?

It depends on time control and thread count (gains are more with more threads), but 30-40 would be a rough estimate for CEGT blitz (CCRL rating gains are smaller due to using BayesElo).

[leavenfish]

and now KomodoMCTS 2301.00 gets wiped off the board by AllieStein V0.3dev-n4....
Like it's loss to Xiphos 0.5.2, it was not even close.

Both games were with Black. I took a few minutes and ran thru each...other similarities:

1. Komodo did not appreciate it was getting itself into positions where there would be no activity (Look at its light squared bishop in each case - against AllieStein it sits on g6 and shoots thru thin air...controlling what turns out to be a useless diagonal.)
2. It does not try for the standard (I've played the Sveshnikov type systems for years seen about move 14)...f5 to get more control of the center squares...perhaps the seeds of defeat ironically lie in 10...Bc8 instead of 10...Bf5, when it could tuck the bishop into g6, move the Nf6 and play...f5 to get some control of the central squares. The Bishop might then find employment on f7, looking at those White center pawns. I don't know, just spitballing here. Perhaps though the book used contained ...Bc8. Not necessarily 'bad', but that bishop flounders as the game unfolds.

I've also played the Benoni since I was a kid (not any more...too problematic against better players when I do not play OTB myself as much as I once did) and its loss to Xiphos was truly sad. Why on earth play 8...Nbd7 instead of simply 0-0? It adds nothing to the game and does not aid in trying to find the activity needed when playing the Benoni. Perhaps though this is simply the book move it was forced to play and the line chosen was simply to see how engines handled hopelessly cramped positions?

Is perhaps contempt set high for this phase of the event?
Are the programmers testing if Komodo can out-think' competition at this level instead of out calculate them?
Or perhaps it simply does not handle (maybe none of the engines do?) cramped, passive positions?

Personally, I do not care at all that it would lose games to these engines - Komodo has always been an 'analysis tool' for me (and others) and any decent player knows not to trust an engine at certain points - like when the position might get cramped.I currently use Komodo 11.3.

To satisfy my curiosity, I would like to know what the parameters are for this version of Komodo and why. Also, one can tweak and run millions of games at fast time controls and let statistics push where they are going - one can argue that one really doesn't need a GM level player involved in the programming for that...but how much do the programmers pay attention to these losses at slower time controls?

As a many time purchaser of Komodo (NEVER bought Houdini or any other commercial engine in the past decade), I am curious as to what the authors of Komodo (and other keen-eyed individuals) think of these two defeats...and what the parameters currently in use for TCEC are.