CCRL rating lists updated (8th August 2008)

[Graham Banks]

The August 8th update of the CCRL Rating Lists and Statistics is now available for viewing at:
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/

The list usually gets updated once or twice during the week and these updates can be viewed here:
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040.live/
However, no game downloads are available from this live link.

The links to the various rating lists can be found just beneath the default Best Versions list.
For example there is a 32-bit Single CPU list.

Our standard testing is at 40 moves in 40 minutes repeating and our blitz testing is at 40 moves in 4 minutes repeating, both adjusted to the AMD64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz).

Currently active testers are:
Graham Banks, Ray Banks, Shaun Brewer, Kirill Kryukov, Dom Leste, Tom Logan, Andreas Schwartmann, Charles Smith, George Speight, Gabor Szots and Martin Thoresen.
Other team members are:
Sarah Bird, Eric Lamar, Arnaud Loheac, Bill Rogers, Joshua Shriver, Chris Taylor and Chuck Wilson.

Be aware that in the early stages of testing, an engine's rating can often fluctuate a lot.
It is strongly advised to also look at the many other rating lists available in order to get a more accurate overall picture of an engine's rating relative to others.


40/40 Notes


4CPU 64-bit Engines

Testing of Rybka 3 has just begun, so we should have a good number of games for next week's update. However, progress results to date do confirm that it will have a sizeable lead over its competitors.
Naum 3.1 and Zappa Mexico II are very similar in strength over 100 elo back in second and third spots.
50 elo further adrift, a large number of engines fall with a 40 elo spread of each other - Deep Shredder 11, Toga II 1.4.1SE, Hiarcs 12, Deep Sjeng 3.0, Deep Fritz 10.1, Glaurung 2.1 and the still private Bright 0.3d.
Loop M1-T has fallen out of the picture.
Cyclone 1.0 and Thinker 5.1e Passive are currently being tested, and it will be interesting to see where they fit in.

The relative ratings of the 2CPU engines that have been well tested are pretty much the same as their 4CPU counterparts.


Single CPU Engines

Rybka 3 is of course expected to laud it over all others in this category also. The first results will appear in the next update.
Naum 3.1, Zappa Mexico II and Fritz 11 are fairly close in strength as the next best engines.
Shredder 11 and Toga II 1.4.1SE bridge the gap between those three and the next group that includes Hiarcs 12, Deep Sjeng 3.0 and Bright 0.3d.
It is incredible to think that strong engines like Loop 13.6, Fruit 2.3.1 and Glaurung 2.1 are now over 200 elo points off the pace!
We've just started testing Thinker 5.1e Passive, and expectations are that it will plant itself somewhere amongst the engines mentioned here. Hopefully this version will stick around for a while as the latest so that our efforts aren't wasted (not that we don't appreciate your efforts Lance)!


Free Single CPU Engines

The generous release of Rybka 2.2 as a free engine will see Rybka now head this category also!
However, Toga II 1.4.1SE isn't a long way behind and it will be interesting to see if further Toga improvements can bridge the gap.
Of course, a new Fruit release could also make things exciting, but unfortunately, that seems increasingly unlikely to happen.
Cyclone 1.0 and Cyclops 1.0 could well be in the hunt also, especially Cyclops which is purported to be the stronger of the two.

CCRL tests a wide range of amateur engines (defined as free and having never gone commercial), ranging right down to the 2000 elo level. The intention is to get well over 200 games for each of these engines. We see it is a way of supporting and hopefully motivating these engine authors with their efforts.


Blitz Notes

An enormous amount of work goes into the blitz list and with over 300,000 games in the database, it is well worth a visit.

The latest ratings can be found at one of the following links:
http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404/
http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404.live/

Of special interest to some will be the best free 1CPU engines list which is being constructed through a systematic testing approach as mentioned here:
http://kirr.homeunix.org/chess/discussi ... f=7&t=3271


FRC Notes

Ray tests only those engines that can play FRC through the Shredder Classic GUI.
If engine authors have a new and stable version of their engine that will run under this GUI, they should contact Ray if they wish to see it tested.

Rybka 3 has a massive 200 elo lead over the closely grouped Shredder 11, Naum 3.1 and Deep Sjeng 3.0.
Hiarcs Paderborn 2007 in fifth spot is well ahead of Fruit 051103 and Loop 10.32f (the most recent Loop version that could play FRC).

For FRC the best list to look at is the pure list.
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404FRC/


Stats/Presentation Notes

The LOS (likelihood of superiority) stats to the right hand side of each rating list tell you the likelihood in percentage terms of each engine being superior to the engine directly below them.

A list of games played this week per engine can be found in the update thread in the CCRL public forum.

All games are available for download by engine, by month or by ECO code.
ELO ratings are now saved in all game databases for those engines that have 200 games or more.

Clicking on an engine name will give details as to opponents played plus homepage links where applicable.

Custom lists of engines can be selected for comparison.

An openings report page lists the number of games played by ECO codes with draw percentage and White win percentage. Clicking on a column heading will sort the list by that column.

[Tony Thomas]

Thanks for bringing back the descriptive rating list update for those who are intellectually challeged..