Engine Style

[maxchgr]

Hi all
engine elo is commonly being tested and compared but I wanted to know if anyone has any useful information/observations regarding various engine styles, and perhaps any engines that are particularly good for analysis of one's games for 'intereseting' possibilities in a human game.

im interested in understanding differences between engines like

homer
spike
naum
loop
junior
glaurang
fritz
rybka
shredder
hiarcs

thanks a lot guys for any responses
this topic is really interesting to me!

[maxchgr]

Is this topic not interesting to anyone else?

[Kirill Kryukov]

In CCRL study we are trying to compare playing styles of different engines by computing ponder hit and evaluation difference values. It is done automatically for all games in our database that have necessary information. Note that while we are able to define and measure the similarity or difference between styles of two engines, we are not yet close to understanding it.

Correlation page in CCRL 40/40
Correlation page in CCRL 40/4

Also you can construct ponder hit and eval diff tables for any custom set of engines if you use "Custom comparison" section on the main page (CCRL 40/40 main page, CCRL 40/4 main page).

Best,
Kirill

[maxchgr]

Hmm thats quite interesting.
Thanks krill

does anyone have a subjective opinion on styles of the engines?

[Marek Soszynski]

Here are my comments on various engines' styles. Be advised that my comments are highly subjective albeit based on extensive usage. I expect disagreement.

• Fritz - very strong and suitably aggressive in all phases

• Hiarcs - extremely strong, often appears to play according to a plan, which gives it a human-like feel

• Junior - its relative strength and gambit/sacrificial style of play is not what it was

• Ktulu - gives a good impression of strategical play, but only a medium strength engine overall

• Loop - extremely strong, particularly aggressive in the opening

• Rybka - conservative in the opening, without equal in the middlegame when in a dozen or so moves it can turn an inferior position into a superior one, even against top engines, through subtle manoeuvring and super-accurate piece placement

• Shredder - very classical, orthodox play, still probably the best endgame engine

[maxchgr]

Thank you marek, thats exactly the type of response I was interested in reading. It's subjective but style can't be quantified, can it? ...

Does anyone else have anything to say on the matter?

(btw regarding junior, I agree, it doesn't strike me as particularly sacrificial or speculatively interesting as it used to be compared to fritz for example, which saddens me =] Is it version 6 that was the most interesting in that regard?)

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Hi Maksim,
To know well the engine style,the best way is to play against it along with observing it playing against the other engines....
Now regarding Junior,the most spectacular version in my opinion is Deep Junior 7

[gerold]

Is this topic not interesting to anyone else?

I think Deep Junior 10 is the best for learning chess attack
style.
Watch its sacrifice attack style.

Go Junior,

Gerold.

[cooldalek]

gerold and Marek seem to have different views on Junior 10.

Anyone want to add a third opinion?

Is it still "speculative"?

I am toying with buying it

[maxchgr]

From what I've seen it is no more aggressive than Fritz 10, I was wondering if thats an unpopular concencus