And The Blind Hog Did Find An Acorn!

[geots]

The "blind hog" is an expression used when you get really lucky. And I got really lucky. I ran up on an IvanHoe version that I at first laughed at. As far as I have seen- only one person has even tested it- the compiler. It doesn't give his name in the console- but I know. It looked fair in his few tests, but his specs were all wrong if he wanted a true idea of the strength- he is not an experienced tester with years under his belt. In his case, you cannot test with 4CPU at ultra-fast blitz. An experienced tester knows that.

I had plenty of cores to spare- but still had to run it on one of the i5s because it is SSE4.2. I set up to run a 50 game match with Fritz 13, changed my mind and decided on Sting. Then I said the hell with it- let's see what you really got! I put it up against Stockfish 2.3.1 popcount x64. I said if you want to be a keeper, show me something. Then I started the match and headed to sleep. The time control was 4'+2", 128MB hash, 1CPU- 50 games.

When I got back it was over. In all my testing with every Ivanhoe in existence, ag. all Stockfish, Rybka, Komodo and Strelka versions- I have never ever seen anything that can compare to what I was looking at. This Ivanhoe version completely dismantled and destroyed Stockfish. It made a super chess engine look like it was lost. Actually I did watch a few games in the beginning- and I figured it was just blind luck.

This match is one of those deals where you know when it is over that it is stronger- the question is by how much, really. And that remains to be seen. But this version is much stronger than Stockfish. It wasn't even close to being this bad-just an example: If one engine beats another 49 to 1- the question is not which is stronger- but by how much. Only a fool wouldn't know it is stronger.

And this is not a publicized version. That one test was all I have seen. And I have seen no one else using it. Actually- it is new. But there were some things in his testing that caught my attention as a tester- things he wouldn't know to look for. And that is why I gave it a shot. I hate wasting CPU time.

The most ironic thing is, he came up with it- and still has no clue what he really has. And it is not likely I will tell him. This is my baby now to put back and pull out when another engine thinks he is cute and needs an attitude adjustment. And believe me- he will get it. Chess is great! It's a beautiful world!


gts

[geots]

This 50 game match will have to be thrown out- as you can only come to one conclusion from these results:

Code: Select all

SP8-Core-i5, Blitz:4'+2"  11/11/2012  0

IvanHoe version ???      +7/-6/=37   51.00%   25.5/50
Critter 1.6a 64-bit      +6/-7/=37   49.00%   24.5/50

50 games and 37 of them were draws. Do I need to draw you a picture?


gts