The future of Crafty

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zullil
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The future of Crafty

Post by zullil »

I've been a big fan of Crafty for a long time, so I was a bit disappointed that Crafty didn't fare better in CCT 12 (especially given Crafty's ability to examine 20M+ nps on an 8-core machine). Any thoughts as to why Crafty didn't perform better? I'm not a programmer, so generalities like "Its search is not selective enough" or "Its evaluation in the middle-game is weak" would be enough. I should also add that I haven't had time to really study Crafty's games from the tournament.

I'm also wondering if the Crafty team is considering any fundamental changes to the engine.

Thanks.
Werewolf
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by Werewolf »

I thought Crafty performed very well. It has been several 100 elo behind the best for years, so this looks like progress to me.
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Harvey Williamson
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by Harvey Williamson »

Werewolf wrote:I thought Crafty performed very well. It has been several 100 elo behind the best for years, so this looks like progress to me.
I agree I was impressed with Crafty in this tournament.
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hgm
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by hgm »

It s called "getting trapped on a local maximum". :wink:
zullil
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by zullil »

hgm wrote:It's called "getting trapped on a local maximum". :wink:
Yes, perhaps this is the case. If so, it suggests that some significant change is needed, which might cause an initial decline before leading to a higher level of play. Any ideas as to what that change should be? Why has Crafty been "several 100 elo behind the best for years?" Thanks for the replies.
yanquis1972
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by yanquis1972 »

didn't crafty jump 100 elo in the past year or something? sheesh...
zullil
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by zullil »

yanquis1972 wrote:didn't crafty jump 100 elo in the past year or something? sheesh...
Yes, and so perhaps my expectations were just too high. Maybe I should simply have asked "In a nutshell, why is Crafty not yet on par with the strongest programs?" Not a complaint, simply a question for my fellow computer chess enthusiasts. Is there some main weakness that this engine has that is "holding it back?" Thanks.
Togga

Re: The future of Crafty

Post by Togga »

crafty is now stronger than many other engines. in one fast game crafty 23.1 could play a draw against robbolitoo.

the startposition was 1.d4 d5 2.c4

crafty was white.
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mariaclara
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by mariaclara »

:D The future of Crafty?

:arrow: It will still be a very informative guide for

future chess programmers.

:wink: :wink:
.
.

................. Mu Shin ..........................
yanquis1972
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Re: The future of Crafty

Post by yanquis1972 »

i guess you mean because now there is much stronger open source freeware? i suppose it's not as simple as just taking bits & pieces and adding & removing from them to crafty's code (well obviously). crafty's always been a couple hundred elo behind the competition in terms of strength so it seems like an odd question to me. just not what i'd have thought to ask. interesting, but i imagine the answer is 50 pages of text none of which i could understand.