Komodo 7

[lkaufman]

Are you able to estimate the elo gain excluding Sygyzy tablebases?

If Komodo TCEC and 7 both had limited 5 man Nalimov, how much stronger would 7 be?

Well, since I'm on record as saying plus 40 elo including 5 man TB and that I estimate the 5 man TB to be 10 elo, my answer has to be 30 elo to be consistent!

[lkaufman]

Drawscore was set to zero since our goal is just to win the match, not to rack up a big score. The default -7 is recommended for playing engines other than Stockfish and Houdini 4.
Table size is increased to 256 (from 64) because we think that is best with long time controls, many cores, and big hash tables. Perhaps 512 would be even better, no practical way to know.

Hi Larry. Thanks for the update about Komodo 7.0. I'm glad you brought up the above topic about the draw score. Can you explain a little bit more what that means? Is negative more aggressive in komodo's case. What drawscore favors a draw and what drawscore is more aggressive to attempt to win?

For stockfish the positive contempt values favor more risky play whereas negative values favor draws. This drawscore in Komodo is interesting as I think it's a very drawish engine and anything to make it more aggressive would be interesting.

Thanks Larry.

Tim.

Originally drawscore just meant what score a draw (by repetition, stalemate, 50 move rule, or insufficient material) would get. So if it's minus 7, that means the program will prefer a minus 5 centipawn position to a draw. It's the opposite of contempt (sign is reversed). However a couple years ago we made this stage-dependent, so that the drawscore gradually approaches zero in a pure pawn endgame.

[lkaufman]

Oh, and in light of our closed position discussions, do you think komodo 7.0 has any improvement in closed positions?

Thanks.

Tim.

I would say some improvement but not dramatic improvement. Many search changes help in almost all types of positions. We made one search change that should slightly favor finding deep maneuvers at the expense of missing a few more surprise moves deep in the search. I hope we can do something to help much more in closed positions by Komodo 8.

[TShackel]

I would say some improvement but not dramatic improvement. Many search changes help in almost all types of positions. We made one search change that should slightly favor finding deep maneuvers at the expense of missing a few more surprise moves deep in the search. I hope we can do something to help much more in closed positions by Komodo 8.

Well you definitely have a buyer out of me. Keep up the good work!

[JJJ]

I m very interested also. Can't wait to test it !

[reflectionofpower]

We are planning to release Komodo 7 sometime this week. It will be the same as or nearly the same as the Komodo 7x version now playing in the TCEC final, except that default settings of UCI options were modified for this event. Komodo 7 will be the first in the series with TableBase support (Syzygy). Estimated elo gains (including using 5 man TBs) over Komodo TCEC (the winner of the last TCEC final) are about forty elo points at five minutes plus 3 seconds according to an independent test and a bit more at bullet levels. As always, improvements include both search and eval changes. Price is set at $59.94, or $39.96 if you bought Komodo TCEC. Komodo TCEC will be marked down by $10.

What about if we bought Komodo 6?

[lkaufman]

We are planning to release Komodo 7 sometime this week. It will be the same as or nearly the same as the Komodo 7x version now playing in the TCEC final, except that default settings of UCI options were modified for this event. Komodo 7 will be the first in the series with TableBase support (Syzygy). Estimated elo gains (including using 5 man TBs) over Komodo TCEC (the winner of the last TCEC final) are about forty elo points at five minutes plus 3 seconds according to an independent test and a bit more at bullet levels. As always, improvements include both search and eval changes. Price is set at $59.94, or $39.96 if you bought Komodo TCEC. Komodo TCEC will be marked down by $10.

What about if we bought Komodo 6?

We only give discounts on a new version to those who bought the previous version.

[shrapnel]

I feel no excitement.....no real motivation for buying it as the free Stockfish is at least as strong if not stronger than Komodo 7.
Oh, I'll get hold of it later, but not going to be jumping thru hoops to get it quickly.
This is what the "free' Stockfish does to commercial Engines like Komodo and Houdini.
Soon, there will be no motivation left for the commercial Engine developers and fresh young talent graduating from Engineering Colleges will avoid getting into this line.
Congratz Stockfish Development Team !

[reflectionofpower]

I feel no excitement.....no real motivation for buying it as the free Stockfish is at least as strong if not stronger than Komodo 7.
Oh, I'll get hold of it later, but not going to be jumping thru hoops to get it quickly.
This is what the "free' Stockfish does to commercial Engines like Komodo and Houdini.
Soon, there will be no motivation left for the commercial Engine developers and fresh young talent graduating from Engineering Colleges will avoid getting into this line.
Congratz Stockfish Development Team !

true, it's great for computer chess nuts but not if u want to make some coin on the side selling your engine. At best it has to be a serious endeavor and then coming to grips with the thought that you'll just make some extra money on the side.

[lkaufman]

I feel no excitement.....no real motivation for buying it as the free Stockfish is at least as strong if not stronger than Komodo 7.
Oh, I'll get hold of it later, but not going to be jumping thru hoops to get it quickly.
This is what the "free' Stockfish does to commercial Engines like Komodo and Houdini.
Soon, there will be no motivation left for the commercial Engine developers and fresh young talent graduating from Engineering Colleges will avoid getting into this line.
Congratz Stockfish Development Team !

Fortunately lots of people want to own at least two engines either to play against each other or to get two opinions about positions. But you are right that people will not want to get into computer chess if their goal is to make their living solely from doing so.