Dragon

[Modern Times]

I commend the Komodo team for their efforts against the Stockfish juggernaut. It is a real David vs Goliath battle. And I also commend them for not throwing their toys out of their pram with the release of Fat Fritz 2 which is a commercial rival for them. I'd like to see Dragon at the top of the ratings lists at least for a while, it would be a huge accomplishment and something quite special.

[lkaufman]

I commend the Komodo team for their efforts against the Stockfish juggernaut. It is a real David vs Goliath battle. And I also commend them for not throwing their toys out of their pram with the release of Fat Fritz 2 which is a commercial rival for them. I'd like to see Dragon at the top of the ratings lists at least for a while, it would be a huge accomplishment and something quite special.

Thanks. I don't see Fat Fritz as too much of a rival, because it is basically Stockfish with a different but roughly comparable net, whereas Komodo Dragon uses its own quite different search and a net based on Komodo games. Since Stockfish is free, a commercial engine must be either clearly stronger or substantially different to be worth purchasing, and Dragon is far more different from Stockfish than FF is. I suppose that legally we could do what FF does, sell our net to run with Stockfish code, and we might have the best engine and it would be more distinct from SF than FF is I think. But this would not be interesting and would be ethically controversial, and we're not in this game primarily to make money. We have improved Dragon since the last release, but not yet by enough to catch Stockfish in standard chess. But I'm hopeful.

[jshriver]

I absolutely love Komodo and Dragon, amazing work your team has done.

[Cornfed]

Since Stockfish is free, a commercial engine must be either clearly stronger or substantially different to be worth purchasing, and Dragon is far more different from Stockfish than FF is.

Do remember...it's not just about the 'engine' - one is getting a really nice GUI when the purchase FF2.
If they don't need one or simply feel it is time to upgrade from a previous version, then FF2 becomes a viable option.

I'm not who feels my current Fritz is good enough though.

[jshriver]

I'm not who feels my current Fritz is good enough though.

I picked up Fritz 17 a couple months ago and it is truly an amazing program. For $75 it was well worth every penny. Being able to rent engines on some insane hardware for analysis is great. All the bells and whistles, so many Im still finding new things. The Fritz 17 engine is nice as well.

Import Dragon and SF13, make some coffee, that's a fun evening.

[Nordlandia]

Question to Larry. Is this odds configurations tried before against IMs or GMs ?

Exchange + Pawn. Pure exchange odds is not enough for top GMs. The question i ask if whether the a-pawn has to be the one to be removed.

[d]1rbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/1PPPPPPP/1NBQKBNR w Kk - 0 1

[d]1nbqkbnr/1ppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/1RBQKBNR w Kk - 0 1

[Nordlandia]

I'm not who feels my current Fritz is good enough though.

I picked up Fritz 17 a couple months ago and it is truly an amazing program. For $75 it was well worth every penny. Being able to rent engines on some insane hardware for analysis is great. All the bells and whistles, so many Im still finding new things. The Fritz 17 engine is nice as well.

Import Dragon and SF13, make some coffee, that's a fun evening.

Have you tried cloud engine matches on two computers via Fritz interface ?

[lkaufman]

Question to Larry. Is this odds configurations tried before against IMs or GMs ?

Exchange + Pawn. Pure exchange odds is not enough for top GMs. The question i ask if whether the a-pawn has to be the one to be removed.

[d]1rbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/1PPPPPPP/1NBQKBNR w Kk - 0 1

[d]1nbqkbnr/1ppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/1RBQKBNR w Kk - 0 1

The first one, except I think with the Black rook on a8, was tried by Komodo twice. First against IM Danny Rensch in a 45' + 15" game, Komodo won. Then against super-GM MVL, who has been World number 1 or 2 in Rapid and Blitz not long after the encounter, at 15' +2"; MVL won that game, his only win in the six game match at various handicaps (2 were drawn). I do rather like that handicap.

[jshriver]

Have you tried cloud engine matches on two computers via Fritz interface ?

Yup, I've also done eng vs eng matches between 2 of my computers by making them available as private engines in the cloud interface. There are a ton of options.

I sometimes put Dragon up on the cloud for free so feel free to "rent" if you see me there, username is the same jshriver.

[Modern Times]

I sometimes put Dragon up on the cloud for free so feel free to "rent" if you see me there, username is the same jshriver.

Does the Dragon licence permit that ? By making that available free you may be taking business away from the Komodo team.