Hiarcs Chess Explorer Pro - Coming Soon! (Now Released)

[Robert Flesher]

I heard a quote when I was younger that completely changed my self-pitying worldview and motivated me to take earning money seriously:

"NOTHING is too expensive. It's just that YOU can't afford it."

This guy clearly *wants* Hiarcs, but can't justify the price.

This is an earning problem, not a "too expensive" problem.

Others spend thousands on t-shirts.

2 cents and so on...

Me myself, I can't wait to get my hands on Hiarcs AND to test the new HCE features.

[schack]

Do we have any sense of the strength of the new Hiarcs engine? Has any testing been done by any of the bigger ratings lists thus far?

Because - and I'm being frank here - that's more important to me than the features of HCE (or ChessX Pro, as I like to think of it). If it's reasonably competitive with some of the engines just below SF, LC0, and Komodo, I'll buy it. If not, I probably wont.

[Rubinus]

Do we have any sense of the strength of the new Hiarcs engine? Has any testing been done by any of the bigger ratings lists thus far?

Because - and I'm being frank here - that's more important to me than the features of HCE (or ChessX Pro, as I like to think of it). If it's reasonably competitive with some of the engines just below SF, LC0, and Komodo, I'll buy it. If not, I probably wont.

Against the top engines, the new Hiarcs is obviously weak. Also, human style in the age of neural networks is no longer some sort of advantage. Few lots, estimate 3200-3250 CCRL There are plenty of fans from the past, but here the advantages might just be in the GUI.

[Cornfed]

Against the top engines, the new Hiarcs is obviously weak. Also, human style in the age of neural networks is no longer some sort of advantage.

One could well argue that it IS...if you are a human playing against it. Not everyone gets their jollies off pitting engine vs engine. And a 'weak' engine can beat any of us in a basic match, don't you think?

[Sylwy]

My favorite workout GUI! The Pro version has been much improved over HCE 1.11. Without question, the simulation of the game levels is the most successful. Incomparable to Fritz 18. The analysis and work with databases is very simple but allows many facilities. Congratulations !
Although it has no special significance, I started a small test:

[Werewolf]

Do we have any sense of the strength of the new Hiarcs engine? Has any testing been done by any of the bigger ratings lists thus far?

Because - and I'm being frank here - that's more important to me than the features of HCE (or ChessX Pro, as I like to think of it). If it's reasonably competitive with some of the engines just below SF, LC0, and Komodo, I'll buy it. If not, I probably wont.

I'm having a problem with it: I can't get it to run on more than 16 threads. So that will limit strength on some machines until it's fixed or I work out what's wrong on my machine. Anyone else getting this issue?

[Gabor Szots]

I'm having a problem with it: I can't get it to run on more than 16 threads. So that will limit strength on some machines until it's fixed or I work out what's wrong on my machine. Anyone else getting this issue?

Can it be you've bought the 16-core package?

[Werewolf]

I'm having a problem with it: I can't get it to run on more than 16 threads. So that will limit strength on some machines until it's fixed or I work out what's wrong on my machine. Anyone else getting this issue?

Can it be you've bought the 16-core package?

No. I went for premium. I'm in touch with Mark about it

[Rubinus]

Against the top engines, the new Hiarcs is obviously weak. Also, human style in the age of neural networks is no longer some sort of advantage.

One could well argue that it IS...if you are a human playing against it. Not everyone gets their jollies off pitting engine vs engine. And a 'weak' engine can beat any of us in a basic match, don't you think?

I'm not saying I could beat it. If I'm already playing with a computer, I'm playing with Chessmaster, with some weaker personality around 2000-2400. Or chess.com with those bots, that's the kind of thing I'd like to have on my computer. That's something I'd pay for, if not for a high end engine.
As for the advertised human style, then below - does it seem to you that one would go to the endgame against a distant free pawn and a pair of bishops? I got the first 12 games in the mail. Yes, it's stronger than any of us, and it beats all grandmasters on equal terms. And maybe the style is still more human than it used to be with the old classic engines. But the most human style today is the LC0, and those new engines with the trained nets are getting close.

[pgn][Event "Test H15"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.01.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Revenge 2.0"]
[Black "Deep HIARCS 15.0"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[Annotator "0.19;0.12"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

1. d4 {B 0} Nf6 {B 0} 2. Nf3 {B 0} g6 {B 0} 3. Nbd2 {B 0} Bg7 {B 0} 4. e3 {B 0}
c5 {B 0} 5. dxc5 {0.17/26 31} Qa5 {B 0} 6. a3 {B 0} Qxc5 {B 0} 7. b4 {B 0} Qc7
{B 0} 8. Bb2 {B 0} O-O {B 0 Whitout book} 9. Be2 {0.19/31 25} Nc6 {0.12/24 29
(b6)} 10. c4 {0.31/31 41} d6 {0.21/25 41} 11. O-O {0.29/31 24 (Db3)} b6 {0.24/
25 24} 12. Qb3 {0.32/32 81} Bb7 {0.24/24 31} 13. Rfd1 {0.31/31 31} Rac8 {0.27/
25 68} 14. Rac1 {0.31/30 22} Nb8 {0.28/28 151} 15. h3 {0.32/30 52 (Jb1)} Rfd8 {
0.11/24 32 (Jbd7)} 16. Nd4 {0.32/31 27} a6 {0.14/24 32} 17. Bf1 {0.39/30 32
(Jb1)} Nbd7 {0.16/25 24} 18. Qa2 {0.34/30 36 (Sd3)} e6 {0.10/25 43 (Va8)} 19.
a4 {0.78/29 28 (J4f3)} Rb8 {0.36/24 104} 20. Qa1 {0.67/30 20 (Da3)} Ne8 {0.54/
23 38} 21. N2b3 {0.75/34 89} Ba8 {0.43/25 88} 22. Bc3 {0.94/30 19} Rdc8 {0.52/
25 57 (e5)} 23. a5 {0.95/31 35} e5 {0.63/25 17} 24. Nc2 {0.96/29 24 (Jf3)} bxa5
{0.52/21 16} 25. Nxa5 {1.07/30 28 (Dxa5)} Qd8 {0.50/23 41 (Se4)} 26. Be1 {1.07/
28 41 (Da3)} Qg5 {0.43/23 23 (Vc7)} 27. c5 {1.05/30 18 (Sd2)} Bf8 {0.60/22 25}
28. c6 {1.07/31 19} Bxc6 {0.39/24 23} 29. Nxc6 {1.07/34 18} Rxc6 {0.71/25 12}
30. Bxa6 {1.03/33 27} Nef6 {0.72/25 14} 31. Bf1 {0.96/33 26 (b5)} Rbc8 {0.60/
23 14} 32. Na3 {0.81/36 18 (Sa6)} Rxc1 {0.31/22 12} 33. Rxc1 {0.74/35 17} Rxc1
{0.22/25 12} 34. Qxc1 {0.81/38 21} d5 {0.50/27 42 (Df5)} 35. Qc2 {0.91/34 70}
d4 {0.35/25 10 (Jb6)} 36. e4 {1.07/31 15 (Sd2)} Nh5 {0.57/26 45 (Je8)} 37. Nc4
{1.27/30 18 (g3)} Nf4 {0.67/26 33 (Kg7)} 38. g3 {1.56/32 15} Ne6 {0.80/26 11}
39. h4 {1.55/33 65 (Sd2)} Qe7 {0.64/25 16 (Dd8)} 40. Qa4 {1.61/33 21 (Sd2)} h5
{1.09/25 52} 41. Bd2 {1.75/33 19} Qd8 {1.18/25 23 (Jf6)} 42. Qc6 {2.15/38 22
(Da6)} Qc7 {1.27/26 13} 43. Qxc7 {1.89/38 56} Nxc7 {1.06/29 8} 44. Bh3 {1.87/
37 18} Nf6 {1.46/29 12} 45. f3 {1.81/38 16} Bg7 {1.28/29 16} 46. Be1 {1.81/38
11 (Ja3)} Nb5 {1.31/27 11} 47. Nxe5 {2.00/37 22} Nxe4 {1.26/29 18} 48. Nxg6 {
2.13/37 16} fxg6 {1.26/30 26} 49. fxe4 {2.07/36 16} Nc3 {1.42/29 29 (Kf7)} 50.
Bf1 {2.13/33 12} Kf7 {1.68/31 23 (Jxe4)} 51. Bc4+ {2.12/33 11 (Sd3)} Ke7 {1.95/
30 24} 52. Kg2 {2.35/37 25 (Sd3)} Nd1 {1.46/27 7} 53. Bb3 {2.09/38 15} Ne3+ {
1.46/30 9} 54. Kf3 {2.08/39 23} Kd6 {2.01/28 19 (Jg4)} 55. Bd2 {2.38/35 11} Ng4
{1.99/27 12} 56. Bf4+ {2.88/33 12} Ne5+ {3.04/30 14} 57. Kg2 {2.61/40 31} Ke7 {
3.10/28 12} 58. b5 {4.07/39 26} Nd7 {3.51/29 11} 59. Kf2 {4.38/39 14 (Sc4)} Ne5
{3.62/28 9 (Sf6)} 60. b6 {6.49/40 15 (Kg2)} Kd7 {4.49/28 11} 61. b7 {7.47/45
20 (Sd5)} Kc7 {6.50/32 11} 62. Bd5 {8.16/44 36} Kb8 {6.46/31 10 (Sh8)} 63. Ke1
{8.14/47 11 (Ke2)} Ka7 {7.56/30 9} 64. Kd2 {8.28/48 31 (Kd1)} Bh8 {9.14/29 11}
65. Kc2 {8.30/39 7} Bf6 {8.09/27 8 (Sg7)} 66. Kb3 {8.38/40 7} 1-0[/pgn]

[Cornfed]

Against the top engines, the new Hiarcs is obviously weak. Also, human style in the age of neural networks is no longer some sort of advantage.

One could well argue that it IS...if you are a human playing against it. Not everyone gets their jollies off pitting engine vs engine. And a 'weak' engine can beat any of us in a basic match, don't you think?

I'm not saying I could beat it. If I'm already playing with a computer, I'm playing with Chessmaster, with some weaker personality around 2000-2400. Or chess.com with those bots, that's the kind of thing I'd like to have on my computer. That's something I'd pay for, if not for a high end engine.
As for the advertised human style, then below - does it seem to you that one would go to the endgame against a distant free pawn and a pair of bishops? I got the first 12 games in the mail. Yes, it's stronger than any of us, and it beats all grandmasters on equal terms. And maybe the style is still more human than it used to be with the old classic engines. But the most human style today is the LC0, and those new engines with the trained nets are getting close.

I think most engines would get in a world of trouble on the black side of something like this. It's not about "going into the endgame"...no, quite honestly it's the horrible looking 18...e6 (?) that is a head scratcher. After that, any engine 'should' win with White. Perhaps ...e6 is even the sort of positional weakening move a human (not me though...) might do when it is being squeezed like this.

In any case, I'm not interested in engine vs engine games...engine vs human or human vs human only.