next chess.com handicap match

[lkaufman]

Hi Larry, Would handicap testing of midrange engines against top engines be a valid testing regime for releasing a new version of a midrange engine?

Probably time handicaps would work better for this purpose than material handicaps, because material handicaps emphasize just a subset of chess principles. For example they would be great for optimizing code that is based on the principle "trade pieces when ahead in material" but perhaps poor for things that matter more when the game is even. Years ago we used to test Komodo against the strongest engine (Rybka, then Robolitto, then Houdini) with a 2 to 1 time handicap until we finally became competitive with the top engines on even terms. This is clearly a more efficient way to test than to play on even terms with non-top level engines; it takes 25% less time for the same quality test.

[lkaufman]

First game (f7 + b7 handicap) was a draw. Norowitz kept his two pawn advantage, but allowed bishops of opposite colors which led to the draw.

[lkaufman]

Game 2, knight for b7 pawn handicap, also ended in a draw. Again Norowitz maintained his full material advantage until the end, but with time running out and Komodo having serious positional compensation he settled for repetition. Earlier he had a pretty easy win by simplification, but underestimated how easy it would be.

[JJJ]

That's nice for him. I thought he might win one or two game. In fact it is mostly draw for him. So you might have find the right handicap for him.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

Game 2, knight for b7 pawn handicap, also ended in a draw. Again Norowitz maintained his full material advantage until the end, but with time running out and Komodo having serious positional compensation he settled for repetition. Earlier he had a pretty easy win by simplification, but underestimated how easy it would be.

those were the easy games.

he should lose the next 2.

overall, not bad performance, though.

if you train, you can achieve well, of course.

[JJJ]

He will loose the game 3 for sure. He might draw the last one.

[lkaufman]

Komodo won game 3, the one with even material but the Black king starting on e4 (with ..f6 played). Yaacov played strangely in the opening, and by move 10 his advantage was already gone. So far I can only recall one game in which a human has managed a draw with a non-material handicap (GM Perelshteyn drew with the handicap of 1.e4 e6 2.d4 Ke7?). I've noticed that I can get Komodo evals that seem much more predictive of results vs. humans by setting the Dynamism value way down to something like 50, which makes Komodo evaluate much more like humans do.

[CheckersGuy]

Komodo won game 3, the one with even material but the Black king starting on e4 (with ..f6 played). Yaacov played strangely in the opening, and by move 10 his advantage was already gone. So far I can only recall one game in which a human has managed a draw with a non-material handicap (GM Perelshteyn drew with the handicap of 1.e4 e6 2.d4 Ke7?). I've noticed that I can get Komodo evals that seem much more predictive of results vs. humans by setting the Dynamism value way down to something like 50, which makes Komodo evaluate much more like humans do.

Hey Larry,
will you post the engine evaluation of the match ?

Would really like to see what Komodo thought about those games

[lkaufman]

Yaacov Norowitz was unable to connect to chess.com at game time (I don't know what the problem was) and after a few minutes of trying, chess.com got Hikaru Nakamura to fill in for him!! So we played Nakamura, one of the world's best players, giving him knight for (c7) pawn odds!! Amazingly, Komodo won the game rather convincingly!! It's true that Nakamura had no advance time to prepare, and he played too rapidly, probably expecting to win easily, but the result was still remarkable. We beat a nearly 2800 FIDE player at knight for pawn, but lost 3 out of 3 to a 2100 FIDE rated player at full knight odds!

[CheckersGuy]

Are there any plans for future matches with material odds (or something else ) ?