What are the ideal match settings?

[cpuchess]

When it comes to setting up an Engine vs Engine match or a tournament between engines, I am not exactly clear on what ideal parameters should be. Is there a standard set for this type of thing that most people follow?

The type of thing I am looking for is:

Are there time settings that are considered to fast to be worthless? I like to use 1 min 1 sec or 5 min settings the most for tournaments.

Should you use books or not, does it matter if one engine uses another engines book.

Should book learning be on or pondering be on? I assume when you are using a "Deep" version of an engine on a multi-core machine it makes sense to allow them to think when the other engine is preparing to make a move.

Are there any other parameters or things that should be set to make sure that the engines are at their best?

I used to do this stuff all the time but lost interest over the past few years. Now my interest is back again.

Thanks for the feedback...

[swami]

Hi John,

For me ideal settings is:

Book on or Random selection from PGN. (Usually Sedat's, Nunn or Noomen)

I don't think it is a good idea for one engine to use some other's book, since the engine may not be designed to play the style from book moves. Better use the GUI book in this case.

1+1 is shortest and reliable time settings for a blitz. Many authors I have talked to test it at this time control to see what changes they have made and whether it was an improvement or not.

Use Book learning On and Ponder off for blitz TC. Ponder on for only engines with MP support doesn't make sense.

Other parameters? make sure hash size is set properly, and give benefit of >2 cpu for engines with mp capability. Also, some engines like Chessmaster, Glaurung allows you to fiddle around with piece values and other such parameters.

[krazyken]

Depends on what your gaol is, if you want your matches to play chess, then engines should use their own books, learning on. If you have the spare CPU power then ponder on as well. There are no time settings to be too fast to be worthless. You will only be finding out which engines play well at whatever TC you choose. I have recently been playing 40 moves in 4 secs, Very fast! Worthless? No, I find it fun to watch pieces flying about at high speeds.

If you don't use the engine's own book, you slip out of playing chess to playing a chess variant. This gives you a different evaluation of the engine.

Most engines ship with their default parameters at the best. Each engine customizes differently, read the readme that usually comes with them to get an idea how to set them up, prepare opening books, how much hash to use etc.

[Martin Thoresen]

I have recently been playing 40 moves in 4 secs, Very fast! Worthless? No, I find it fun to watch pieces flying about at high speeds.

40 moves in 4 seconds? I bet there are some engines having trouble with that super-fast time control?

I should try that one time to see how it is.

[krazyken]

I have recently been playing 40 moves in 4 secs, Very fast! Worthless? No, I find it fun to watch pieces flying about at high speeds.

40 moves in 4 seconds? I bet there are some engines having trouble with that super-fast time control?

I should try that one time to see how it is.

A lot of engines have trouble at that speed, but I have found few that do not lose on time at that speed, and several that only lose on time rarely (< 10%). I have seen games go up to 218 moves.

You can see the engines I used here.

[meschle]

40 moves in 4 seconds - Very fast! Worthless? No, I find it fun to watch pieces flying about at high speeds.

Well that is what i call superchess!