FCT1: Fight K8 vs. Stockfish, next round, contemp question!

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi there,

after the Rodent 1.5 round robin I will start again a round robin with Stockfish dev BMI2 x64.

The next round in the fight K8 vs. Stockfish.
I am sure with Contemp the actual Stockfish version is again on Position 1.

The question is ... which contemp I have to set?
Perhaps 10?

I am not sure with my experiments vs. weaker opponents. It seems that 10 is OK, test it out in 400 games on Q9550 vs. 4 weaker opponents (300 Elo weaker) 4x 100 games = 400 games. Result are 16 Elo better as the same engine version with standard settings / without contemp. I test only contemp = 10 ... with 40 moves in 10 minutes on this older hardware with the normaly SF x64 version.

Average from draw games = 8 moves higher with contemp = 10.
Could be very interesting to see that in a new round robin with the actual SF dev. version!

Best
Frank

[lucasart]

Contempt = 10 will give you no measurable difference against equal opposition (SF against itself or against Komodo). But it will increase performance against significantly weaker engines. So in rating list like condition, you may see a small elo gain. But don't expect much (maybe 5 elo in your list, just a guess).

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Hi there,

after the Rodent 1.5 round robin I will start again a round robin with Stockfish dev BMI2 x64.

The next round in the fight K8 vs. Stockfish.
I am sure with Contemp the actual Stockfish version is again on Position 1.

The question is ... which contemp I have to set?
Perhaps 10?

I am not sure with my experiments vs. weaker opponents. It seems that 10 is OK, test it out in 400 games on Q9550 vs. 4 weaker opponents (300 Elo weaker) 4x 100 games = 400 games. Result are 16 Elo better as the same engine version with standard settings / without contemp. I test only contemp = 10 ... with 40 moves in 10 minutes on this older hardware with the normaly SF x64 version.

Average from draw games = 8 moves higher with contemp = 10.
Could be very interesting to see that in a new round robin with the actual SF dev. version!

Best
Frank

Hi Frank,

I use contempt 20 to avoid the high percentage of draws when playing one of my Stockfish personalities and it gives good results....
Dr.D

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi Lucas,

OK, I will set a higher contemp.
17 is my lucky number (I believe in witchcraft).

I will try out contemp = 17



Thanks for your message!

Best
Frank

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi Wael,

OK, in this case higher!
I will set 17
A good compromise!



Have a look in my answer to Lucas.
Thanks for your hint!

Best
Frank

[Modern Times]

So you'll change Stockfish's contempt setting from the default, does this mean you'll also change Komodo 8's default Drawscore setting too ?

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi Ray,

in case of K8 nothing is to do if I am looking on the stats. All works fine with lesser draw games vs. weaker opponents with standard settings. Can be see in the database if you analyse the few draw games K8 produced. Only in one game from 1.000 maybe K8 can be won the games, means clearly draw positions here. Nothing to do for me.

SF have the problem with to many draw games vs. weaker opponents, not K8. This is clearly to see in FCT1 database!

Best
Frank