Graham Banks wrote: ↑Sun Apr 06, 2025 4:25 am
Pretty sad really, especially when some have the programming skills to write an original engine.
Note that I don't include Shashchess in this criticism because a genuine attempt has been made by those involved to add Sashin theory into it.
Some of them are useful, for instance, for tactical solvers. Generally the changes for solvers make the engines quicker to solve chess puzzles. I use several of these on a regular basis. Some have a solve rate up to 20% higher than Stockfish with difficult problem sets at reasonable time control. These engines can also be useful for correspondence chess. The reason is that the correspondence GMs have studied the spots off of all the level ground. Typically, they can be near the mid-game by the time they fall out of their specialized book. There are times, for instance, they know their unexplored position has a positional advantage and they want to test some ideas. For positions like this, a tactical solver may have special insight to add to the regular analysis.
The idea of a GPL chess program is that anyone can make any changes they like. As long as they publish these changes, they have met the legal requirements. Now, it is definitely caveat emptor, in that the new engine may be quite a bit worse than the original and it can be tedious to find out areas where it might be useful.
So, since nobody is forcing us to try them or use them, I suggest that there is no reason that such engines should bother us. I have found some of them useful at times but my use of chess engines is probably not typical. A large number of people just want to get a blitz engine to create some high ranking online. That usage is of zero interest to me. I have a large interest in chess puzzles and in quirky chess openings like the Orangutan. I guess that I represent less than 1% of the chess aficionado population.
Taking ideas is not a vice, it is a virtue. We have another word for this. It is called learning.
But sharing ideas is an even greater virtue. We have another word for this. It is called teaching.