Future of Naum

[naum]

Hi all,

I am getting a lot of inquires about the next version so I will answer them here.
Unfortunately I stopped working on Naum in January. Last 2 years I quit my job and dedicated all my time to the engine development. It became more of a job and less the hobby so I just burnt-out and completely lost desire to continue. This is the main reason why I didn't participate in CCT and have no plans to attend any of the tournaments this year. If one of the customers wants to enter some of them, this is fine by me.
I still plan to release an update this year, since there is a bunch of ideas waiting and hopefully I will get some motivation to work on them.
Since I plan to return to my regular job, there won't be much time left for the future development, but I may still be able to do some work from time to time. Future versions (if any) will most likely be distributed as free updates to Naum 4 customers. I doubt there will be a new commercial release unless I get lucky and get a big improvement with a little work.
I know this comes as a disappointment to some who hopped that Rybka domination can be stopped, but Vas is just too good
I have high hopes for Thinker based on its rapid rate of improvement and hope it continues. I also think SMK may still be able to pull a couple of surprises in the following years with Shredder. Wouldn't discount Sjeng too, since GCPs desire to win is bordering madness

Thanks a lot to all who have supported me over the years,
Alex

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

Hi Alex,

good luck and maybe see you again some point in the future. Engine programming is addictive, it's hard to quit

I didn't know you worked on Naum fulltime. I guess this is one reason for your rapid progress.

I don't know about catching Rybka...Vas also works fulltime and he is probably cleverer than me. Not that I'm not gonna try But maybe we need someone with new ideas, or some hardware revolution like Larrabee to shake up things.

[PauloSoare]

Anthony Cozzie first, and now Alex Naumov.
Both have great engines and they were, or are, the main rivals of Rybka.
When Rybka was already the best engine in the world, I thought that would be good for
everyone, because competitors would also improve, and indeed improved, but ...
My analysis was very bad.

Good luck to Alex Naumov in his work.

[Werner]

Hi Alex,

wish you good luck with your regular job! I think I can understand your decision.
And of course I would be happy if you can improve your engine with a few of your ideas in your spare time.

Werner

[Marc Lacrosse]

Not that I'm not gonna try

You already have one of the finest bookers working with you !

Good luck!

Marc

[Steffelino]

Maybe the new Onno can take over the relay?
Can the developer say something about that maybe?

[fern]

Perhaps you forgot that, being this market so tiny, simply the one that get top position there -and with good reasons- becomes too much entrenched.
I guess Naumov disppointment comes from the fact he did not get enough custormers to continue working on it as a sole endeavour.

My best
Fern

[Graham Banks]

Hi all,

I am getting a lot of inquires about the next version so I will answer them here.
Unfortunately I stopped working on Naum in January. Last 2 years I quit my job and dedicated all my time to the engine development. It became more of a job and less the hobby so I just burnt-out and completely lost desire to continue. This is the main reason why I didn't participate in CCT and have no plans to attend any of the tournaments this year. If one of the customers wants to enter some of them, this is fine by me.
I still plan to release an update this year, since there is a bunch of ideas waiting and hopefully I will get some motivation to work on them.
Since I plan to return to my regular job, there won't be much time left for the future development, but I may still be able to do some work from time to time. Future versions (if any) will most likely be distributed as free updates to Naum 4 customers. I doubt there will be a new commercial release unless I get lucky and get a big improvement with a little work.
I know this comes as a disappointment to some who hopped that Rybka domination can be stopped, but Vas is just too good
I have high hopes for Thinker based on its rapid rate of improvement and hope it continues. I also think SMK may still be able to pull a couple of surprises in the following years with Shredder. Wouldn't discount Sjeng too, since GCPs desire to win is bordering madness

Thanks a lot to all who have supported me over the years,
Alex

Sad to hear that you've lost your motivation, but this is something that can happen with any hobby.
Naum 4 is one of my favourite engines and is a fantastic achievement by you.
I'd like to thank you for your efforts and your contribution to our community. I hope that you regain your motivation with a vengeance at some stage soon!
Work is a necessary evil. I hope things work out well for you.

Cheers,
Graham.

[S.Taylor]

But we need a program which goes out to battle and wins every game in which he opponent made the slightest weak move, and to do this, the program has to use all kind of attacks and devious ways, and aggression, to make absolutely sure that no weak move of opponent goes unpunished as much as necesary.
The program should also probe agressively and surprisingly, to make miniture masterpieces from very slight mistakes, and to make it very hard for any opponent not make slight innacuracies.

If Naum was going to become this program, then we might not find anything in its place.

[Dann Corbit]

Perhaps some different marketing might be helpful.

You might try partnering with ChessAssistant, ChessMaster or some other giant so that they will do some marketing for you.

Lots of little detail things:
maintenance
marketing
technical support
sales
etc.

tend to take up tons of time and they're not any fun.