Thanks very much for the book Harry! I only have ChessBase Light 2007 in demo version but no other Chessbase programs so I could not use the .ctg book that you made for Rybka, except for Fritz 6 that comes with the Chessbase demo. But this is also a good alternative for the big Shredder 9 book in the Shredder GUI, not just for Rybka! Well I hope it will work for other programs too. I tried a little experiment with Toga 1.3.4 using the HS for Rybka.bkt, also to test the new Toga 1.3.4 in my Checkov settings and to see if the book was working.
Only a few games played yet, at first I had not changed the book settings so the HS for Rybka book was put in standard mode and the other settings were also still the defaults for the big Shredder 9 book. Toga with these broad settings did not seem to get into positions that it liked very much in the first two games against Shredder 9 and, to be honest, it should have lost maybe both games. But miraculously Toga managed to build a fortress that Shredder could not enter in the first game. In two very long games Toga managed two draws!
Considering that Toga Checkov has rather a different playing style and not really the same positional strength that Rybka 2 has, I thought was not bad!
Then I put the HS book in tournament mode, but the other settings are still the default ones. I think that Shredder 9 now also got its Shredder book in tournament mode because the book settings logically should apply for all GUI books used in tournament mode. I'm not 100% sure about this but it would be the most logical thing.
With the book in tournament mode the results seem good even when Toga is using the book against Shredder 9 at its strongest with its own book. Toga got 5½-2½ including the first two draws in standard mode!
Not bad for the Rybka book!
The total match results so far against Shredder, in the first games Toga Checkov 2b is playing with the Shredder 9 book;
First Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, Shredder9.bkt for both programs, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga. (Note about this: The bitbases seem to work okay but at this time control my hard disk is not really fast enough to get any extra boost from the bitbases, also because Toga's endgame routines are usually good enough. But I do like to use the bitbases for analysis! Thanks Thomas Gaksch and Daniel Shawul for implementing them!)
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov wins 2-0 [+2 =0 -0]
Second Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, Shredder9.bkt for both programs, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov wins 1½-½ [+1 =1 -0]
Third Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, Shredder9.bkt for both programs, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
A tie 1-1 [+1 =0 -1]
Fourth Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, Shredder9.bkt for both programs, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
Shredder 9 wins 2-0 [+2 =0 -0]
Fifth Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, Shredder9.bkt for both programs, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
A tie 1-1 [+1 =0 -1]
Sixth Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, Shredder9.bkt for both programs, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
A tie 1-1 [+0 =2 -0]
Intermediate result with Shredder books
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov - Shredder 9 UCI: 6½-5½
Seventh Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, HS book standard for Toga, Shredder9.bkt for Shredder, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
A tie 1-1 [+0 =2 -0]
Eighth Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, HS book tournament for Toga, Shredder9.bkt tournament for Shredder, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov wins 1½-½ [+1 =1 -0]
Ninth Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, HS book tournament for Toga, Shredder9.bkt tournament for Shredder, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
A tie 1-1 [+1 =0 -1]
Tenth Run, two games Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b No bb - Shredder 9 UCI, Shredder GUI, HS book tournament for Toga, Shredder9.bkt tournament for Shredder, 6 minutes per game with 6 seconds Fischer increment. 128 Mb hash for both programs. No bitbases for Toga.
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov wins 2-0 [+2 =0 -0]
Intermediate result with HS book for Toga
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b - Shredder 9 UCI: 5½-2½
Intermediate result total with both books
Toga II 1.3.4 Checkov 2b - Shredder 9 UCI: 12-8
Regards, Eelco
