What is a Good Price for Rybka 3.0 multiple processor?

[Uri]

Rybka is the only engine I can think of that can give you an accurate idea if white is better or worse. Ofcourse it is not perfect ... but it will be right more often than wrong more than any program ... or dare I say any GM. Many top GM's frequently quote "here Rybka thinks white (or black) is better". This list includes Anand, Magnus, Shirov etc... so for sure they value Rybka's opinion. If you run an engine like Fritz or Shredder ... you will get huge swings in evaluation in certain positions .... it is like the engine cannot really decide if this is good or bad ... but Rybka the evaluation is usually very steady and accurate.

Rybka is not the only strong engine though. Haircs 12 matches Rybka 2.3.2a in strength and it's possible that the next version of Hiarcs will also match Rybka 3.0 in strength. The beta version of Shredder (Shredder XP) also managed to win and draw several games against Rybka 2.3.2a so i guess it's about equal to Rybka 2.3.2a. Junior 11 is also very much Rybka-like. I don't know exactly how strong it will be compared to Rybka 3.0.

[M ANSARI]

Nothing ... and I mean nothing ... gets close to Rybka 2.3.2a. At least not in the CCRL or CEGT testing. Also if you go to Playchess you will see that the top players only use Rybka ... because if they change their rating drops dramatically. The only engine that gets close to Rybka is Zappa ... but only on very very powerful hardware. Zappa seems to gain much more than Rybka on powerful hardware due to better scaling ... so it seems to close the gap on Rybka when I test it on very big hardware (8 core at 4.8 Ghz). So if things are tough for others with Rybka 2.3.2a ... I would imagine Rybka 3.0 will make the gap even larger.

[playjunior]

Now it's not about CEGT testing, it's about making the most of the money from sales. You guys are from category (a) in my list, you would pay ANY amount for Rybka. The point is that this category is not large. Chessbase users/Chessmaster users are the target audience for this product.

Indeed, Fritz and Chessmaster sell much more than Rybka. Have you ever seen Rybka in a software/game store? Well, I have bought Fritz from a store. Then, I assume 90% of Rybka users use it through Chessbase interface. And Chessmaster is like 10x more popular than Fritz. A dad who wants to buy a chess game for his smart kid who just learned the moves buys Chessmaster.

The argument "Old GUI does not mean good GUI" is ridiculous IHMO. Vast majority of software we use everyday are mature and established versions. Open your program files folder and count- which percentage of the software you have you would swap for something completely new, let it be 20% faster.

[peter]

Peter,

A small resin dental filling costs about $110.00 here in the USA. Electricians charge over $100.00 per hour for their work. I don't think that Vas Rajlich is overpaid for his labors.

We once paid $150.00 for chess programs and upwards of $10,000.00 for stand-alone chess playing machines. Cars are becoming pricier.....why not chess programs that are so much better than yesterday's programs?

TJ

How long do you hope to have a dental filling and how long will it take till next Rybka version, the equation lacks for that and then: the filling is an individual installation, when may I visit Vasik to let him make my own Rybka for me?
Of course I am and was only joking. Beeing earnest I cannot really help you considering you own prices, I hope the poll will. But I agree with you that Vasik Rajlich's work is worth every price, I've paid for it and I bought all updates I could and had to till now and I surely will do so with the next one being sure you will do the right calculation for it.
...Peter.

[Bill Rogers]

Well said Martin, I once paid $500.00 for MChessPro, and that was when $500 was worth more than it is today.
Bill

[Milton]

With a 70% increase in search speed with the Vista 64bit version and even more speed with multiple core usage, do you think that Rybka 3.0 should be priced higher or should we keep it low and sell 10X as many programs?

TJ

I think after this weekend's Rapid Chess tournament results, Rybka's price just went up.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

With a 70% increase in search speed with the Vista 64bit version and even more speed with multiple core usage, do you think that Rybka 3.0 should be priced higher or should we keep it low and sell 10X as many programs?

TJ

I think after this weekend's Rapid Chess tournament results, Rybka's price just went up.

Very true and uncle Timbo's poll is already invalid