Did Robert Houdart give up developing Houdini?

[FriedmannC]

The latest Stockfish version is at least 50 ELO points stronger than Houdini 4 Pro. Should Robert Houdart's silence be interpreted as a retirement from computer chess or Houdini 5 will be released this year? Best regards!

[zullil]

Should Robert Houdart's silence be interpreted as a retirement from computer chess or Houdini 5 will be released this year? Best regards!

Why don't you ask him? houdini@cruxis.be

[FriedmannC]

I'm pretty sure he won't answer

[zullil]

I'm pretty sure he won't answer

What is the point of your original post?

Here, I'll tell you very secret information. Houdart and Vida have set aside their differences, and are now great friends. Since January they've been working on a new engine, code-named Beelzebub . Not only is it outperforming the latest Stockfish builds, but while running it uses any free system resources to forecast the weather and predict stock market trends.

I've been testing this engine on my 16-core system. It averages about 80000000 nodes per second in the middle game, and it has already helped me make about $75000 this year in stocks.

I wasn't supposed to share this secret info with anyone, but then I saw your post and I just had to tell you.

[Paloma]

Great

[FriedmannC]

Very simple: when Houdini 3 PRO came out, Robert did some tests against other strong engines showing his big improvement over Houdini 2. It did not happen again with Houdini 4 and I doubt he will come up with a new version by at least 60 ELO points stronger than the 4th version, which at the time of its release should be equal with the latest Stockfish etc. Plus, there were no updates over Houdini 4 during the last 2 TCEC tournaments which makes us ask ourselves if there is enough room for Houdini to catch up with Stockfish and Komodo. Because you told me your secret, I will reveal you mine too: I have Deep Rybka 5, 200 ELO stronger on a single core running on an old Pentium II than Houdart's and Vida's engine on their latest cutting-edge hardware. I tested myself these 2 engines and Deep Rybka 5 managed to win by 98.5 - 1.5, where your engine's draws came just when the power went off due to some nasty storms. Hope for a sunnier weather outside the next days. Best regards!

[syzygy]

And now you're probably going to repeat this question every other month?

Please don't.

[FriedmannC]

Pretty close, I was thinking about asking this every other year but I have much more important things to do instead of this, although I thought it would be NORMAL to discuss this topic. Anyway, it doesn't matter.... after all, time will decide if and when the engine mentioned might come back on the computer chess stage. My apologises! All the best!

[FriedmannC]

Your secret engine was obtained by reversing Chessmaster 8000 code. What can I say? It's original, indeed

[chessmobile]

I'm pretty sure he won't answer

2nd that, was looking at his Houdini Facebook page and see he ignores even his most ardent fans.