Final Report on Infinity Chess Team Cup 2015

[Steamhammer]

FINAL REPORT

Infinity Chess Team Cup 2015 Makes History
For the first time in history, chess engines competed with each other in a remunerative Team Cup with 24'000 € prize money. Eight high-class teams consisting of 4 players each, had qualified for this unique event performed and sponsored by the Infinity Chess server. The main idea was to perform a super strong tournament with hundreds of deep calculated chess games, probably the strongest computer chess tournament ever. (more...)

Detailed Tables (including link for games download)

[jdart]

Nice mix of engines. I am kind of surprised to see some using Houdini 4.

I only looked at a few games. This one looks like a book loss (12. Nxc5 is dubious, White should play O-O or dxc5):

[pgn]
[Event "Infinity Chess Team Cup 2015 (C)"]
[Site "Infinity Chess"]
[Date "2015.03.02"]
[Round "110"]
[White "robocop, Houdini 4"]
[Black "Asadali, Cryptic Heroes 2.7A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2551"]
[BlackElo "2478"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "28"]
[WhiteTeam "The Skynet"]
[BlackTeam "Cryptic Warriors"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. e4 b4 10. Na4 c5 11. e5 Nd5 12. Nxc5 Nxc5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Qa4+ Kf8 15.
O-O a5 16. Be2 h6 17. h4 g6 18. Qb5 Qb6 19. Qc4 Ne7 20. Bd2 Nf5 21. Qg4 Kg7 22.
h5 Rhg8 23. Rad1 Kh8 24. Nh4 Be7 25. Nf3 Rg7 26. Kh2 Bc5 27. Be1 gxh5 28. Qxh5
Qc6 29. Rd2 Nd4 30. Rxd4 Bxd4 31. Bd2 Qe4 32. Bxh6 Rg6 33. Bd1 Bxb2 34. Bg5+
Kg8 35. Kg1 a4 36. Bf6 Rxf6 37. exf6 b3 38. Ne1 Qg6 39. Qb5 Bd5 40. Bf3 bxa2
41. Bxd5 exd5 42. Qxd5 a1=Q 43. Qxa8+ Kh7 0-1
[/pgn]

[carldaman]

Seeing H4 is one thing, but what is Cryptic Heroes 2.7A ??!
Is it a privately-developed SF derivative?

Regards,
CL

Nice mix of engines. I am kind of surprised to see some using Houdini 4.

I only looked at a few games. This one looks like a book loss (12. Nxc5 is dubious, White should play O-O or dxc5):

[pgn]
[Event "Infinity Chess Team Cup 2015 (C)"]
[Site "Infinity Chess"]
[Date "2015.03.02"]
[Round "110"]
[White "robocop, Houdini 4"]
[Black "Asadali, Cryptic Heroes 2.7A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2551"]
[BlackElo "2478"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "28"]
[WhiteTeam "The Skynet"]
[BlackTeam "Cryptic Warriors"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. e4 b4 10. Na4 c5 11. e5 Nd5 12. Nxc5 Nxc5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Qa4+ Kf8 15.
O-O a5 16. Be2 h6 17. h4 g6 18. Qb5 Qb6 19. Qc4 Ne7 20. Bd2 Nf5 21. Qg4 Kg7 22.
h5 Rhg8 23. Rad1 Kh8 24. Nh4 Be7 25. Nf3 Rg7 26. Kh2 Bc5 27. Be1 gxh5 28. Qxh5
Qc6 29. Rd2 Nd4 30. Rxd4 Bxd4 31. Bd2 Qe4 32. Bxh6 Rg6 33. Bd1 Bxb2 34. Bg5+
Kg8 35. Kg1 a4 36. Bf6 Rxf6 37. exf6 b3 38. Ne1 Qg6 39. Qb5 Bd5 40. Bf3 bxa2
41. Bxd5 exd5 42. Qxd5 a1=Q 43. Qxa8+ Kh7 0-1
[/pgn]

[kranium]

Seeing H4 is one thing, but what is Cryptic Heroes 2.7A ??!
Is it a privately-developed SF derivative?

Regards,
CL

Hey Carl-

The whole thing is shrouded in mystery and lack of information.

Every few years a fantastic powerful (private) chess entity arises, purportedly running on a cluster of powerful computers...often located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
or somewhere else in the in the Middle East? (financed by a rich oil sheikh?)

It usually makes one brief appearance in a tournament, then recedes back into the shadows, as if to taunt the imagination and desires of chess-hobbyists.

The sum total of known info about Cryptic dates from 2008:
https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com ... ateen+Khan

I believe the newest incarnation of this phenomenon (or a pretender) has been playing recently on a regular basis on Playchess and Infinity.

PS-
IMO (as you suggest) I believe this could possibly simply be a SF derivative running on a powerful hardware.

[kranium]

According to Wikipedia, Cryptic is the follow-up to Hydra
(please note, the references are from 2005-2006 or earlier)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =332038940

[Hugo]

Its a pity that when an unknown engine is playing with a good performance get so fast to be suspected to be a derivate of SF.
I can understand such reactions, but Its kind of disrespect.
Cryptic has its own style, and when you look close to the games played at the Team Cup, you will see that it is no derivate. Its a project, with a long history. I can remember the days when it was playing at the playchess server 4-5 years ago.
They just go an unusual way with publicity. There is more or less nothing about that. Its a 100% private project, thats all.

Clemens Keck

Seeing H4 is one thing, but what is Cryptic Heroes 2.7A ??!
Is it a privately-developed SF derivative?

Regards,
CL

Hey Carl-

The whole thing is shrouded in mystery and lack of information.

Every few years a fantastic powerful (private) chess entity arises, purportedly running on a cluster of powerful computers...often located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
or somewhere else in the in the Middle East? (financed by a rich oil sheikh?)

It usually makes one brief appearance in a tournament, then recedes back into the shadows, as if to taunt the imagination and desires of chess-hobbyists.

The sum total of known info about Cryptic dates from 2008:
https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com ... ateen+Khan

I believe the newest incarnation of this phenomenon (or a pretender) has been playing recently on a regular basis on Playchess and Infinity.

PS-
IMO (as you suggest) I believe this could possibly simply be a SF derivative running on a powerful hardware.

[carldaman]

Thanks, Norman and Clemens, for filling in the blanks regarding Cryptic, which appears to be a genuine independent effort. I probably should have done more research, but I mistakenly assumed the name of the engine to be 'Cryptic Heroes' and thus perhaps a play on the word cryptic. I had actually heard rumors about a strong private engine out of the Emirates, with a similar name.

We live in a cynical age where anyone can recompile Stockfish, make a couple of hidden parameter optimizations, and voila, we have a new strongest "engine". No disrespect was intended towards the real Cryptic engine. If you've seen my other posts, I actually have deep respect for all original programs and their developers, even the lower rated and obscure ones.

Regards,
CL

Its a pity that when an unknown engine is playing with a good performance get so fast to be suspected to be a derivate of SF.
I can understand such reactions, but Its kind of disrespect.
Cryptic has its own style, and when you look close to the games played at the Team Cup, you will see that it is no derivate. Its a project, with a long history. I can remember the days when it was playing at the playchess server 4-5 years ago.
They just go an unusual way with publicity. There is more or less nothing about that. Its a 100% private project, thats all.

Clemens Keck

Seeing H4 is one thing, but what is Cryptic Heroes 2.7A ??!
Is it a privately-developed SF derivative?

Regards,
CL

Hey Carl-

The whole thing is shrouded in mystery and lack of information.

Every few years a fantastic powerful (private) chess entity arises, purportedly running on a cluster of powerful computers...often located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
or somewhere else in the in the Middle East? (financed by a rich oil sheikh?)

It usually makes one brief appearance in a tournament, then recedes back into the shadows, as if to taunt the imagination and desires of chess-hobbyists.

The sum total of known info about Cryptic dates from 2008:
https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com ... ateen+Khan

I believe the newest incarnation of this phenomenon (or a pretender) has been playing recently on a regular basis on Playchess and Infinity.

PS-
IMO (as you suggest) I believe this could possibly simply be a SF derivative running on a powerful hardware.

[APassionForCriminalJustic]

Its a pity that when an unknown engine is playing with a good performance get so fast to be suspected to be a derivate of SF.
I can understand such reactions, but Its kind of disrespect.
Cryptic has its own style, and when you look close to the games played at the Team Cup, you will see that it is no derivate. Its a project, with a long history. I can remember the days when it was playing at the playchess server 4-5 years ago.
They just go an unusual way with publicity. There is more or less nothing about that. Its a 100% private project, thats all.

Clemens Keck

Seeing H4 is one thing, but what is Cryptic Heroes 2.7A ??!
Is it a privately-developed SF derivative?

Regards,
CL

Hey Carl-

The whole thing is shrouded in mystery and lack of information.

Every few years a fantastic powerful (private) chess entity arises, purportedly running on a cluster of powerful computers...often located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
or somewhere else in the in the Middle East? (financed by a rich oil sheikh?)

It usually makes one brief appearance in a tournament, then recedes back into the shadows, as if to taunt the imagination and desires of chess-hobbyists.

The sum total of known info about Cryptic dates from 2008:
https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com ... ateen+Khan

I believe the newest incarnation of this phenomenon (or a pretender) has been playing recently on a regular basis on Playchess and Infinity.

PS-
IMO (as you suggest) I believe this could possibly simply be a SF derivative running on a powerful hardware.

Maybe they can release a commercial version and end its private stature.

Share the love.