CCRL update (14th March 2008)

[Graham Banks]

The March 14th update of the CCRL Rating Lists and Statistics is now available for viewing at:
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/

The list gets updated periodically during the week and these updates can be viewed here:
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040.live/
Please be aware that no game downloads are available from this live link.

The links to the various rating lists can be found just beneath the default Best Versions list.
For example there is a 32-bit Single CPU list.

Our standard testing is at 40 moves in 40 minutes repeating while our current blitz testing is at both 40 moves in 4 minutes repeating and 40 moves in 12 minutes repeating, all adjusted to the AMD64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz).

Currently active testers in our team are:
Graham Banks, Ray Banks, Shaun Brewer, Kirill Kryukov, Dom Leste, Tom Logan, Andreas Schwartmann, Charles Smith, George Speight, Chris Taylor, Chuck Wilson, Gabor Szots and Martin Thoresen.


40/40 Notes

There are currently 109,057 games in our 40/40 database.

Many engines on our list have few games and in many cases their ratings are likely to fluctuate (markedly for some) until a lot more games are played. Therefore no conclusions should be drawn about their strength yet.
To illustrate this point, when an engine has 200 games played, the error margin is still approximately +-40 ELO, after 500 games +-25 ELO, after 1000 games +-17 ELO and even after 2000 games there is a +-13 ELO error margin!
This of course highlights the importance of looking at other rating lists that are also available in order to draw comparisons and get a more accurate overall picture.


4CPU 64-bit Engines

A lot of work has been put into getting this category in order before the Hiarcs 12 release.

Rybka 2.3.2a remains the strongest engine by over 50+ ELO.

Zappa Mexico II pips Naum 3 for second spot by a small margin.

Deep Shredder 11 lies 40 ELO further back with a safe edge over Deep Fritz 10.1 and Toga II 1.4 beta5c.

Hiarcs 11.2 and Loop M1-T are next in the pecking order.

Other well tested engines are Glaurung 2.0.1, Bright 0.3a, Deep Junior 10, Deep Sjeng 2.7 and Scorpio 2.0.


2CPU Engines

With the emphasis of our multi-cpu testing on 4CPU as opposed to 2CPU, there are gaps in this category and some of the engines also require further games.

No significant changes to the rankings in this list with the main contribution this week being more games for Naum 3.

Rybka of course reigns supreme here also.

However, whereas Zappa Mexico holds second spot ahead of Naum 3 in the 4CPU list, the reverse situation applies here with Naum being the better of the two.
The current rating of Toga II 1.4 beta5c means little as it requires more games.

Deep Shredder is next, comfortably ahead of Deep Fritz 10, Hiarcs 11.2 and Loop M1-T.

Glaurung 2.0.1 has a small edge over Deep Junior 10.

Chessmaster 11 and Pharaon 3.5.1 are other engines with a reasonable number of games.


Single CPU Engines

Rybka 2.3.2a has an impressive 100 ELO lead over the the closely grouped Deep Shredder 11, Naum 3, Zappa Mexico II and Fritz 11.
Deep Shredder 11 1CPU is 64-bit as opposed to Shredder 11 which can only be run as a 32-bit engine.

Toga II 3.1.2SE (currently the highest rated of the Togas in this category) has a safe margin over Loop 13.6, Fruit 2.3.1 and Hiarcs 11.2.

Not too far further back, Deep Sjeng 2.7, Spike 1.2 Turin and Glaurung 2.0.1 are very even in strength.

Junior 10.1 is sandwiched on its own between the group just mentioned and the group of engines below that includes Ktulu 8.0, Chess Tiger 2007.1, SmarThink 1.00 and Bright 0.2c.
Frenzee Feb08 looks likely to establish itself in the latter group, although it still needs a lot more games.

Chessmaster 11, Scorpio 2.0, Movei 00.8.438 (10 10 10), Booot 4.14.0 and Alaric 707 comprise the next group of engines ahead of SlowChess Blitz WV2.1, E.T Chess 13.01.08, Ruffian 2.1.0, Delfi 5.2, WildCat 7, Gandalf 6 and Pro Deo 1.6b.
Thinker 5.1c (passive), Sloppy 0.2.0 and WildCat 8 all require further testing, but are likely to end up somewhere in these two groups.
The latest version of Thinker does not provide any stats in the pgns, so will only be useful for rating purposes. Hopefully Lance can find the time to address this issue.


Free Single CPU Engines

Toga II 3.1.2SE has possibly overtaken Rybka 1.0 as the top free engine, but it is very close.
However, if Ryan finds it in his heart to eventually release his latest Fruit, it is almost certain to take the mantle!

Fruit 2.3.1 comes in third ahead of Spike 1.2 Turin and Glaurung 2.0.1.
That Spike has managed to hold its own amongst the top echelon of free engines for so long is a real credit to its authors. Hopefully Ralf and Volker still have plans for a new Spike at some stage.

Naum 2.0 and Bright 0.2c are 40+ ELO further back.
Frenzee Feb08 could well be up there with these two, but needs more games.

Scorpio 2.0, Movei 00.8.438 (10 10 10), Booot 4.14.0 and Alaric 707 come in next, ahead of SlowChess Blitz WV2.1, E.T Chess 13.01.08, Delfi 5.2, Zappa 1.1,WildCat 7 and Pro Deo 1.6b.

Thinker 5.1c Passive, Sloppy 0.2.0 and WildCat 8 are still in the early stages of testing. Their progress will be worth following.

Special mention should be made regarding Alfil 8.1.1 which seems to be a massive improvement over previous versions. Well done to the author, Enrique Sanchez.

We test a very extensive range of amateur engines (currently ranging down to the 2000 ELO level) through a range of tournaments, all of which can be followed in our public forum.
Our aim is of course to ensure that all engines lower on our lists get 200+ games.


Blitz Notes

An update is currently in progress and should be available soon.

There are currently 257,768 games in our 40/4 database.

The latest ratings can be found at one of the following links:
http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404/
http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404.live/

An enormous amount of work goes into the blitz list and it is well worth a visit.

Of special interest to some will be the best free 1CPU engines list which is being constructed through a systematic testing approach as mentioned here:
http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19206


FRC Notes

No news to report in this category this week.

There are currently 26,200 games in the FRC 40/4 database.

Ray tests only those engines that can play FRC through the Shredder Classic GUI.
If engine authors have a new and stable version of their engine that will run under this GUI, they should contact Ray if they wish to see it tested.

Shredder 11 is the top available FRC engine (remembering of course that Rybka 2.3.2 FRC has remained private).
Naum 3 has second spot ahead of Hiarcs 11.1 and Loop 10.32f (Hiarcs 11.1 is ahead of 11.2 while this version of Loop was the latest that plays FRC).

For FRC the best list to look at is the pure list.
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404FRC/


Stats/Presentation Notes

The LOS (likelihood of superiority) stats to the right hand side of each rating list tell you the likelihood in percentage terms of each engine being superior to the engine directly below them.

A list of games played this week per engine can be found in the update thread in the CCRL public forum.

All games are available for download by engine, by month or by ECO code.
ELO ratings are now saved in all game databases for those engines that have 200 games or more.

Clicking on an engine name will give details as to opponents played plus homepage links where applicable.

Custom lists of engines can be selected for comparison.

An openings report page lists the number of games played by ECO codes with draw percentage and White win percentage. Clicking on a column heading will sort the list by that column.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Hi Graham,
Thanks for yet another update
BTW,it's amazing to see Booot in the top 20,a damn strong engine indeed....