CCRL update (4th April 2008)

[Graham Banks]

The April 4th 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 113,176 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

Of course the big news this week is the first appearance of Hiarcs 12 in our rating lists.

After 332 games Hiarcs 12 Sharpen PV=on (recommended for 40/40 time controls and longer) is behind Rybka 2.3.2a, Zappa Mexico II, Naum 3 and Deep Shredder 11, but ahead of Deep Fritz 10.1 and Toga II 1.4 beta5c.
Surprisingly Hiarcs 12 Sharpen PV=off (default setting) is ahead of the Sharpen PV=on setting for now, but this could change as testing continues.

Loop M1-T is next in the pecking order, ahead of the evenly matched pair of Bright 0.3a and Glaurung 2.0.1.

Deep Junior 10, Deep Sjeng 2.7 and Scorpio 2.0 are the other well tested engines in this category.


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.

We have started testing Hiarcs 12, but with only 88 games under its belt in this category to date, not too many conclusions can be drawn yet. It does seem that its relative position in this list will likely be similar to its performance in the 4CPU category.

Rybka 2.3.2a holds number one spot in this category also, with a 50+ ELO lead.

Naum 3 currently holds a small, but definite edge over Zappa Mexico for second spot.

Deep Shredder is next, comfortably ahead of Deep Fritz 10 and Loop M1-T.
The current rating of Toga II 1.4 beta5c means little as it requires more games.

Glaurung 2.0.1, Bright 0.3a and Deep Junior 10 are closely grouped and have a good advantage over Chessmaster 11.

Pharaon 3.5.1 is the only other engine 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.

Hiarcs 12 Sharpen PV=on only has 70 games to date and currently sits behind the above group at roughly the same strength as Toga II 3.1.2SE (currently the highest rated of the Togas tested in this category).

Then there is a good gap back to Loop 13.6 and Fruit 2.3.1.
Thinker 5.1c Passive has only 31 games and its current rating means little.

Deep Sjeng 2.7, Spike 1.2 Turin and Glaurung 2.0.1 and Bright 0.3a are the next closely grouped engines.

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 Frenzee Feb08.

Chessmaster 11, Scorpio 2.0, Booot 4.14.0, Alaric 707 and Movei 00.8.438 (10 10 10) comprise the next group of engines ahead of SlowChess Blitz WV2.1, E.T Chess 13.01.08, Ruffian 2.1.0, Sloppy 0.2.0, Delfi 5.2, WildCat 8, Gandalf 6 and Pro Deo 1.6b.

For Chessmaster enthusiasts, the testing of various settings to see how much gain can be made over the default settings is in full swing and can be followed here:
http://kirr.homeunix.org/chess/discussi ... f=7&t=3054
A Chessmaster tournament will be run soon, pitting the best of the bunch against each other.


Free Single CPU Engines

Toga II 3.1.2SE (the latest version of Toga that we've so far tested at 40/40 has possibly overtaken Rybka 1.0 as the top free engine, but it is very close.
However, if Ryan releases his latest Fruit, it is almost certain to take the crown!

As things stand, Fruit 2.3.1 comes in third ahead of Spike 1.2 Turin, Glaurung 2.0.1 and Bright 0.3a.
Thinker 5.1c Passive requires many more games before we can tell exactly where it stands in relation to these engines.

Naum 2.0 and Frenzee Feb08 are 40+ ELO further back.

Scorpio 2.0, Booot 4.14.0, Alaric 707 and Movei 00.8.438 (10 10 10) come in next, ahead of SlowChess Blitz WV2.1, E.T Chess 13.01.08, Sloppy 0.2.0, Zappa 1.1, Delfi 5.2, WildCat 8 and Pro Deo 1.6b.

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.
It will be interesting to see whether the newly released GarboChess 2.10 can show similar gains.

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

There are currently 262,727 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.

Hiarcs 12 testing has started here also and early indications are that it performs comparatively better at blitz than at longer time controls.

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://kirr.homeunix.org/chess/discussi ... f=7&t=3271


FRC Notes

There are currently 26,100 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.

Ray has finished testing Hiarcs 12 and it comes in third amongst the available engines behind Shredder 11 and Naum 3 (remembering of course that the top engine, Rybka 2.3.2 FRC, has remained private).

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.

[Norm Pollock]

Hi Graham,

Will the games be available for download? The download link from

http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/

gives this message:

This is an interim "live" update, it does not include PGN files.
You can find the latest PGN files at our latest stable update

-Norm

[Graham Banks]

Hi Norm,

I've drawn it to Ray's attention and he'll sort it out.
Thanks for alerting us.

Regards, Graham.

[Spock]

Ooops. Should be fixed now.

[Norm Pollock]

Hi,

It is still not right. Each of the download links is linked to a pgn file of less than 1M in size.

-Norm

[Spock]

OK, we did have a glitch this week which I took a shortcut to fix but it hasn't worked. Re-running the whole thing will make things right but that will take a few hours.

[Spock]

If it is the entire database you want, the links in the meantime are:
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/40 ... 76].pgn.7z
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/40 ... 76].pgn.7z

[Spock]

The games download page is properly fixed now