CCRL update (25th April 2008)

[Graham Banks]

The April 25th 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 and our blitz testing is at 40 moves in 4 minutes repeating, both adjusted to the AMD64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz).
We have abandoned our 40/12 testing and the link will soon be removed. It is already a mammoth task trying to do a decent job with the other lists.

Currently active testers are:
Graham Banks, Ray Banks, Shaun Brewer, Kirill Kryukov, Tom Logan, Charles Smith, George Speight, Chuck Wilson and Gabor Szots.
A few other testers are currently taking a break, but remain on our team.


40/40 Notes

Be aware that in the early stages of testing, an engine's rating can often fluctuate a lot.
It is strongly advised to also look at the many other rating lists available in order to get a more accurate overall picture of an engine's rating relative to others.


4CPU 64-bit Engines

Hiarcs 12 Sharpen PV=On (recommended for 40/40 time controls and longer) continues to lag behind Rybka 2.3.2a, Zappa Mexico II, Naum 3 and Deep Shredder 11, just ahead of Deep Fritz 10.1 and Toga II 1.4 beta5c (more recent Toga versions require more testing).
It now appears that there is minimal difference whether Hiarcs 12 has Sharpen PV on or off.
We have started to test the Hiarcs Paderborn engine also.

Loop M1-T is next in the pecking order, narrowly 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 most recent engine versions in this category.


2CPU Engines

With the emphasis of our multi-cpu testing on 4CPU as opposed to 2CPU, there are gaps in this list and some of the engines also require further games.
We would welcome applications from further testers prepared to focus on 2CPU, so that we could present a more worthwhile rating list in this category.

Toga II 1.4 beta5c was the main focus ot testing this week in order to push it past 200 games.
The testing of Hiarcs 12 has been held off until we've completed our 4CPU testing of it.

Rybka 2.3.2a holds top spot in this category with a 50+ ELO lead.

Naum 3 has cemented its edge over Zappa Mexico for second spot.

Deep Shredder is next, ahead of Toga II 1.4 beta5c, Deep Fritz 10 and Loop M1-T.
The current rating of both Hiarcs 12 means little as it requires many more games.
Deep Fritz 10.1 hasn't been tested in this category, but is likely to be better than Deep Fritz 10 as demonstrated quite clearly in the 4CPU ratings and by other rating lists.

Glaurung 2.0.1 and Deep Junior 10 are very close in strength and have a sizeable advantage over Chessmaster 11.
Bright 0.3b (private) and Bright 0.3a (latest publicly available version) both require further testing.

Pharaon 3.5.1 is the only other most recent engine version with a reasonable number of games. It is predictably well back.


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 tested in this category) currently holds an edge over Hiarcs 12 Sharpen PV=On.
Hiarcs 12 could well be stronger with its default Sharpen PV Off setting, but many more games will be required to ascertain this.

Next come Loop 13.6 and Fruit 2.3.1, with a comfortable gap between them and the closely grouped Deep Sjeng 2.7, Spike 1.2 Turin, Glaurung 2.0.1, Bright 0.3a and Junior 10.
Thinker 5.1d Passive has only 17 games and its current rating means little.

There is a good distance back to Ktulu 8.0, Chess Tiger 2007.1, SmarThink 1.00 and Frenzee Feb08.

Chessmaster 11, Scorpio 2.0, Movei 00.8.438 (10 10 10), Booot 4.14.0, Alaric 707 and E.T Chess 13.01.08 comprise the next group of engines ahead of SlowChess Blitz WV2.1, WildCat 8, Ruffian 2.1.0 and Delfi 5.2.
It has to be said that Chessmaster 11 has clearly better default settings than either of the two preceding releases.


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.
More recent Toga versions could be stronger still, but there are so many floating around, it's hard to do them justice in any hurry.

Fruit 2.3.1 (the strongest publicly available version at present) comes in third ahead of Spike 1.2 Turin, Glaurung 2.0.1 and Bright 0.3a.
Thinker 5.1d Passive is still in the early stages of testing.

Naum 2.0 and Frenzee Feb08 are 30+ ELO further back.

Scorpio 2.0, Movei 00.8.438 (10 10 10), Booot 4.14.0, Alaric 707 and E.T Chess 13.01.08 come in next, ahead of a large group of engines reasonably close in strength - WildCat 8, SlowChess Blitz WV2.1, Zappa 1.1, Delfi 5.2, Sloppy 0.2.0, Pro Deo 1.6b, Colossus 2007d, Pharaon 3.5.1 and Ruffian 1.0.5.

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

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/

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

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.

Hiarcs 12 comes in third amongst the available engines behind Shredder 11 and Naum 3 (remembering of course that the top engine, Rybka 2.3.2z3, 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.