Author: Vasik Rajlich
Date: 01:44:36 12/05/05
Hello, Well, I am shocked by the speed of the computer chess community. There are now 200 requests for Beta versions of Rybka in my mailbox. Many of you made interesting comments and asked all sorts of questions, but at the moment I am really short of time and can't give personal responses to everyone. Some of these questions are answered here. The first piece of good news is that Rybka Beta 1.0 will be available for free download until midnight tonight (Dec 5) on Leo's website. Obviously this targets the more hardcore members of the computer chess community - there are so many here who give their time and share their ideas that I would be embarassed to do anything else. However, I am now working on this project full time, and much as I would like to just concentrate on the technical aspect, the truth is that there is now a business to run. The first commercial release will be as plain as can be - Rybka 1.0 standalone UCI engine, no GUI, no book, no copy protection, no engine capability not currently specified in the UCI protocol. The price will be 34 Euro. The original target date was Dec 16, but thanks to the incredible speed of the CEGT team this has been moved up to ASAP :) Additional announcements are forthcoming. While I hope that there are some sales of Rybka 1.0, the main goal here is to prepare for a summer 2006 release. If things go as I envision, we'll offer an engine-GUI combo which brings Rybka's chess knowledge to the user and makes chess players wonder how they ever survived without it. Of course, some software developers will tell you that when plans meet reality it is usually reality which wins .. but in my book reality is a seven point underdog :) If any of you are interested in helping the Rybka project succeed, the following are all useful areas of contribution: 1) Comments, feedback, and CPU time for beta versions. 2) Purchase the full version of Rybka 1.0. 3) Get Rybka, and computer chess in general, "out there" into the world of chess - articles, clubs, into the general chess consciousness. This last point is for me the biggest. The computer chess community has tremendous expertise and knowledge, and computer chess is interesting and fun. As programmers, we struggle with the question of what chess knowledge really is in a much deeper and more interesting way than chess players do. A chess player will learn something obvious about positional play, and never really stop to inspect it - because as a human, he doesn't need to. On the other hand, when your program is constantly rebeling against everything you taught it, or plays worse with those last few bits of what you thought were knowledge, you end up asking much tougher questions. So - for those with the ability and interest, let's get out there and spread the word. I am also looking for a few people who will collaborate more closely on the project. There are the usual computer chess things (opening book, tournament operation, beta testing). In addition, the main event of the next four to six weeks will be the addition of I hope two more software developers to the Rybka team. I have of course a target list from my days as a student and developer, but if you are talented, and interested in the project, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me and we can discuss it further. Happy testing, and best regards, Vas
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