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Subject: Re: EXTREME Tactical Deficiency in CRAFTY, objection! :-)

Author: Mike S.

Date: 15:28:22 01/24/04

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On January 23, 2004 at 18:02:55, ALI MIRAFZALI wrote:

>From many Commericial and freeware programs tested by me ;It seems that Crafty
>is the worst in terms of finding tactitcs and Combinations .

Around version no. 16.6 Crafty was among the very top in terms of search speed
and tactical strength IMO, including top commercial competitors like Fritz 5.
After that, it lost ground compared to them (and to some - but not many - strong
freeware engines).

I have a test consisting of 24 carefully selected and mainly tactical positions,
ranging from easy to quite difficult for engines (= quite difficult to
impossible for humans :-)). The latest Crafty version I've tested was a 19.07
exe compiled by Volker Pittlik. Crafty is definetely *not* the worst! It seems
that 19.07 was a good step forward regarding this.

Some Quicktest results (the rating takes the solving speed into account too):

rank   engine       solved  QT.-rating
--------------------------------------
 1     Hiarcs 9       21       434
 2     King 3.23 mod. 20       410

 6     Nimzo 8        19       380
 7     Shredder 7.SE  20       377

10     GT 2.0 aggr.   16       363
11     Fritz 7.0.0.8  17       359

21     SOS.3 f.Arena  19       319
22     Crafty 19.07   15       316 <<<
23     Li.Goliath 3.6 18       309

27     Genius 98 (~5) 15       305

34     Crafty 18.15wb 14       261 <<<

39     Comet B64      13       220

(total 24 pos.)

Tests were on Athlon@1200 MHz, most engines with 256 MB hash (Crafty with 192+48
MB). The engies must try to solve within 1 minute/pos. in the Quicktest. There
are some commercial top engines which solved only 1 or 2 more than Crafty. OTOH,
some amateurs solved more too, but some less fast so Crafty 19.07 ranks better.

Description, EPD/PGN, XLS with complete results table etc.:

http://members.aon.at/computerschach/quick/quicke.htm

Other good Crafty results can be found i.e. in the king attack part of the
WM-Test (which probably is the most "tactical" part of the test's 3 components).
There - among 230 (!) engines - Crafty 19.03 (CB) ranks #174, which is better
than i.e. Hiarcs 7.32 or Pharaon 2.62. Crafty 17.14 (CB) ranks #207. This part
has 38 positions.

(The number of tested engines is so big partially because several old engine
versions and mini-updates like Fritz 7.0.0.3, 7.0.0.6, 7.0.0.8 etc. IOW it does
not mean that 173 "unique" engine series are ranking better than Crafty but much
fewer.)

Btw. the total ranking of these versions, including the results from the
positional and endgame part with a total of 100 pos., is better: 19.03 #115
(better than Tiger 15 norm. = #118), and 17.14 #170.

http://www.computerschach.de/test/index.htm

So I object to the wording "extreme deficiency", but OTOH I think too, that
Crafty isn't among the fastest. - But it's tactical speed is certainly more than
sufficient against human opponents...

Regards,
M.Scheidl


P.S. EPD for the Quicktest positions:

1n1r1rk1/ppq2ppp/3p2b1/3B1NP1/4PB1R/bP2P2P/P1P5/3KQ1R1 w - - bm Qc3; id
Quick-01;
1q6/r4pbk/1r1p2pp/B2Pn3/Q2NP3/1p3P2/6PP/1R3RK1 b - - bm Rxa5; id Quick-02;
3Q4/3p4/P2p4/N2b4/8/4P3/5p1p/5Kbk w - - bm Qa8; id Quick-03;
4qrk1/3nppb1/R1Np2p1/3P2P1/1Pr5/4B3/5Q1P/5R1K w - - bm Ra8; id Quick-04;
r3r3/2R2pk1/p2p1bpp/3P4/q2pQ3/5N1P/5PP1/1R4K1 w - - bm Rxf7+; id Quick-05;
r1b1Rbk1/pp3p2/2npN2p/2qp2p1/8/1QPB3P/PP3PPB/6K1 b - - bm Bxe6; id Quick-06;
r5k1/Rb4p1/2q2pBp/1pp5/1b4QN/1P2P2P/5PP1/6K1 w - - bm Rxb7; id Quick-07;
3R4/5r1p/5ppk/8/1Q3PPq/5P2/6K1/8 w - - bm Rg8; id Quick-08;
2kr3r/ppp3pp/2pbbn2/4N3/3Pp3/2P3Pq/PP1NQP1P/R1B2RK1 w - - am Nxe4; id Quick-09;
2r3k1/pp1bpp1p/3p1npQ/q1r5/4P1P1/2NR1P2/PPP1N3/2K4R w - - bm g5; id Quick-10;
r1b2rk1/pp3p2/2p2bpQ/8/1q1P4/2N2N2/Pn3PPP/1B1RR1K1 w - - bm Bxg6; id Quick-11;
r2qk2r/1p1bbp2/1P2p3/p2pPp2/n2N1N1p/3PB3/5QPP/R4RK1 w kq - bm Rxa4; id Quick-12;
3r1n1r/1p2q1k1/p1p1P1p1/3n4/5Pp1/P5N1/1P3QP1/1BR1R1K1 w - - bm Bxg6;id Quick-13;
r2q1rk1/p1p3pp/b2bp3/2pp4/6p1/2NPPN2/PPP2PP1/R1BQR1K1 w - - bm Ne5; id Quick-14;
r2qr1k1/p2b1ppp/5n2/2pp4/5b2/NP6/PBP1NPPP/R3QRK1 b - - bm Bxh2+; id Quick-15;
3k4/p7/K3BP2/8/7p/8/2P4P/8 w - - bm Kb7; id Quick-16;
rq4k1/pp1nrppp/4bn2/6R1/3QP3/P4PN1/4B1PP/2B2RK1 w - - bm Rxg7+; id Quick-17;
2r4k/pb2q2P/1p6/3Pp3/4p3/1P2R3/PBrQ2PP/5RK1 w - - bm Qb4; id Quick-18;
5k2/6p1/2p2p2/P7/1Q6/2P1pqPP/7K/8 b - - bm c5; id Quick-19;
rnbq1b1r/ppp1p1pp/1n1p2k1/4P1N1/8/5Q2/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K2R b KQ - bm Qe8; id
Quick-20;
r1b1kb1r/2q2ppp/p2ppP2/1pn3P1/3NP3/2N2Q2/PPP4P/2KR1B1R w kq - bm Bxb5+; id
Quick-21;
4r2k/3n3p/2q3p1/2p1p1Q1/1pP1P3/1P6/5PP1/R2B2K1 b - - am Qxe4; id Quick-22;
r3r1k1/1Bp1qppp/3p1n2/pNb5/2P5/PQ6/1P3PPP/R2R2K1 b - - bm Ng4; id Quick-23;
3B4/1R3p1k/2p4p/2Pp3r/3P4/4Q1K1/6P1/3b1q2 w - - bm Bf6; id Quick-24;



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