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Subject: Re: What engine do GM's use for evaluation?

Author: Stephen Ham

Date: 07:20:08 02/27/04

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On February 27, 2004 at 08:46:30, Geert van der Wulp wrote:

>David, Keith
>
>Thank you for your replies. This is the information that I was looking for.
>Fortunately there are people here who can still read.
>
>Regards,
>
>Geert

Dear Geert,

While we can all read, it is unfortunate that your message was ambiguous, to say
the least. For example, your subject line addressed strictly evaluation. However
your posts shifted the focus to human intuition and style and then later shifted
again to anaylsis - three entirely different things.

Here's my opinions, for whay that's worth:

In general, Shredder 8 is probably the strongest engine, in computer versus
computer action. Is it the best against humans? Who knows? My perception is that
Shredder 8 is indeed very strong, but its evaluation is not to be trusted and it
doesn't have a particulary human playing style. So for analysis of middlegame
positions, it will indeed find strong moves, worthy of further investigation,
but it probably won't evaluate the position accurately.

Shifting to one of your other topics, human-like style, then I think the clear
preference is for Rebel 12. While it won't deeply probe tactical positions like
Shredder 8 can, it seems to produce very human-like moves and almost gives the
feeling that it understands the position and plays accordingly. Hiarcs isn't bad
either in this respect. Rebel 12 is also a fine analysis machine if you alow it
an extended analysis period (it doesn't seem to perform well if it's allowed
brief amounts of time).

Shifting to your other topic, evaluation, Shredder 8 is a failure here. My
favorite is Fritz 7 (I don't have Fritz 8) for the most accurate evaluations of
positions. Fritz is generally an accurate evaluator throughout the game
(opening, middlegame, and endgame).

But Geert, the above is all relative to the position at hand. Some engines are
particularly strong/weak in certain types of positions. They each have their
peculiarities, so you need to experiment to find what gives you the greatest
confidence. For me, it's the experimentation in various positions that I enjoy
doing the most, with my engines.

All the best,

Stephen



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