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Subject: HIARCS 10 -- Some Details...

Author: enrico carrisco

Date: 18:07:56 12/15/05

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On December 15, 2005 at 12:04:45, Eduard Nemeth wrote:

>On December 15, 2005 at 11:49:27, mike schoonover wrote:
>
>>hi all,
>>in a message below Hiarcs 10 in ECMGCP,
>>tord has the highest score he has seen.
>>it got me to wounder if hiarcs 10 turn out to be
>>the new strongest engine how nice it was for rybka
>>to wet the toungues of the and fuel the mania
>>for the newest strongest,i've got to have this one
>>chess engine buying public.
>>
>>waiting for the winner of the most post's regards
>>mike
>
>Hi,
>
>I like HIARCS but in his last "important" games
>(with the Beta-Test account) in the CSS Masters
>(60m + 15s) Hiarcs 10 draw 2 games (against
>Ruffian 2.1.0 and SmarThink) and losing against
>Deep Shredder 9.

Hello Eduard,

Please do not formulate an overall opinion so soon as to the capabilities of
HIARCS 10.  If you do, I can certainly promise you will be disappointed in your
hasty decision at a later date.

I realize you view the Online Masters 2005/2006 games as "important" but to
Hiarcs, they are just 60+15 playchess server games like any others.  I can post
other 60+15 playchess server games played by HIARCS 10 where it has had
commanding wins over Fritz 9 and Rybka 1.0 Beta 64-bit.  However, even these
games would be in the same criteria as the CSS Masters games you've posted --
there are simply not enough games played to formulate an opinion one way or the
other.

It's been over two years since HIARCS 9 was released and we have made
substantial progress since that time.  Mark Uniacke, however, is not happy with
simply increasing engine strength by 30-40 ELO and rushing a new version to the
shelves.  By those standards, HIARCS 10 could have been release mid-2004 with no
problems.

You may feel that because Harvey and I work with Mark directly on HIARCS,
anything we say must be immediately discredited and chalked up to simple public
relations and product promotion.  You are very wrong with this thinking.  This
is a hobby for us -- we love computer chess and chess in general.  Additionally,
we do not receive any compensation for our work (which goes beyond simple beta
testing or setting our computers to play matches.)  Of course we have attachment
to the engine based on the vast amount of time we've donated to further its
development, but this does not mean we will intentionally misrepresent results
or mislead the computer chess community in any way.  It would be useless to do
so anyway -- when the product is available on the market, such antics would be
discovered and discredited immediately.

I've been personally working with Mark for over five years and I can tell you
that we seriously have to beat him over the head to convince him the engine is
ready to be released.  HIARCS 10 was delayed to Chessbase because of this same
reason -- he was unhappy with one of the default parameters and refused to send
the release engine until the problem was sufficiently corrected and verified by
enough test results to be statistically relevant (in his mind, which could also
be viewed as statistically exhausting.)  Was this necessary?  No.  We were
probably scrambling to get results for something that made a difference of .05
ELO, but nevertheless, it is a perfect example of how relentless Mark is in
regards to providing the absolute best to his customers and fans.

Like Sandro, I am against quoting specific ELO improvements based on past
nightmares in doing so, but I can honestly say that no reasonable ELO-minded
customer will be upset at the increase over HIARCS 9 (not to mention the overall
addition of knowledge and efficient king attacks.)  I've been an active part of
the computer chess community for 10+ years and if that has earned me any
reputation whatsoever, I will gladly lay that on the line to back any claims I
have made in this posting.

So, sit back and wait for the results from CEGT, SSDF and of course Kurt, as
well as the handful of other well respected independent testers that post their
results here on CCC.  I've seen more test results than you could ever imagine --
I am quite confident as to the mark we will hit on the above-mentioned lists as
well as the satisfaction we will bring to the customers of HIARCS 10.

Respectfully yours,

Enrico L. Carrisco



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