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Subject: Re: What's the strongest PC chess software for <$100 (US)?

Author: Peter Kappler

Date: 10:34:50 06/20/99

Go up one level in this thread


On June 20, 1999 at 09:17:00, John R. Menke, Sr. wrote:

>On June 20, 1999 at 03:15:43, Timothy J. Frohlick wrote:
>
>>On June 19, 1999 at 22:11:10, John R. Menke, Sr. wrote:
>>
>>>:)
>>>I hear about Shredder, Hi-Arcs, Rebel, CM6000, etc...
>>>Of PC software priced under $100 (US),
>>>which is the strongest chess player?
>>>JRM
>>
>>Hello John,
>>
>>
>>Get Hiarcs 7.32 because it has a 127MB opening book and fantastic endgame
>>tablebases plus Hiarcs 6 and 7 , Comet B00 and Crafty 16.6 and Exchess 2.51.
>>In addition it has the Fritz 5.32 interface.  In Enrique Irazoquies recent
>>report Hiarcs was the best software scoring ahead of Shredder in a field of
>>top programs  59% to 46%.  Remember that the programs at the Paderborn contest
>>were not the commercial programs.
>>
>>Even better than Rebel
>>
>>
>>Tim Frohlick
>
>
>---Thanks Tim,
>
>That sounds convincing. I'll be inclined to acquire Hiarcs 7.32 based on your
>recommendation.
>
>I have CM6000 of course, as I guess almost everybody does. It's good, but the
>opening book is noticably "small". The old Chessmaster version that I used to
>run on a Commodore 64 had a bigger opening book, if I recall correctly!?  Even
>if a bigger opening book doesn't help the playing strength very much, I would
>like to have it available because most of the time I use it for analysis, not a
>personal playing opponent. In fact I can't remember the last time I played a
>play a game of chess vs. a computer...it must have been several months ago, at
>least.
>
>In the meantime, I found the June 1, 1999 SSDF rating list which indicates that
>there isn't a dime's worth of difference between Fritz 5.32, Chessmaster 6000,
>and Hiarcs 7.0, all being in the 2570-2577 rating range on a 64 MB P200 MMX.
>That suggests that CM6000 may have the best chess engine, because it has a small
>opening/endgame book in comparison to Hiarcs (and presumably Fritz?).
>
>---JRM


I think that the top 5 programs are probably all of roughly equal strength.  In
my opinion, CM6000 has a horrible interface, and I would strongly recommened
Hiarcs 7.32 for this reason.

--Peter



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