Next Major Release of Houdini

[Razor]

Hi Robert,

I suspect I may be a little late in trying to influence the next release of Houdini; perhaps the next major release?

As I'm sure you more than most who visit this website know, making a chess engine calculate the right move for every position it comes across is for the time being beyond our reach. Clearly an engine such as Houdini is as good as it gets right now. So, to the point of my topic, I wondered if you could parameterise certain aspects of the engine {I suspect you already do} so that the end user can make adjustments that will affect the playing style of the programme to suit a given position {or more precisely, the types of positions one would reach from a given opening}. I guess what I'm hoping to do is to link {in some way} a given opening to a suite of data values that can be loaded in to the parameterised variables you make available via the Engine options screen. Perhaps this is just too difficult to do or maybe something that just won't add much to the engine. Just wanted to see if there was some way to prep the engine for the types of plans one might play for a given opening - from what I have checked so far I cannot see much evidence of this in any engine I have checked. Either way, I look forward to your comments/feedback on this as well as any announcements you are prepared to share re: the next release of the Houdini engine.

Cheers,

[thorstenczub]

i wish houdini would be compiled for android.

nevertheless i still wonder why it plays so much weaker in my tournament.
some people claim it is THE STRONGEST. but maybe these
people never played serious time controls.

Motor                     Punkte    Cr   De   St   Fi   Ti   Ry   Ho   St   Ho   Iv   Fi   Fi   Na   Ko   De   Gu   Hi   Za   Ha   De   Gu   No   Sp   Pr    S-B
01: Crab-x64_PGO [t1]         64,5/92 ···· =01= ==0= 1=1= ==== 01== 0=00 ==== 11=0 1111 0111 ==0= =1== 111= 1=01 10=1 1111 10=1 1111 =111 1111 11=1 1111 1111  2659,0
02: Deep Rybka 4 x64 [t1]     64,0/92 =10= ···· ==1= ===1 11=0 1==0 =11= 1111 ==== ==== 1=== ==00 1=11 ==== ==01 0110 =111 11=1 11== 1=11 =111 1111 111= 1111  2700,0
03: Stockfish-18-64-ja [t1]   62,5/92 ==1= ==0= ···· 0010 =1== 1=10 ===0 =10= 10=1 00== =011 ==1= =111 1=1= 1=01 1=11 1111 1=11 1=11 1111 =111 0==1 1=11 1111  2592,7
04: Fire_131_x64_KLO [t1]     61,0/92 0=0= ===0 1101 ···· =1== ==== 0=10 1==1 1==1 1=== =0== 00=1 =1=1 111= 111= 01=1 =111 =1== =1== 1=11 11== 11=1 111= 111=  2578,2
05: Tinapa1.01 [t1]           60,0/92 ==== 00=1 =0== =0== ···· 0100 010= ==== 1=01 0011 0101 ==1= 00== =111 1101 11=1 ==== 1111 1111 1111 1=11 1111 11=1 1111  2398,0
06: Rybka 3_64 [t1]           59,5/92 10== 0==1 0=01 ==== 1011 ···· 0=11 =0=0 0==1 =0== ==== ==1= ==1= ==11 =011 ==== =111 11=1 11=1 =11= 1111 =111 1101 11=1  2468,7
07: Houdini102_x64_1CPU       59,0/92 1=11 =00= ===1 1=01 101= 1=00 ···· =011 ==== 1=== ===1 ==0= 10=0 ===0 =110 1=11 11=1 1==0 1==0 1=11 ==11 1=11 1111 1111  2492,2
08: Stockfish-171-64-ja [t1]  59,0/92 ==== 0000 =01= 0==0 ==== =1=1 =100 ···· 0=0= ===0 ===0 001= =11= 1=11 1=1= 1001 11=1 1=11 1111 1111 1111 1111 1=11 1111  2307,7
09: Houdini103_x64_1CPU       58,5/92 00=1 ==== 01=0 0==0 0=10 1==0 ==== 1=1= ···· 1=1= 1=00 ==== 0=1= =10= 1=1= 11=1 =1=1 111= 11=1 =101 1111 11=1 1111 1011  2399,2
10: IvanHoe53_64 [t1]         58,5/92 0000 ==== 11== 0=== 1100 =1== 0=== ===1 0=0= ···· ==== ==== 1=1= ==1= =1=1 ==11 11=1 ==1= 10== 1==1 1111 1111 1111 1111  2374,0
11: Fire_13_x64_KLO [t1]      57,5/92 1000 0=== =100 =1== 1010 ==== ===0 ===1 0=11 ==== ···· 1011 1=== =111 0==0 1=0= 111= 11=1 =111 1111 1=0= 1111 ==11 1==1  2407,7
12: Fire_12_x64 [t1]          57,5/92 ==1= ==11 ==0= 11=0 ==0= ==0= ==1= 110= ==== ==== 0100 ···· =1== =0== 011= 10== 1=11 ==1= 1111 ===1 =11= 1==1 1111 1111  2404,0
13: Naum4.2_64 [t1]           51,0/92 =0== 0=00 =000 =0=0 11== ==0= 01=1 =00= 1=0= 0=0= 0=== =0== ···· 1=== =110 1111 10=1 101= 1=== 1=11 1111 11== =11= 1=11  2028,5
14: Komodo-12-64-ja           46,5/92 000= ==== 0=0= 000= =000 ==00 ===1 0=00 =01= ==0= =000 =1== 0=== ···· =1== =11= 1==1 1=== =111 ==11 0==1 111= 11=1 111=  1809,7
15: DeepShredder12UCIx64 [t1] 45,0/92 0=10 ==10 0=10 000= 0010 =100 =001 0=0= 0=0= =0=0 1==1 100= =001 =0== ···· =0== 1=01 =111 01=1 11=1 111= 1=1= 01== ==11  1817,5
16: Gull 012a x64             40,0/92 01=0 1001 0=00 10=0 00=0 ==== 0=00 0110 00=0 ==00 0=1= 01== 0000 =00= =1== ···· 0=== 0=11 ==1= =0=0 ==1= 11== 1111 111=  1600,0
17: Hiarcs12MPUCI [t1]        34,0/92 0000 =000 0000 =000 ==== =000 00=0 00=0 =0=0 00=0 000= 0=00 01=0 0==0 0=10 1=== ···· =00= 111= 11=1 1111 1001 =1== 1111  1171,2
18: Zappa Mexico II x64 [t1]  33,0/92 01=0 00=0 0=00 =0== 0000 00=0 0==1 0=00 000= ==0= 00=0 ==0= 010= 0=== =000 1=00 =11= ···· 11=0 0==1 1000 11== =1=1 =1==  1298,5
19: Hannibal1.0ax64           28,0/92 0000 00== 0=00 =0== 0000 00=0 0==1 0000 00=0 01== =000 0000 0=== =000 10=0 ==0= 000= 00=1 ···· 010= 1==1 ==11 0=01 1=11  1052,5
20: Deep-onno-1-2-70-x64 [t1] 28,0/92 =000 0=00 0000 0=00 0000 =00= 0=00 0000 =010 0==0 0000 ===0 0=00 ==00 00=0 =1=1 00=0 1==0 101= ···· 1==1 =1=0 1=1= ==11  993,75
21: Gull 09 x64               21,5/92 0000 =000 =000 00== 0=00 0000 ==00 0000 0000 0000 0=1= =00= 0000 1==0 000= ==0= 0000 0111 0==0 0==0 ···· =001 1001 1=01  823,75
22: Now2t                     21,0/92 00=0 0000 1==0 00=0 0000 =000 0=00 0000 00=0 0000 0000 0==0 00== 000= 0=0= 00== 0110 00== ==00 =0=1 =110 ···· ==== 01=0  793,75
23: Spike 1.2                 20,5/92 0000 000= 0=00 000= 00=0 0010 0000 0=00 0000 0000 ==00 0000 =00= 00=0 10== 0000 =0== =0=0 1=10 0=0= 0110 ==== ···· 01=1  736,50
24: ProDeo 1.5                14,0/92 0000 0000 0000 000= 0000 00=0 0000 0000 0100 0000 0==0 0000 0=00 000= ==00 000= 0000 =0== 0=00 ==00 0=10 10=1 10=0 ····  497,00

1104 Partien gespielt / Turnier beendet
Name des Turniers: Arena Turnier
Ort/ Land: ORION8-LATITUDE, Deutschland
Spielstufe: Turnier 40/20
Hardware: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7600  @ 2.33GHz  mit 2.048 MB Speicher
Betriebssystem: Microsoft Windows Vista Professional (Build 6000)
PGN-Datei: C:\schach\arena201\Arena.pgn
Internetseite: 
E-Mail Adresse:

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Houdini isn't the strongest engine in my tournaments at long time controls...3 FrieBird 1.1 personalities beat it off hand with ease....
Dr.D

[thorstenczub]

so good to hear that others can support my results.
what about this stockfish-clone crab ?!
who is the author ? it is the strongest program in my tournament.
is there a new version ? a website ? what has changed in the sources
of stockfish to make it that strong ?

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

so good to hear that others can support my results.
what about this stockfish-clone crab ?!
who is the author ? it is the strongest program in my tournament.
is there a new version ? a website ? what has changed in the sources
of stockfish to make it that strong ?

I didn't download nor tested this Crab personality so I can't supply with a reliable data....
Is it really that strong
Dr.Deeb

[thorstenczub]

it looks so,or ?
stockfish is very close to rybka4, but crab even better.

[Gargamel]

Hello,

Just a question : Why have you chosen 1Cpu Version of Houdini for your tournment ? I see that you have an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU...

[AnthonyTheSage]

What kind of opening books are you using? and hash tables? endgame tablebases? I find it hard to believe that Stockfish 1.8 and Fire 1.31 are stronger than Houdini. I can only speak for my 32 bit machines, but on single and dual core the 32 bit versions of stockfish and fire 1.31 can't touch Houdini. The only engines on that list that are close are Rybka 4 and Firebird 1.1WD, and maybe a couple versions of Ivanhoe. Although I have found that opening books and especially opening book length can make a major difference. Also some engines seem to play worse with tablebases.

[ernest]

Hi Thorsten,

stockfish is very close to rybka4,

Still about 50 Elo down...

...but crab even better.

(Crab1.0 Beta by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, Adam Kleng)
My Crab testing has not been intensive, but for me Crab 1.0 beta is about the same strength as his brother SF 1.8

[IWB]

Hello Ernest

(Crab1.0 Beta by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, Joona Kiiski, Adam Kleng)
My Crab testing has not been intensive, but for me Crab 1.0 beta is about the same strength as his brother SF 1.8

I tested it vs 6 opponents (600 games) "around" SF1.8. At the end it was slightly below SF1.8 (but within error margin). As I think that it is enough to have the best member of a family in a list I stopped testing as the improvement (if any) over SF1.8 seems to be marginal.

Bye
Ingo