🚀 go-pugleaf

czx33@webtv.net wrote:
> 
> I recently started playing GNU chess at delorie.com.  How strong is GNU
> chess, especially at its highest setting.  Thanks.

Impossible to say - settings are irrelevant as chess strength is
typically measured at equal playing times.

For each individual instance of gnuchess the version being run is pretty
important, as is the hardware chosen. The 5.x codebase doesn't try and
guess how much free memory you have and can be tuned by changing the
hash table sizes.

Gnuchess 5.00 is a bit over aggressive, this is due to poor tuning of
the features of the evaluation function. This means it will sacrifice
material for central control, occaisonally leading to stunning Romantic
style chess from the era of Morphy, and occaisonally to gross blunders.

I haven't got into 5.01 yet but it should be a lot stronger, if only by
not being so aggressive in controlling the centre as 5.00 was. I found
5.00's style very attractive to play against but it doesn't make for the
best ratings.

The computer running gnuchess on FICS has a Blitz rating of 2300, and a
standard rating of 2120, so on what is quite a good desktop PC, and
allowing for the deflation of FICS grades -- this is GM performance at
Blitz and IM performance at standard. (www.freechess.org)

For comparison there are only 3 humans out of nearly 8000 on FICS with a
Blitz rating higher than Gnuchess. And about 20 humans out of 900 who
have a better standard rating.

There are computers with more than a 300 point lead over gnuchess on
FICS at Blitz, indicating that gnuchess should lose about 99% of the
games against these machines, although it tends not to play against
computer opposition.

GNUchess still has a long way to go to catch other computer chess
programs.

-- 
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