Larry Kaufman wrote:
We have just released Komodo 9.2 at komodochess.com. As usual it is free to subscribers and available at a 20% discount to those who bought Komodo 8 or a later version. It's been about two months since our 9.1 release so we are well ahead of our quarterly target.
The estimated rating gain at fast levels is about 15 elo, about the same as the gain from 9.02 to 9.1, so the gain from 9.02 is about 30 elo and from Komodo 8 about 80 elo. This comes from re-tuning many parameters, from improved time management, from improved move ordering and from free speedups. However the most significant change introduced in Komodo 9.2 is "Contempt", which replaces "Drawscore". This is not just a name and sign change. Contempt now incorporates the concept of trying to keep more pieces on the board until you are winning, when playing a weaker opponent. The default value of 15 (centipawns) is probably optimum for playing engines rated around a hundred elo or so below Komodo 9.2. Against a close rival (of which there is currently only one other than Komodo 9.1) best results will be obtained with a smaller contempt value, perhaps 5. Against most other engines a larger value like 20 or 25 should work even better than the default. Against humans I suggest using 40 for Grandmasters, 50 for Masters, and 75 for strong amateurs. Even larger values are suitable for handicap games. Note that in game play Contempt will cause the score reported by Komodo to be optimistic; in analysis mode (infinite search) Contempt is automatically set to zero.
The release came too late to be used in the first stage of TCEC, but of course it will be available for the second stage. We anticipate using Komodo 9.2 in Sunday's two pawn handicap match with Grandmaster Petr.
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We have just released Komodo 9.2 at komodochess.com. As usual it is free to subscribers and available at a 20% discount to those who bought Komodo 8 or a later version. It's been about two months since our 9.1 release so we are well ahead of our quarterly target.
The estimated rating gain at fast levels is about 15 elo, about the same as the gain from 9.02 to 9.1, so the gain from 9.02 is about 30 elo and from Komodo 8 about 80 elo. This comes from re-tuning many parameters, from improved time management, from improved move ordering and from free speedups. However the most significant change introduced in Komodo 9.2 is "Contempt", which replaces "Drawscore". This is not just a name and sign change. Contempt now incorporates the concept of trying to keep more pieces on the board until you are winning, when playing a weaker opponent. The default value of 15 (centipawns) is probably optimum for playing engines rated around a hundred elo or so below Komodo 9.2. Against a close rival (of which there is currently only one other than Komodo 9.1) best results will be obtained with a smaller contempt value, perhaps 5. Against most other engines a larger value like 20 or 25 should work even better than the default. Against humans I suggest using 40 for Grandmasters, 50 for Masters, and 75 for strong amateurs. Even larger values are suitable for handicap games. Note that in game play Contempt will cause the score reported by Komodo to be optimistic; in analysis mode (infinite search) Contempt is automatically set to zero.
The release came too late to be used in the first stage of TCEC, but of course it will be available for the second stage. We anticipate using Komodo 9.2 in Sunday's two pawn handicap match with Grandmaster Petr.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]