Rybka vs Chessbase engines

  

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Thibault de Vassal    (2006-10-02)
Rybka vs. Chessbase engines

Are there correspondence chess players who use Rybka here ? .. is it a better analysis tool than his well-known rivals (Deep Fritz, Shredder, Junior, Hiarcs...) ?

A thread about chess engines could be interesting : How to use chess engines in correspondence chess, which ones (when & why), their weaknesses.....

For sure many players don't want to tell their opponents their way of 'think' :) .. but it could be interesting to make this kind of comparison...


Ilmars Cirulis    (2006-10-02 18:31:15)
I :D

I use Rybka. 1.2. It is my only engine. :D I don't know about other ones. I have too poor eksperience with correspodence chess. But sometimes the engine tells weak moves - especially in very sharp and difficult variations. For example, Traxler or Latvian gambit poisoned pawn. I must think, too. :D


Rodrigo Jaroszewski    (2006-10-02 18:44:08)
Well...

I'm just a patzer, but since there are all levels of players here...

My computer is low-end for today's standards, and I use only freeware engines for cost restrains. I used about 4 different engines for analysis during my WC and Class G games, but it proved to do less difference than I expected. I was the weak link at all times in the chain, and only in the games I was able to understand why my engine showed certain moves should be made I was able to win.

But I guess you can't always blame on the patzer. I had quite a few instances that it became obvious why I couldn't understand the moves: the engine was wrong. Best way to test this is to let it run a position where it gives a slight advantage to you for 15 minutes. After that, make the moves and check if you have the same score or better. Of course it might be just my below-average computer, but the shareware version of Fruit got me into some really bad spots. The best solution I had up until now was Toga II, as it proved to be pretty solid on that aspect.


James Stripes    (2006-10-03 16:13:13)
curious

I have approximately 64 chess engines, including the beta version of Rybka 1 (the free version). In engine tournaments on my box, it has prevailed against my strongest commercial engines. However, the centaur play that is the norm here presents Rybka with an entirely different sort of playing environment than those in which it has demonstrated its superiority. As I am new to this type of play, I don't yet know how Rybka measures up to the likes of Junior, Shredder, and Hiarcs.


Marc Lacrosse    (2006-10-04 18:55:32)
Rybka and others

I use rybka 1.1 and quite a few other ones :-)
I am pretty sure that rybka is stronger than all other engines but this does not in any way say that rybka's play is perfect.
A problem with the practical use of rybka is the fact that it has something like a different scaling of his assessments than most others.
+0.10 is a large advantage for rybka! and often he gives almost the same score to several candidate moves whereas other engines more clearly differentiate the value of different potential continuations.
Rybka often misses evidently promising tactical continuations if you do not give him a much longer thinking time than requested by some competitors


So I think Rybka is a powerful tool but not the only one to have for computer help

Marc


Elmer Valderrama    (2006-10-04 22:36:44)
Toga

Since everyone is being honest in this thread here is my confession..

Usually I use latest Toga, I bought Rybka 1.2 series, but I've found it is not better than Toga, especially if run in a slow computer (I still use a AMD +1600, with Windows 98: I know I should buy a better computer but this one is already a recent "upgrade" from a Pentium 700Mhz running Fritz 8 ;) and I dont want to fall in the endless (and costly) chain of keeping -up-to-date just to get a few more ELO points ;)

Sometimes I test the positions with other engines (Fritz 8, Schredder 8, free Fruit) just to prove how right was Toga in the initial evaluation. In those rare but happy occasions when I make my own input is simply to give an idea of where should the engine "think". When things go well, after some point, it is just a matter of setting the engines on my opponents, they would finish the job.