First some context: I own The King Performance since it reached the market (3 years ago), but the Centaur only since a couple of weeks.
I had a nice opportunity to get one at a significantly reduced cost (220€). The previous owner got it new as a gift, considered it did not fit his expectations, and advertised it in eBay less than a week after the purchase (bill included in the package I received).
Warranty label is still sealed, so no worries about potential tampering. I could spot a strange behavior (consistently slow score display) a factory reset did fix. As the score display is normally slow in Expert mode, I just wonder if the device was maybe stuck on this level - this would of course explain the previous user being quickly sick of it, but this is just an assumption. Otherwise, the only issue I could find is some rattling with the black king, a tiny bit of material (not the weighting, rather some plastic bit) looks to move freely inside.
Let's keep apart the Centaur's Expert level (assumed to range somewhere in the 2800-2900 Elo ranking) and let's focus on the two adaptive levels, Friendly & Challenging. How do they fare facing puny human-compliant levels, and what is the gap from Friendly to Challenging? One can find some example games and comments on the internet, not much any data. I decided to find out, leveraging both The King Performance Comfort levels as an opponent, and HCE Pro for games storage and analysis. I could have chosen some other opponents featuring Elo levels or adaptive levels, but the King Performance and the Centaur are such obvious competitors, I could not resist.
So, in the blue corner: Millenium The King Performance, 3 adaptive levels (Friendly, Normal, Advanced - yes, I did not include the Play & Win level) plus 9 Elo levels ranging from Normal (1000, 1150, 1300) then Advanced (1450, 1600, 1750) to Club (1850, 1950, 2050)
and in the red corner: DGT Centaur, 2 adaptive levels (Friendly, Challenging).
At this point, one main difference is made obvious: even using the Comfort (limited) menu, the King Performance offers much more settings than the Centaur does! And the symetrical is, the Centaur is intentionally designed silly simple - let's play, as it displays when powered off...
That is 48 games to run (12 KP levels x 2 Centaur levels x 2 games, alternatively playing black and white side). You can download the data from here. What are the main outcomes?
- Across the full sample of 48 games: Centaur scored 49% with on average 0.34 CPL, to be compared to 0.37 CPL for the King P. (so the Centaur played in a close range, -0.03 CPL as an average). CPL stands for CentiPawn Loss and is provided by Hiarcs 15.1 analysis (8s./move, 2 cores).
- Centaur Friendly scored 25% with on average 0.43 CPL (from 0.30 to 0.57 CPL according to standard deviation); on average it played 0.08 CPL above its opponent. This means it played slightly weaker, and this complies with the wording "Friendly".
- Centaur Challenging scored 73% with on average 0.24 CPL (from 0.10 to 0.38 CPL according to standard deviation); on average it played -0.14 CPL compared to its opponent. This means it played slightly stronger, and this complies with the wording "Challenging".
Up to now, on a global view all is fine, and rather mets the expectations.
Let's now try to zoom in per "class group" level:
- Facing the King "Normal" Elo levels (1000 to 1300) plus the King Adaptive Friendly: Centaur Friendly wins 75% with an average CPL 0.47 (from 0.32 to 0.61). It played stronger, -0.20 CPL than the King lowest levels. Despite giving close to half a pawn each move, the Centaur struggles to downgrade enough to be really "Friendly" for beginners or occasional players.
- Facing the King "Advanced" Elo levels (1450 to 1750) plus the King Adaptive Normal: Centaur Friendly loses all games with an average CPL 0.50 (from 0.41 to 0.59). It played weaker, +0.25 CPL than the King medium levels. So in this range of opponents it hits the target of being "Friendly", maybe a bit too much. I guess this is per design, as facing the next catagory it is able to develop some muscle, reaching 0.34 CPL (better than the above 0.50, so) and slightly close the gap, playing +0.19 CPL than the King's Comfort highest levels. So some adaptation happens, but not enough to win or draw a single game.
Now, let's check the Centaur Challenging level facing the same (1450-1750 + adap. Normal) category: it scores 81% with an average CPL 0.23 (0.11 to 0.34, std dev.); playing -0.21 CPL stronger than the opponents. Really challenging!
- And the final stage: facing the King "Club" Elo levels (1850 to 2050) plus the King Adaptive Advanced: Centaur Challenging scores 38% with an average CPL 0.30 (0.12 to 0.47); playing slightly weaker than its opponent (+0.10 CPL Centaur side). This is way stronger than the Friendly level, but still not on par for a challenge.
A a conclusion, if as a player:
- you feel like in the range 1000-1300 Elo of The King Performance (or King adaptive Friendly): be ready for a challenge by the Centaur's entry level, not that friendly.
- you feel comfortable to play in the range 1450-1750 Elo of The King Performance (or King adaptive Normal): you will have the choice between casual games (mostly won) against the Centaur Friendly, or challenging ones against the Centaur Challenging.
- you master the stronger King Performance Comfort levels (1850-2050, or adaptive Advanced): The Centaur Friendly will look like a "Play & Win" opponent, whilst the Centaur Challenging will be a friendly sparring partner.
Only 48 games, to be taken with a grain of salt
Warm regards,
Tibono
