CCRL report (3rd April 2009)

[Graham Banks]

The latest CCRL Rating Lists and Statistics are available for viewing from the following links:
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/ (40/40)
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404/ (40/4)
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404FRC/ (FRC 40/4)

Please note that the three lists are updated separately to each other.
Also please note the live link will no longer give you the most updated lists. The links given in each update report will be the ones to use.

The links to the various rating lists can be found just beneath the default Best Versions list.
For example there is a 32-bit Single CPU list.

Our 40 moves in 40 minutes repeating and 40 moves in 4 minutes repeating are both adjusted to the AMD64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz).

Currently active testers are:
Graham Banks, Ray Banks (FRC only), Shaun Brewer, Kirill Kryukov, Dom Leste, Tom Logan, Denis Mendoza, Wassim Saeed, Charles Smith, George Speight and Gabor Szots.

Be aware that in the early stages of testing, an engine's rating can often fluctuate a lot.
It is strongly advised to look at the many other rating lists available in order to get a more accurate overall picture of an engine's rating relative to others.


40/40 Notes

There are currently almost 175,000 games in our 40/40 database.


4CPU 64-bit Engines

Rybka 3 is clearly stronger than second placed Naum 4, which in turn is clearly stronger than third placed Deep Fritz 11.
Zappa Mexico II isn't too far back in fourth, comfortably ahead of Thinker 5.4c Inert, Deep Sjeng WC2008 and Deep Shredder 11.
Thinker 5.4a Inert, Hiarcs 12, Toga II 1.4.1SE, Bright 0.4a and Glaurung 2.2 come in next and are very evenly matched in strength.
None of the strong Toga or Glaurung derivatives have been tested in this category.

The relative ratings of the 2CPU engines that have been well tested are pretty much the same as their 4CPU counterparts.


Single CPU Engines

A similar situation exists at the top in this category with Rybka 3 holding a huge lead over second placed Naum 4, which in turn has a huge lead over the evenly matched Fritz 11, Zappa Mexico II and Thinker 5.4a Inert (we have only just started testing Thinker 5.4c in this category).
There is a tiny gap back to Grapefruit 1.0, Deep Sjeng WC2008, Shredder 11, Toga II 1.4.1SE and Cyclone 3.4.
Hiarcs 12.1 and TheMadPrune 1.1.25 come in next, ahead of Onno 0.12.0 (private), Fruit 2.3.1, Loop 13.6, Stockfish 1.2, Glaurung 2.2 and Bright 0.4a.
Onno is likely to be sold as a commercial engine sometime in the near future.
Spike 1.2 Turin and Junior 10 have fallen off the pace, but are still comfortably ahead of the group that includes Ktulu 8, Chess Tiger 2007.1, Twisted Logic 20080620, SmarThink 1.00, Frenzee Feb08, Booot 4.15.0, Delfi 5.4 and the top Chessmaster 11 settings. Crafty 23.0 is still in the early stages of testing and could well join this group of engines.


Free Single CPU Engines

Although we're in the early stages of testing Thinker 5.4c Inert, it looks likely that Rybka 2.2n2 will hold onto its spot as the top free engine.
Grapefruit 1.0 slots into third spot, narrowly ahead of Toga II 1.4.1SE and Cyclone 3.4.
TheMadPrune 1.1.25 bridges the gap between the previous group and the next, which includes Fruit 2.3.1, Stockfish 1.2, Glaurung 2.2 and Bright 0.4a.
Spike 1.2 Turin is further back, with a clear edge over Twisted Logic 20080620, Frenzee Feb08, Booot 4.15.0 and Delfi 5.4. Crafty 23.0 could end up amongst this group.

CCRL tests a wide range of free engines, ranging right down to the 2000 elo level. The intention is to get well over 200 games for each of these engines.
Tournaments involving these engines can be followed in our public forum.


Blitz Notes

There are over 427,000 games in the 40/4 database and it is well worth a visit.
Shaun, Gabor, Kirill, Denis and Dom put a lot of work into this list, testing engines in a very well organised and systematic manner.


FRC Notes

Ray currently restricts his testing to FRC only.
Thanks to the much appreciated efforts of Matthias Gemuh, ChessGUI is now able to be used to test all FRC engines, both Winboard/UCI plus Shredder/Arena specific.

There are currently almost 50,000 games in the database.

Ray has recently finished testing a number of engines, including Bright 0.4a.

Rybka 3 has a big lead over Naum 4, which in turn has a similarly big lead over the evenly matched Deep Sjeng WC2008 and Shredder 11.
Hiarcs 12.1 comes in next, comfortably ahead of Glaurung 2.2.
Fruit 051103 and Loop 10.32f lie further back, ahead of Bright 0.4a and Spike 1.2 Turin.

For FRC the best list to look at is the pure list.
http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404FRC/


Stats/Presentation Notes

The LOS (likelihood of superiority) stats to the right hand side of each rating list tell you the likelihood in percentage terms of each engine being superior to the engine directly below them.

All games are available for download by engine, by month or by ECO code.
ELO ratings are now saved in all game databases for those engines that have 200 games or more.

Clicking on an engine name will give details as to opponents played plus homepage links where applicable.

Custom lists of engines can be selected for comparison.

An openings report page lists the number of games played by ECO codes with draw percentage and White win percentage. Clicking on a column heading will sort the list by that column.

A future development (no set date yet) will be the optional inclusion of engine logos, flags and continent pictures beside each engine name in the rating lists.
An example of what this will look can be seen here in Kirill's special free engines project - KCEC site
The engine logo will function as a link to selection of all engines from the same family. The country flag will be a link to selection of all engines from the same country. The continent picture is a link to selection of all engines from the same continent.
This feature will be implemented once Kirill can find the time to do it.

At present our home link gives no information. This will be addressed in the coming weeks.