Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP?

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Jack Clark
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Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP?

Post by Jack Clark »

Hi, Harv-

Any idea when we might see Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP? May? June? Thanks.

Jack
Jack Clark
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Krazyken
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Post by Krazyken »

I 'd like to know about when as well, got to budget these things. If you need any help, I could do some testing for you.
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Post by Jack Clark »

Hey, Krazyken-

Wondering if you have found any tricks to optimizing Sigma Chess HIARCS that I don't know about. I'm using the recommended settings on a MacBook Intel 2.2 GHz with 2GB RAM and showing an Elo of 2900. That seems great to me, but I'm always looking for some tweek I don't know about. Thanks.
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Tord Romstad
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Re: Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP?

Post by Tord Romstad »

Jack Clark wrote:Any idea when we might see Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP? May? June? Thanks.
It better be some time soon. Otherwise, there's a big risk that there will soon be a free Mac chess program slightly stronger than Macintosh Hiarcs, albeit with a far buggier GUI.

:wink:

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martinus
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Post by martinus »

Olá a todos (hello all)

People should consider those points:

1) 2900 is enormous from an human point of view. My mini 1.66 Ghz, 1.25 Ram gives me 2870 and I am very happy with it.
2) Hiarcs Mac is now an UCI engine that sells with Sigma Chess as an interface. Hiarcs don't have its own interface, being it good or bad. Hiarcs may be used with any Mac UCI chess interface.
3) People expect Sigma Chess to have an update soon. Sigma Chess need it. It is still a PowerPC application that runs in my Intel Mac Mini, using Rosetta. In fact, it is now the sole applications using Rosetta on my Mac.
4) Hopefully for us Mac users, Sigma Chess will be updated soon and its new version will come with Hiarcs 12.
5) I say hopefully because Sigma Chess is at present the best UCI chess interface for Mac. Other ones don't have its database functions (up to 1.000.000 games in each database file), its options to manage chess player game statistics, customizable opening books, etc.
6) I say hopefully also because at this moment Hiarcs 11.2 is clearly the best UCI engine for Mac, not only because it is so strong, but because, and specially, it is can be set to play at any Elo rating from 1250 to 1870 (in my computer) in a way that is well adjusted and tested, and credible for each rating chosen. Also because Hiarcs 11.2 have an interesting style when played in down-rated mode.
7) For us, I presume, a nice interface for UCI and an engine nice to play down-rated is now more important that brute force, since we still want a game from now and then, and the internet, with its professional cheaters, is now less a choice to play chess. Brute force is less important for us also because, I presume few Mac users are "chess professionals", that use the computer to play at correspondence chess, that is if something like Correspondence Chess is still going on.

To finish, could the administrators of this forum, consider the chance of making a section here to discuss Mac Chess subjects? Thanks.
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Krazyken
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Post by Krazyken »

I don't have any secrets for tweaking Hiarcs, give it plenty of hash, always keep the learning on.

As for the best GUI to use on Mac OS X, Scid is by far the best for serious database use.

If you are into engine vs engine, Xboard is just awesome for that. It's not too difficult to set up matches between two two different computers. For example, I find Hiarcs on a 2.0Ghz DPG5 regularly beats out Hiarcs on a 2.8Ghx 8-way Intel, at fast time controls.
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martinus
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Post by martinus »

As far as I know, Scid never worked on Mac OS X. It can probably work in X11, or something like that, after a lot of engineer like work, probably compilation skills, etc.
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Krazyken
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Post by Krazyken »

it's not too hard to get it to work.
You install X11 from Apple, it should be on your System disks.
you install fink
use fink to install scid.

and it's done

it's not double-click easy, but if you are a person that can read instructions and type a few commands at the terminal (they do include the commands needed in the instructions) it will almost certainly work.
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Krazyken
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Re: Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP?

Post by Krazyken »

Jack Clark wrote:Hi, Harv-

Any idea when we might see Sigma Chess Hiarcs 12 MP? May? June? Thanks.

Jack
Ahh, the suspense is building! The question remains unanswered!
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Dark Horse
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HIARCS 12 for Mac

Post by Dark Horse »

seems I should have asked in here, I wish they release it soon! do they plan to release it at all ?
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Harvey Williamson
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Re: HIARCS 12 for Mac

Post by Harvey Williamson »

Dark Horse wrote:seems I should have asked in here, I wish they release it soon! do they plan to release it at all ?
I don't know when but it will happen.
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Dark Horse
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HIARCS 12 for MAC

Post by Dark Horse »

Thanks Harvey, if we sound impatient it is because we can't wait to get one!
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Tord Romstad
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Post by Tord Romstad »

martinus wrote:7) For us, I presume, a nice interface for UCI and an engine nice to play down-rated is now more important that brute force, since we still want a game from now and then, and the internet, with its professional cheaters, is now less a choice to play chess. Brute force is less important for us also because, I presume few Mac users are "chess professionals", that use the computer to play at correspondence chess, that is if something like Correspondence Chess is still going on.
I've just finished adding adjustable Elo rating to Glaurung, in the range 1000-2500. The ratings are not yet very well calibratated. At 2500, the strength seems to be slightly higher than Hiarcs 11.1 on my Mac, and at 1600, it seems to be similar to TSCP 1.81. I have not tested at other levels.

I would greatly appreciate if you and/or somebody else could download the new Macintosh Glaurung I released today, and test the limited strength mode:

http://www.glaurungchess.com/Glaurung21.dmg

In the range above 2200, it plays exactly like at full strength, except that the search is slowed down. Below 2200, I try to emulate typical human tactical mistakes. I'm not sure how well it works; feedback is very welcome.

Note that limited strength doesn't work with the Glaurung 2.1 engine -- you'll have to use the more recent development version Glaurung 080517 (which is also bundled with the GUI). I think 080517 is also a bit stronger than 2.1 when playing at full strength.
To finish, could the administrators of this forum, consider the chance of making a section here to discuss Mac Chess subjects?
That would be great.

Tord
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martinus
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Post by martinus »

Hello Tord

I have been following your work with Glaurung 2.1
I will test it and will tell something here tomorrow. Being rated myself around 2000 I don't have much taste for rating above 2300, I will take a look in the lower ratings.

Many thanks for your work.
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martinus
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Post by martinus »

Hello Tord

At this point I would say the following:

1. From 1000 to 1800 rating (the range I tested it playing some 1 minute + 8 second increment games) the program works at 7000 nodes/second. This produces a credible rating in the range 1500-1800 but its too much to play below 1500 rating.
2. At 1000 rating 7000 nodes/second is too much and it looks like playing a 1500-1700 player.
3. In the 1000 to 1200 rating some serious tactical blunders could be expected, kind of random moves, but I didn't saw any. I had to win based on positional knowledge and in tactical maneuvers that go beyond the horizon of the program.
4. I would try to cripple more the engine in the 1000-1200 range to give a player to beginners. I made Glaurung play at 1000 versus Shredder Classic 3 at 1500 and they draw a two games match 1-1.
5. I couldn't make the program beep, or make any sound, after the move. There is a way?
6. A bigger and more varied book would be better to play the engine. Small books are suited for engine vs engine matches.

Its nice to see things moving on in the mac chess scene. The Glaurung GUI development is also very good news, since we have few UCI interfaces for mac. Same for the arriving of another chess engine, now able to play games at our human level.

Best Regards.
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