Android UCI engine update: Komodo 9.42

The quest for the perfect chess engine is not slowing down. Soon after the release of  9.4, followed by buggy 9.41 and bugfixed 9.42, the latest version of the commercial fleet leader is now ported to Android, as promised by Mark Lefler of the Komodo team in a forum post.

There's nothing clear yet for me to speculate about the improvement over the disappointing 9.3 but i must admit i've got high hopes this time. We'll soon see about this, no later than May-2016 release of Rapidroid ranking.

In contrast to rating lists based on Windows, Komodo 9.3 Android had performed bad, way behind its unique rival Stockfish-7, by a huge 70 ELO. The gap couldn't be explained by the default contempt of 10. It was exactly the same default setting with Komodo 9.2.

Remembering that Komodo 9.2 was the previous leader ahead of Stockfish 6 until TCEC-8 after which both engines have been updated for Windows and Android afterwards, Komodo 9.3 has quickly become a bad memory that a better version must erase.

I hope 9.42 will do exactly what's expected.

Komodo 9.42 for Android is a free update for owners of  previous 9.X owners. Otherwise if you want to try it for the first time, don't waste your time for a completely free solution. It doesn't exist. As the price is reasonable, just buy it at GOOGLE PLAY.

In case you feel doubtful of another unexpected regression, you may backup your current version with Titanium Backup before downloading the update, so that if anything bad occurs, you have the option to revert back later on.

Don't forget: Once upgraded via Google Play, you can't install any previous 9.X version with regular methods. So, only Titanium can help for a downgrade.

RAPIDROID RELOADED: April-2016

For the first time since months, a Rapidroid release comes with no further updates to be introduced. Jim Ablett remained quiet lately. Besides, there have been only a few engine updates waiting in the queue to be ported to Android. Looks like it's a good opportunity for improving further with a new full round now.

I hope May-2016 release will welcome some more non-Android engines for more colors in the big picture.

Thanks to the revision of previous groupings in the database, below release does not only include updated engines but also hundreds of replayed games in order to reduce overall average gaps vs opponents. The draw ratio is now higher than before up to 26.2% even with less games. It's a good sign which indicates Rapidroid gets more accurate.

Please note that i've added a column to the list to indicate what time controls each engine can play. 

There are three types here: bf, b and f. 

"b" refers to blitz (meaning Fischer clock)

"f" refers to analyze mode or fixed time per move.

"bf" refers to compatibility with both.

As not all engines can use both, the experiment gets complex to maintain because each division may require two sub-tourneys under different time controls, which must be joined at the end. That also explains why the number of games can't be the same for all engines, even though i try hard to avoid gaps.

I still believe it's worth the effort. It's the only method to compare the strength of the engines which can never play each other.

The highlights of this release:

* UPDATED Arasan 18.2 to 18.3

* UPDATED Rodent 1.7 to II 0.8.7

* UPDATED Tucano 5.00 to 6.00

* DELETED Clubfoot for frequent early terminations

* DELETED Mini Rodent due to similarity with Rodent II

Rapidroid is calibrated using CCRL 40/4 ratings of 40 engines, converted to Exynos 4412, assuming that the latter performs 65 and 110 ELO lower than 32 and 64 bit engines of CCRL respectively.

Targets for next release:
* Introduce Excalibur LCD Express
* Introduce Senior Chess 1.81

BAYES RATINGS AFTER 16461 GAMES PLAYED BY 122 PROGRAMS
Rnk Name                     O/S T TC  Elo   +   - Gam Sco Oppo Dra
001 Stockfish 7              A32 4 bf 3341  38  36 332 85% 3068 29%
002 Komodo 9.3               A32 4 bf 3272  35  34 332 76% 3076 33%
003 Critter 1.6a             A32 4 bf 3131  30  30 340 57% 3089 46%
004 Sting SF 4.8.4 JA        A32 4 bf 3100  32  32 334 57% 3048 39%
005 Firenzina 2.4.1 xTreme   A32 4 bf 3098  30  30 336 52% 3084 49%
006 BlackMamba 2.0           A32 4 bf 3065  30  30 336 47% 3089 49%
007 Rybka 2.3.2a mp          W64 4 bf 3059 109 108  26 54% 3033 38%
008 Fritz 14                 A32 4 bf 3055  30  30 332 48% 3070 49%
009 Gull 3 x64 (syzygy)      A32 4 bf 3053  31  31 330 53% 3035 43%
010 Texel 1.05               A32 4 bf 3027  31  32 338 48% 3048 35%
011 Senpai 1.0               A32 4 bf 3001  32  32 334 49% 3006 37%
012 DeepSaros ver.2.3f       A32 4 bf 2995  32  32 330 50% 2997 37%
013 Hiarcs 13.71             IOS 2 bf 2969 121 114  26 65% 2859 23%
014 RobboLito 0.085e4l       A32 1 bf 2968  31  31 334 51% 2961 44%
015 IvanHoe 9.47c beta       A32 1 bf 2959  32  32 324 53% 2942 40%
016 Cheng 4.39               A32 4 bf 2926  32  32 330 43% 2981 38%
017 Arasan 18.3              A32 4 bf 2911  32  31 326 53% 2888 36%
018 Shredder 1.7.0           IOS 2  b 2907 114 113  24 54% 2889 42%
019 Hakkapeliitta 3.0        A32 1 bf 2894  32  32 328 49% 2906 34%
020 ExChess_7.88b.JA_xb.arm7 A32 4  b 2894  32  32 316 47% 2924 40%
021 Scorpio_2.7.7.JA_xb.arm7 A32 4  f 2893  36  36 280 56% 2849 30%
022 Gaviota v1.0-d           A32 4 bf 2875  32  32 336 42% 2932 32%
023 Grapefruit 1.0           A32 4 bf 2837  31  31 338 46% 2860 41%
024 DiscoCheck 5.2.1         A32 1 bf 2821  32  32 338 43% 2870 32%
025 Toga II 3.0              A32 1 bf 2820  32  31 320 53% 2801 37%
026 Deep Saros 0.9           A32 4 bf 2808  31  31 330 46% 2831 39%
027 Doch32 1.3.4 JA          A32 1  b 2776  32  32 320 52% 2762 37%
028 Fruit Reloaded 2.1       A32 1  b 2767  31  31 306 51% 2761 44%
029 Crafty_25.0.JA_xb.arm7   A32 1 bf 2756  32  32 314 53% 2735 35%
030 Deuterium v14.3.34.130   A32 1 bf 2755  31  31 340 48% 2770 39%
031 Bobcat 6.4b              A32 1 bf 2751  32  32 332 47% 2774 32%
032 Murka 3                  A32 1 bf 2750  30  30 346 48% 2762 38%
033 Chess Pro 2016.02        IOS 2 bf 2742 112 113  22 45% 2772 55%
034 GNU Chess 5.60           A32 1 bf 2734  32  32 320 49% 2737 34%
035 The King 3.50 x64        W64 1  b 2718  51  52 120 43% 2764 34%
036 Strelka 5                A32 1 bf 2705  33  33 314 51% 2699 29%
037 Rodent II 0.8.7          A32 1  b 2669  36  36 258 49% 2674 32%
038 RedQueen 1.1.98          A32 4 bf 2666  34  34 302 53% 2646 26%
039 Tucano_6.00.JA_xb.arm5   A32 1  f 2665  35  35 258 53% 2644 38%
040 CNVCS 1.2.0              IOS 2  f 2624 111 114  24 44% 2658 46%
041 Rhetoric 1.4.1           A32 1 bf 2621  33  33 304 53% 2600 31%
042 Bison 15.1               A32 1 bf 2593  34  34 308 49% 2602 29%
043 Alfil 12.10              A32 1 bf 2592  33  33 306 50% 2589 31%
044 Chess Genius 4.0.00      IOS 2 bf 2556 196 255   8 13% 2811 25%
045 Daydreamer 1.75 JA       A32 1 bf 2541  32  33 310 51% 2537 35%
046 Cheese 1.7               A32 1 bf 2530  34  34 308 42% 2588 29%
047 Rotor 0.8                A32 1 bf 2525  33  33 310 44% 2572 32%
048 Chess Genius 2.6.4       A32 1 bf 2517 224 239   4 38% 2566 75%
049 Fridolin 2.00            A32 4 bf 2505  32  32 316 53% 2488 30%
050 Glaurung Mainz           A32 1  b 2503  42  42 202 46% 2530 24%
051 GarboChess 3             A32 1 bf 2494  33  33 316 49% 2506 27%
052 Sloppy_0.23.JA_xb        A32 1  f 2489  33  33 304 53% 2464 31%
053 Danasah_5.07.JA_xb       A32 1  f 2470  35  35 296 50% 2465 25%
054 BBChess 1.3b JA          A32 4 bf 2464  32  32 322 50% 2461 28%
055 Dirty_030411.JA_xb       A32 1  f 2461  35  35 290 51% 2450 27%
056 Phalanx_XXIV.JA_xb.arm7  A32 1  f 2457  35  35 296 49% 2464 21%
057 Maverick 1.5 arm         A32 1 bf 2444  33  33 320 50% 2441 29%
058 Pawny_1.0.JA_uci2xb      A32 1  f 2423  33  33 302 52% 2406 31%
059 GreKo_12.5.JA_xb         A32 1  f 2422  34  34 304 53% 2400 25%
060 Pepito v1.59             A32 1 bf 2419  32  32 318 52% 2406 33%
061 BetsabeII_1.47.JA_xb     A32 1  f 2393  36  36 294 49% 2403 20%
062 Ifrit_m1.8.JA_uci2xb     A32 1  f 2379  34  34 296 53% 2353 26%
063 Diablo 0.5.1b JA         A32 1 bf 2355  33  33 322 52% 2334 25%
064 Typhoon_1.0.r358.JA_xb   A32 1  f 2354  34  34 310 56% 2309 23%
065 Olithink_5.3.2.JA_xb     A32 1  f 2344  34  34 310 53% 2316 24%
066 zurichess geneva         A32 1  b 2341  51  51 138 47% 2361 25%
067 Amy_0.8.JA_xb            A32 1 bf 2308  34  34 324 51% 2296 20%
068 Bitfoot 150922.JA        A32 1 bf 2292  35  35 324 58% 2224 16%
069 TJchess 1.1U             A32 1 bf 2285  33  33 330 49% 2290 23%
070 Myrddin_0.86.JA_xb       A32 1  f 2272  36  36 302 46% 2293 21%
071 Natwarlal_0.14.JA_xb     A32 1  f 2262  34  34 312 49% 2270 24%
072 MangoPaola_1.1.JA_xb     A32 1  f 2254  35  35 314 48% 2267 21%
073 Sungorus 1.4 JA          A32 1  f 2250  34  34 312 50% 2251 22%
074 KmtChess_1.21.JA_xb      A32 1  f 2203  34  34 312 50% 2205 23%
075 Rattate_Nosferatu.JA_xb  A32 1  f 2197  35  35 316 49% 2202 17%
076 NGplay_9.86.JA_xb        A32 1  f 2190  34  34 310 52% 2176 23%
077 Scidlet_2.61b2.JA_xb     A32 1  f 2181  35  35 312 48% 2193 14%
078 Resp_0.19.JA_xb          A32 1 bf 2162  34  34 326 49% 2165 19%
079 Floyd 0.7 JA             A32 1 bf 2108  37  36 322 58% 2040 13%
080 DanChess_1.04.JA_xb      A32 1  f 2104  36  36 300 52% 2087 17%
081 Kurt 0.9.2.2 JA          A32 1 bf 2069  35  35 316 48% 2089 18%
082 Robocide 28.12.14.JA     A32 1 bf 2059  33  33 342 53% 2039 18%
083 Witz_Alpha21.JA_xb       A32 1  f 2037  35  35 304 47% 2058 20%
084 Woodpecker_2.11.JA_xb    A32 1  f 2019  36  36 304 52% 2000 15%
085 Knightcap_3.7F.JA_xb     A32 1  f 2004  36  36 290 52% 1987 18%
086 AdroitChess0.4 JA        A32 1 bf 1991  35  35 324 49% 1995 17%
087 BikJump v1.8             A32 1 bf 1986  33  33 342 48% 2004 23%
088 Sjeng_1.12.JA_xb         A32 1  f 1976  36  36 298 53% 1957 16%
089 Leonidas_r83.JA_xb       A32 1  f 1951  36  36 298 48% 1968 20%
090 Faile_1.44.JA_xb         A32 1  f 1951  35  34 288 52% 1931 31%
091 ZCT-0.3.2500             A32 1 bf 1942  35  36 314 44% 1992 13%
092 Gunborg_1.39.JA_uci2xb   A32 1  f 1940  37  37 278 55% 1900 22%
093 Samchess_JA_xb           A32 1  f 1925  36  36 296 46% 1954 18%
094 Mephisto Roma Turbo      W64 1  b 1921  79  83  56 37% 2023 16%
095 Cilian_4.14.JA_xb        A32 1 bf 1918  34  34 318 53% 1888 25%
096 Ecce rev. 508            A32 1 bf 1889  35  35 320 46% 1923 18%
097 Sayuri 2015.10.01        A32 4 bf 1870  36  36 318 54% 1822 14%
098 Claudia v. 0.5           A32 1  b 1845  54  53 148 53% 1819 14%
099 Smash 1.03 JA            A32 1 bf 1837  35  35 328 48% 1855 15%
100 Colchess_8.0.JA_xb       A32 1  f 1837  37  37 270 51% 1817 24%
101 Surprise_4.3.b13.JA_xb   A32 1  b 1834  49  49 160 49% 1841 16%
102 Zzzzzz_3.5.1.JA_xb       A32 1  f 1745  37  37 260 49% 1727 31%
103 Hoichess_0.12.1.JA_xb    A32 1 bf 1739  35  36 310 48% 1742 20%
104 Chenard_2015.08.15.JA_xb A32 1  f 1733  42  42 254 48% 1713  9%
105 Kitteneitor_060513.JA_xb A32 1  f 1718  37  38 250 47% 1710 35%
106 Jester_0.84.JA_xb        A32 1  f 1711  42  42 240 50% 1665 13%
107 Tscp_1.8.1.AB_xb         A32 1  f 1710  40  40 256 47% 1712 17%
108 Colossus 4.0 100X        C64 1 bf 1708 237 207  10 80% 1331 20%
109 Rocinante 2.0 JA         A32 1 bf 1697  37  37 306 50% 1658 18%
110 Pulse 1.5-cpp            A32 1 bf 1651  36  36 322 55% 1546 30%
111 Mephisto Roma 68020 UCI  W64 1  b 1642 124 134  20 35% 1744 30%
112 VIRUTOR CHESS 1.1.1      A32 1 bf 1523  41  41 320 55% 1427 11%
113 Superpawn b108 JA        A32 1  b 1497  46  46 216 58% 1423 20%
114 K2 v.075                 A32 1  b 1474  51  51 208 57% 1402  6%
115 Chess for Android        A32 1 bf 1464  41  41 315 52% 1402 14%
116 Chess Titans             W64 1  f 1370 212 204   7 57% 1340 29%
117 Trappy_Beowulf_2.0.JA_xb A32 1 bf 1231  44  45 310 37% 1348  9%
118 Colossus 4.0             C64 1 bf 1205 170 190  14 36% 1286 14%
119 Byak 8.10.14.JA          A32 1  b 1164  47  49 228 25% 1404 18%
120 Xadreco_5.7.JA_xb        A32 1  b 1051  54  59 222 14% 1425 10%
121 Novag Secondo            TTC 1 bf  980 272  47   6 42%  999 17%
122 OliveChess 0.2.7         A32 1  f  602 367-324 180  0% 1530  0%

Rapidroid test platform:
* GT-N7100 1.6 * 4 + 256MB hash: All Android progs
* GT-N5105 1.6 * 4 + 256MB hash: All Android progs
* Codegen Novatab 1.4 * 4 + 256MB: Single thread Android progs,
* Polypad 1010IPS tablet 1.61 * 2 + 128MB: Single thread Android progs
* HTC Diam 528Mhz, 16MB hash: Windows Mobile
* i7 M620 2.67 Ghz dual + Arena 3.5 + 2GB hash: Windows 64
* iPhone5S A7 1.3 Ghz * 2: iOS progs
* DosBox 1.74: DOS progs
* WinVICE 2.24: Commodore-64 progs
* Messtiny UCI adapters or CB-Emu2014: Mephisto progs
* Openings: 20 ply from Adam Hair or 16 ply from TCEC, no Q exchange, +0.15 to +0.40 eval by Stockfish and Komodo, depth 20 minimum, played twice both sides
* Repeating openings and twin games not allowed between two programs
* Tablebases and pondering off
* Time control: 10 to 30 sec/move or 600+0 to 1800+5 or closest known by both programs.

Calibration:
* Based on 42 engines rated in CCRL 40/4
* 32 bit engines: Exynos 4412 = (Athlon X2 4600+) - 65 ELO
* 64 bit engines: Exynos 4412 = (Athlon X2 4600+) - 110 ELO
* Bayeselo offset = 2315 (Mean of ELO error vs target: 37.59)

Yet another chess GUI for Android: CEPA

Nice! We have another GUI with UCI engine features, including games between two engines. The app is called Chess Engines Play Analysis. I'd better call it CEPA in short.

Although the screenshots are in Spanish, the app has English menus. I didn't try it yet but all i can say about the engine features promised in the description is related to uci options management: Only the apps coming with uci option setting have been successful so far.

Threads and hash size settings are the fatal ones considering that most engines come with default settings that probably won't match your device capabilities and/or your preference.

Further tests will show how efficient is CEPA. You are welcome to react quicker than me :-)

CEPA is free and available at GOOGLE PLAY

Chess for Android v5.2: Make up time!

Aart Bik's Chess for Android comes with a new version to provide the user with a better interface.

I guess the featured improvements below will be more effective on newer devices. That means conservative users like me who fear incompatibilities with newest 64 bit octacore processors, Android Marshmallow or even Lollipop will probably see little difference on their slightly outdated configurations.

Changes:
(1) Replaced "swipe-up" with explicit on-screen button for options menu.
(2) Improved graphics for all on-screen buttons.
(3) Minor layout improvements for some dialogs.

The network version which allows playing with remote PC engines is not yet made available by Aart. So, if you are using this feature, stay on 5.1.5 for now.

Here's the link to the new version without network permission, available for download at: GOOGLE PLAY

RAPIDROID RELOADED: March-2016 featuring Fritz 14, Gull 3 & Ivanhoe 9.47c

Following plenty of gauntlets, here's another update with some strong newcomers that we've been waiting since a long time.

Despite the high hopes, Fritz and Gull were not able to break into the top 5. Stockfish 7 still crushes everything that gets on its way. Fritz and Gull could bite Komodo from time to time but they can't steal enough draws from Stockfish. That makes the gap between the fish and the reptile more visible now. Android needs a new Komodo version...

The highlights of this release:

* ADDED Fritz 14

* UPDATED Gull 1.2 to 3

* UPDATED Ivanhoe 9.46h to 9.47c beta

* DELETED Cylcone due to similarity with Grapefuit & Toga

* DELETED The Mad Prune due to similarity with Grapefuit & Toga

After 4 extra days of delay, i was able to finish another complete round and to increase the number of games by 18, so that this release is not only an introduction of updates but also some more games by all engines. Narrower error margins matter, though, it's still more than 30 ELOs.

The nasty rule is: Less error requires more games >> More games require more full rounds >> More full rounds require less gauntlets, less updates. Unfortunately, the latter happens very rarely.

One thing which gets clear is the relationship between the average ELO difference between players and the accuracy of the ranking.

Shortly said, the main targets of a perfect rating list are:

* Unlimited & equal number of games played by each engine

* 100% draw rate

* Average ELO difference between opponents of each game = 0

* For each engine, a perfect bell curve distribution of the number of games vs all opponents within the neighborhood of +/- 100 ELO

Sure, no list can reach above targets at once. One can get close to the last one with extreme care but the first three are utopic and impossible.

No matter what, in order to improve the quality of Rapidroid, i've recently decided to continue with less promotions between divisions. It used to move 3 engines up and 3 engines down out of 10 engines after each round.

As it often leads to pairings beyond 200 ELO gap, 2 up and 2 down should be better.

Now, i expect that the draw ratio will increase. The average ELO gap must decrease in parallel. At present, Rapidroid has a low 25.7% draw ratio and ~100 ELO average gap which both mean the overall pairing scenario has been too agressive.

Targets for next release:
* UPDATE Arasan 18.2 to 18.3
* UPDATE Rodent 1.7 to II
* UPDATE Tucano 5.0 to 6.00

Have a nice checkmate!

BAYES RATINGS AFTER 17173 GAMES PLAYED BY 124 PROGRAMS
Rnk Name                     O/S T  Elo   +   - gam sco oppo dra
001 Stockfish 7              A32 4 3352  38  36 336 85% 3077 29%
002 Komodo 9.3               A32 4 3281  35  34 336 76% 3084 33%
003 Critter 1.6a             A32 4 3140  30  30 344 57% 3097 47%
004 Firenzina 2.4.1 xTreme   A32 4 3109  30  30 340 53% 3092 49%
005 Sting SF 4.8.4 JA        A32 4 3109  32  31 338 57% 3057 39%
006 BlackMamba 2.0           A32 4 3072  30  30 338 47% 3096 49%
007 Rybka 2.3.2a mp          W64 4 3070 109 107  26 54% 3044 38%
008 Fritz 14                 A32 4 3067  30  30 336 49% 3078 48%
009 Gull 3 x64 (syzygy)      A32 4 3052  31  31 332 50% 3054 41%
010 Texel 1.05               A32 4 3037  31  31 342 48% 3055 35%
011 Senpai 1.0               A32 4 3016  32  32 338 51% 3011 36%
012 DeepSaros ver.2.3f       A32 4 3010  32  32 334 51% 3003 36%
013 Hiarcs 13.71             IOS 2 2982 121 113  26 65% 2873 23%
014 RobboLito 0.085e4l       A32 1 2976  31  31 342 51% 2968 42%
015 IvanHoe 9.47c beta       A32 1 2970  32  32 326 54% 2948 39%
016 Cheng 4.39               A32 4 2938  32  32 334 44% 2987 38%
017 Shredder 1.7.0           IOS 2 2918 114 113  24 54% 2901 42%
018 Hakkapeliitta 3.0        A32 1 2905  32  32 328 49% 2913 34%
019 Scorpio_2.7.7.JA_xb.arm7 A32 4 2899  36  36 284 56% 2853 28%
020 ExChess_7.88b.JA_xb.arm7 A32 4 2896  32  32 322 44% 2945 38%
021 Gaviota v1.0-d           A32 4 2894  32  32 340 44% 2936 31%
022 Arasan 18.2              A32 4 2894  32  32 330 50% 2895 31%
023 Grapefruit 1.0           A32 4 2855  30  30 340 46% 2877 41%
024 Toga II 3.0              A32 1 2838  32  32 314 55% 2805 37%
025 Deep Saros 0.9           A32 4 2822  31  31 330 47% 2836 39%
026 DiscoCheck 5.2.1         A32 1 2821  32  32 340 43% 2875 32%
027 Deuterium v14.3.34.130   A32 1 2776  31  31 332 50% 2774 40%
028 Bobcat 6.4b              A32 1 2774  32  32 328 49% 2775 30%
029 Doch32 1.3.4 JA          A32 1 2771  32  32 324 48% 2787 37%
030 Crafty_25.0.JA_xb.arm7   A32 1 2769  32  32 314 54% 2742 36%
031 Fruit Reloaded 2.1       A32 1 2765  32  31 308 48% 2780 43%
032 Murka 3                  A32 1 2763  31  31 338 49% 2768 37%
033 Chess Pro 2016.02        IOS 2 2760 111 113  22 45% 2788 55%
034 GNU Chess 5.60           A32 1 2741  33  33 316 51% 2732 28%
035 The King 3.50 x64        W64 1 2733  51  52 122 44% 2772 34%
036 Strelka 5                A32 1 2722  33  33 314 52% 2708 30%
037 RedQueen 1.1.98          A32 4 2678  33  33 310 53% 2656 29%
038 CNVCS 1.2.0              IOS 2 2665 108 109  26 48% 2671 42%
039 Tucano_5.00.JA_xb        A32 1 2654  35  36 260 48% 2666 35%
040 Rodent 1.7 build 1       A32 1 2645  33  33 314 48% 2659 29%
041 Rhetoric 1.4.1           A32 1 2628  33  33 312 54% 2598 32%
042 Mini Rodent 1.0          A32 1 2624  35  35 268 46% 2649 33%
043 Bison 15.1               A32 1 2615  33  33 314 51% 2610 31%
044 Chess Genius 4.0.00      IOS 2 2580 194 254   8 13% 2831 25%
045 Alfil 12.10              A32 1 2577  33  33 314 49% 2583 29%
046 Rotor 0.8                A32 1 2547  33  33 320 47% 2570 31%
047 Daydreamer 1.75 JA       A32 1 2546  32  32 322 50% 2550 34%
048 Cheese 1.7               A32 1 2535  33  34 312 43% 2585 30%
049 Fridolin 2.00            A32 4 2515  32  32 314 53% 2492 33%
050 Chess Genius 2.6.4       A32 1 2514 224 239   4 38% 2562 75%
051 GarboChess 3             A32 1 2501  33  33 312 48% 2520 26%
052 Glaurung Mainz           A32 1 2497  41  41 208 43% 2545 26%
053 Danasah_5.07.JA_xb       A32 1 2487  35  35 296 55% 2446 27%
054 Sloppy_0.23.JA_xb        A32 1 2482  33  33 300 50% 2477 33%
055 BBChess 1.3b JA          A32 4 2475  32  32 324 51% 2465 29%
056 Maverick 1.5 arm         A32 1 2470  33  32 326 56% 2421 31%
057 Dirty_030411.JA_xb       A32 1 2467  35  35 294 52% 2454 28%
058 Phalanx_XXIV.JA_xb.arm7  A32 1 2455  35  35 302 49% 2464 20%
059 Pawny_1.0.JA_uci2xb      A32 1 2428  33  33 312 51% 2416 32%
060 GreKo_12.5.JA_xb         A32 1 2418  34  34 302 52% 2399 25%
061 Pepito v1.59             A32 1 2418  32  32 320 50% 2419 33%
062 BetsabeII_1.47.JA_xb     A32 1 2399  36  36 300 50% 2397 18%
063 Ifrit_m1.8.JA_uci2xb     A32 1 2381  34  34 306 55% 2344 28%
064 Diablo 0.5.1b JA         A32 1 2345  33  33 326 52% 2329 25%
065 zurichess geneva         A32 1 2342  51  51 140 49% 2347 26%
066 Typhoon_1.0.r358.JA_xb   A32 1 2341  34  34 318 54% 2306 24%
067 Olithink_5.3.2.JA_xb     A32 1 2324  34  34 316 51% 2312 21%
068 Amy_0.8.JA_xb            A32 1 2294  34  34 330 50% 2292 21%
069 Myrddin_0.86.JA_xb       A32 1 2278  35  35 314 48% 2283 21%
070 TJchess 1.1U             A32 1 2273  33  33 346 48% 2286 23%
071 Natwarlal_0.14.JA_xb     A32 1 2272  34  33 328 52% 2248 23%
072 Bitfoot 150922.JA        A32 1 2269  34  34 348 57% 2207 15%
073 MangoPaola_1.1.JA_xb     A32 1 2261  34  34 326 50% 2253 21%
074 Sungorus 1.4 JA          A32 1 2241  34  34 322 48% 2251 23%
075 KmtChess_1.21.JA_xb      A32 1 2197  34  34 332 52% 2183 22%
076 Rattate_Nosferatu.JA_xb  A32 1 2182  34  34 336 49% 2193 17%
077 NGplay_9.86.JA_xb        A32 1 2176  33  33 332 52% 2164 23%
078 Scidlet_2.61b2.JA_xb     A32 1 2168  35  34 336 52% 2149 13%
079 Resp_0.19.JA_xb          A32 1 2140  33  33 348 50% 2141 19%
080 Clubfoot 150907.JA       A32 1 2116  36  35 338 62% 2014 14%
081 DanChess_1.04.JA_xb      A32 1 2084  35  35 326 51% 2077 17%
082 Floyd 0.7 JA             A32 1 2082  35  35 344 56% 2029 12%
083 Kurt 0.9.2.2 JA          A32 1 2049  34  34 348 47% 2077 18%
084 Robocide 28.12.14.JA     A32 1 2033  32  32 372 51% 2027 19%
085 Witz_Alpha21.JA_xb       A32 1 2017  34  34 330 48% 2037 20%
086 Woodpecker_2.11.JA_xb    A32 1 1994  35  35 324 50% 1991 16%
087 Knightcap_3.7F.JA_xb     A32 1 1980  35  35 308 52% 1959 18%
088 AdroitChess0.4 JA        A32 1 1970  35  35 336 48% 1984 16%
089 BikJump v1.8             A32 1 1961  32  33 358 46% 1996 22%
090 Sjeng_1.12.JA_xb         A32 1 1944  35  35 314 50% 1943 16%
091 Gunborg_1.39.JA_uci2xb   A32 1 1942  38  37 294 60% 1861 20%
092 Leonidas_r83.JA_xb       A32 1 1931  35  35 316 47% 1954 19%
093 ZCT-0.3.2500             A32 1 1917  35  35 328 42% 1980 12%
094 Faile_1.44.JA_xb         A32 1 1909  34  34 304 47% 1929 28%
095 Samchess_JA_xb           A32 1 1897  36  36 314 42% 1966 17%
096 Mephisto Roma Turbo      W64 1 1896  79  83  56 37% 1997 16%
097 Cilian_4.14.JA_xb        A32 1 1894  34  34 328 53% 1870 26%
098 Ecce rev. 508            A32 1 1856  35  35 324 44% 1908 16%
099 Sayuri 2015.10.01        A32 4 1840  35  35 330 53% 1800 14%
100 Colchess_8.0.JA_xb       A32 1 1818  37  37 274 52% 1793 24%
101 Smash 1.03 JA            A32 1 1814  35  35 336 50% 1807 14%
102 Claudia v. 0.5           A32 1 1811  52  52 158 51% 1804 13%
103 Surprise_4.3.b13.JA_xb   A32 1 1805  49  49 166 48% 1816 16%
104 Zzzzzz_3.5.1.JA_xb       A32 1 1716  37  37 264 49% 1702 31%
105 Hoichess_0.12.1.JA_xb    A32 1 1713  35  36 318 48% 1716 19%
106 Chenard_2015.08.15.JA_xb A32 1 1702  42  42 262 47% 1694 10%
107 Kitteneitor_060513.JA_xb A32 1 1695  37  38 254 47% 1690 35%
108 Tscp_1.8.1.AB_xb         A32 1 1686  40  40 260 47% 1686 16%
109 Jester_0.84.JA_xb        A32 1 1681  42  42 248 49% 1644 13%
110 Colossus 4.0 100X        C64 1 1678 237 208  10 80% 1300 20%
111 Rocinante 2.0 JA         A32 1 1675  37  37 316 50% 1634 18%
112 Pulse 1.5-cpp            A32 1 1621  37  37 320 55% 1521 28%
113 Mephisto Roma 68020 UCI  W64 1 1616 124 134  20 35% 1718 30%
114 VIRUTOR CHESS 1.1.1      A32 1 1486  41  41 320 52% 1425 10%
115 Superpawn b108 JA        A32 1 1455  47  47 212 54% 1415 19%
116 K2 v.075                 A32 1 1439  52  51 206 57% 1372  6%
117 Chess for Android        A32 1 1434  41  42 313 52% 1371 14%
118 Chess Titans             W64 1 1336 212 203   7 57% 1306 29%
119 Trappy_Beowulf_2.0.JA_xb A32 1 1196  44  46 308 37% 1317  9%
120 Colossus 4.0             C64 1 1171 170 185  14 36% 1253 14%
121 Byak 8.10.14.JA          A32 1 1128  47  49 226 25% 1372 18%
122 Xadreco_5.7.JA_xb        A32 1 1018  54  59 220 14% 1393 10%
123 Novag Secondo            TTC 1  945 279  20   6 42%  964 17%
124 OliveChess 0.2.7         A32 1  568 390-352 180  0% 1503  0%

Rapidroid test platform:
* GT-N7100 1.6 * 4 + 256MB hash: All Android progs
* GT-N5105 1.6 * 4 + 256MB hash: All Android progs
* Codegen Novatab 1.4 * 4 + 256MB: Single thread Android progs,
* Polypad 1010IPS tablet 1.61 * 2 + 128MB: Single thread Android progs
* HTC Diam 528Mhz, 16MB hash: Windows Mobile
* i7 M620 2.67 Ghz dual + Arena 3.5 + 2GB hash: Windows 64
* iPhone5S A7 1.3 Ghz * 2: iOS progs
* DosBox 1.74: DOS progs
* WinVICE 2.24: Commodore-64 progs
* Messtiny UCI adapters or CB-Emu2014: Mephisto progs
* Openings: 20 ply from Adam Hair or 16 ply from TCEC, no Q exchange, +0.15 to +0.40 eval by Stockfish and Komodo, depth 20 minimum, played twice both sides
* Repeating openings and twin games not allowed between two programs
* Tablebases and pondering off
* Time control: 10 to 30 sec/move or 600+0 to 1800+5 or closest known by both programs.

Calibration:
* Based on 42 engines rated in CCRL 40/4
* 32 bit engines: Exynos 4412 = (Athlon X2 4600+) - 65 ELO
* 64 bit engines: Exynos 4412 = (Athlon X2 4600+) - 110 ELO
* Bayeselo offset = 2309 (Mean of ELO error vs target: 37.74)

Acid Ape Chess: An alternative chess GUI for Android?

Following a visitor's comment, i've been checking a new chess GUI made available for Android. It's called Acid Ape Chess and regarding the highlights claimed by the developer, it can use not only UCI but also XB engines. It plays engine to engine games and accesses online tablebases as well.

These are the main attractive features for me but there are many interesting others in the chef's menu. Since i didn't install it yet, any feedback from the testers is welcome.

Detailed app description taken from Google Play says:

"Acid Ape Chess is a chess application that combines online and engine play in a carefully designed, stylish and responsive user interface.

Acid Ape Chess is aimed at serious players. It will not explain you what the en passant rule is nor display a shiny 3D chessboard. Instead, Acid Ape Chess provides you with the best chess user experience available on Android.

Acid Ape Chess is 100% free: no in-app purchases, no advertisements.

Acid Ape Chess features include:

• Play online on FICS/ICC, or offline against chess engines.

• Support for external UCI and CECP (aka. WinBoard/XBoard) chess engines, with pondering and adjustable strength.

• Two strong builtin engines are provided: Arasan (ranked #30 on CCRL 40/40, ELO 2980) and Cheng 4 (ranked #27 on CCRL 40/40, ELO 3024).

• Uses an online service to provide Syzygy 3-4-5-6 men endgame tablebases. The use of an online service is the only practical way to benefit from state-of-the-art endgame tablebases on a mobile device, as the complete Syzygy 3-4-5-6 set requires more than 1 TB of disk space.

• Engine-aided analysis with real-time best move display. When there are less than 7 pieces left on the board, the online Syzygy 3-4-5-6 men endgame tablebases are automatically queried, immediately providing you with the perfect solution of the game.

• Automatic analysis: in this mode, the best move is automatically applied every x seconds until a checkmate or draw position is reached.

• ECO opening information is displayed.

• A multi-page interface: multiple chessboards and utility pages can be opened simultaneously. You can for instance watch several tournament games concurrently, or analyze different variations. Pages can be switched by swiping left/right or by using the page list.

• Easy move list navigation with large previous/next buttons.

• A LCD chess clock modeled after real hardware, with sound and flag display.

• Non-disruptive in-game chat using a subwindow at the bottom of the chessboard.

• A scratch board for testing ideas and variations.

• A board editor for creating specific positions, which can be analyzed or played against an engine.

• A game database where all the games you have played or watched are saved. Saved games can be displayed, analyzed, or even replayed against an engine from any position. Moreover, you can view all the games you have played against a specific opponent.

• When a game starts, your personal record against your opponent is displayed. You can also view all the games you have played against that opponent.

• Copy/paste a FEN position.

• Copy/paste a PGN game.

• Load/save a PGN game.

• Edit variations, move annotations and comments.

• Watch live games from major professional tournaments.

• First-class support for many FICS/ICC features: list games and watch other games, list users, display user information, chat with a specific user or in public channels, edit finger notes.

• FICS/ICC timeseal support, for negating the effects of network lag.

• Premove support.

• Engine duels: have two engines fight eachother from the initial position or from any game position.

• Simuls: play simultaneous exhibitions against chess engines.

• Play any position against an engine.

• Zero disruption policy: the chessboard will never be obscured during a game. Never lose a rapid game again just because a dialog pops up at the worst possible time.

• Share your games on social networks or via email.

• Smooth move animations.""

Download Acid Ape Chess at Google Play: HERE

Stockfish 7 Revisited: A clear tie between 3 builds

Huh and hah!

That was the first time i was digging that deep to discover a gap which possibly does not exist at all. Hopefully i was able to keep myself from pushing forward that insane experiment toward infinity. There's no gold in this pit man!

Given that i'm not wired enough to compete with Stockfish testing network, 2448 games per engine should be more than enough for me and my modest tablet fleet. All 306 openings of TCEC-7 were played with both sides between all participating engines.

The chart shown below summarizes the result of 6120 games played by 3 Stockfish 7 builds, Stockfish 6 and Komodo 9.3.

There is no clear reason to replace the build compiled by Peter Österlund, released with Droidfish 1.60 & 1.61 with any of the builds which came from Jim Ablett. They have proven their quality by playing exactly at the same level but they are not stronger at 300+1 time control at least, on a RK3188 processor running at 4 cores x 1 GHz.


Program                  Elo    +  -  Gams  Score   Oppo   Draws

1 Stockfish 7 DF160    : 3368   8  8  2448  56.9 %  3320   66.8 %
2 Stockfish 7 Beta2 JA : 3364   8  8  2448  56.2 %  3321   66.6 %
3 Stockfish 7 JA       : 3364   8  8  2448  56.2 %  3321   66.7 %
4 Stockfish 6          : 3290   9  9  2448  43.1 %  3339   61.2 %
5 Komodo 9.3 32-bit    : 3259  10 10  2448  37.6 %  3347   48.6 %


Once again, Komodo 9.3 suffered badly and took the last place, even behind Stockfish 6. One should remember that even Komodo 9.2 used to perform ~40 ELO ahead of SF6. What an unexpected regression...

In short, i will keep Stockfish7.DF160.arm7 in Rapidroid and won't care about the lack of an official build of Stockfish 7. The latter will never be released as confirmed in written by Daylen Lang of Stockfish helpdesk. Thus, the Droidfish build is the closest to deserve "official" label since the main app is mentioned in the official site.

Screenshots of 5 stages of the huge round robin based on lot of 50 openings each (56 for the last one to reach 306 total openings):

TCEC-7: Openings 1 to 50 of 306

TCEC-7: Openings 51 to 100 of 306

TCEC-7: Openings 101 to 150 of 306

TCEC-7: Openings 151 to 200 of 306

TCEC-7: Openings 201 to 250 of 306

TCEC-7: Openings 251 to 306 of 306

In case you wanna check how low was the quality of the games compared to Rapidroid, the games in PGN compressed with 7z  (7.8 MB) can be downloaded: HERE

P.S.: The latest development version i've posted yesterday was not available during above tourney. Although i'm not sure i can bear another deep experiment to find out how stronger is the develeopment verison, i may come back to the same subject later on because i'm rather interested to see how Komodo 9.3 with contempt 0 will deal with Stockfish 7 and both questions can be answered with a mixed double gauntlet extension.

Android UCI engine update: Stockfish dev't 2016-02-28

Stockfish development versions are systematically compiled whenever a patch or correction is approved and introduced. Sometimes many versions come out even in a single day, like in the case of February,28th where four different builds have been released.

Jim Ablett has just released the latest of them, identifiable with below description and also with commit number c13052f.

------------------------

Author: ElbertoOne

Date: Sun Feb 28 13:40:47 2016 +0000

Timestamp: 1456666847

Clean up depth reduction calculation

Might also be a slight speed up

No functional change

Resolves #593

-------------------

Testing this release is not in my scope for the moment but i'm sure many fans would be interested in giving a try with the latest development version.

Download Stockfish 2016-02-28 for arm5: HERE
Download Stockfish 2016-02-28 for arm7: HERE

Android UCI engine update: Arasan 18.3 JA

The probability of sharing a link of Arasan v54.8 in year 2024 here in this blog may not be zero! And maybe it will be playing at 3500 ELO, who knows?

Jon Dart

I may not be phantisizing too much because Arasan is the oldest of all engines with Crafty and Jon Dart never stops improving it since decades. He came to v18.3 lastly.

Thanks to Jim Ablett who compiled the new Arasan for Android, i guess we will soon be able to see it causing problems to the strongest mobile engines. There are already plenty of Arasan builds for Android available and they always worked flawlessy with all multicore processors i've tested. Therefore, i see no reason for 18.3 to be different from the perfect trend.

The expected ELO of the new version is above 2900 vs 18.2 which is rated ~2890 in Rapidroid.

Download Arasan 18.3 for arm7: HERE
Download Arasan 18.3 for arm7: HERE