Recently I have heard a lot of good reviews for the Vitruvius Chess Engine,with claims that it is "by far the most humanlike engine," and that "it plays sound positional sacrifices in almost every game," and i was wondering what you think about it.Here is a sample game.Vitruvius has white against Houdini.

Your opponents' average ratings are 300-400 points below you.

What's up with that Brainiac?  You like to beat up on kids?

I think it's a good buy.

Why?  Houdini is FREE.  This thing is $60.  Houdini is higher rated.

What makes it worth paying infinity percent more??

Yeah, I'm sticking with the super strong and free houdini.  I'm sure this thing will be pirate-able within the next few years anyway

Mainly because although Houdini is stronger, it does nothing to help a human player and is only good for crushing other engines in matches.

Hahaha... if you think so!

Houdini helps me perfectly when I am analysing my games.  I never play vs engines... it's pointless for me unless I significantly dumb down the engine.  And that would include this one.

What is your motivation I wonder... are you a shareholder or what?!

it is just better for helping with preperation and finding novelties. It plays sacs in almost every game and wins with them often even agaist Houdini. It is also rated 3150+ by the way so if you ask me one 3100+ engine is as good as the next, and at that point on it's mainly about playing style.

How is it better for helping with preparation?  Surely in preparation, the stronger the engine, the better the help?!

Sorry, but I just can't see the benefit of this engine vs the free Houdini engine to warrant paying a significant amount of money.

I agree, but I have the 0.82b version which is free. Here are the games it played against Crafty in a match conducted by ME so this is totally unbiased.

Not too bad I don't think.

What were the conditions of these games?  What settings were used by these engines?

Unbiased?   Not convinced tbh. 

I'd like to see a set of 7 games between Houdini and the free V-V, conducted by someone who isn't "sold" on V-V.  That would be more unbiased ;-)

Alright, if you want an unbiased assessment, try VitruviusChess.com LOL!

Hehehe!  Yeah, that would be soooo unbiased!  lol

Actually, if I had a match between Vitruvius and Houdini Houdini would win. The point of Vitruvius is mainly just to play more like a person and sac material in almost every game while still being near the top level. I will have a 10 game match between Vitruvius and Fritz and post the results.