@pdkang:
Stockfish is so fast in reaching depth by a very aggressive approach to "pruning", which means cutting of branches of the search-tree.
That's why it will sometimes ignore a move that would turn out to be the winning move later. However, that for the most part is only relevant in chess-compositions, not so much in real games.
Cut and pasted, from another post:
Top 10 Free Chess Engine Recommendation as of 12/7/13
Stockfish DD: http://stockfishchess.org/
Komodo 5: http://komodochess.com/
Houdini 1.5a: http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm
Critter 1.6a: http://www.vlasak.biz/critter/
Gull 2.3: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gullchess/
Bouquet 1.8: https://sites.google.com/site/chessbouquet/
Rybka 2.3.2a: http://www.rybkachess.com/
Strelka 5.5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelka_%28chess_engine%29
Protector 1.5: http://sourceforge.net/projects/protector/
Crafty 23.8: http://www.craftychess.com/
Good suggestions!
I tried downloading both Stockfish and Komodo (from the above links), but once I unzipped the files and clicked the Windows-32 executable, a DOS window appears and I can go no further. Why is this a problem? I have a degree in Computer Information Systems, and if I can't figure out how to download this, I'm sure a lot of other people are having similar difficulties.
I tried downloading both Stockfish and Komodo (from the above links), but once I unzipped the files and clicked the Windows-32 executable, a DOS window appears and I can go no further. Why is this a problem? I have a degree in Computer Information Systems, and if I can't figure out how to download this, I'm sure a lot of other people are having similar difficulties.
When you click on the engine executable, the engine runs in console mode, which isn't very useful to people. To be more useful, they really need to be installed into a chess GUI (graphical user interface) such as Arena, Winboard, Scid, Scid vs. PC, etc.
EscherehcsE is correct. All you did was download the engine.
Chess engine authors don't wish to be bothered with writing and creating graphics, menus, and all of that. They just concentrate on writing the chess engine. What you now need is a GUI... a graphical user interface that "interacts" with all of these engines.
This method is ideal. This way you don't have to learn a new interface for every engine you download. You choose ONE interface and that can handle ALL of the engines. This way the GUI authors can concentrage on writing the GUI, and the engine authors can concentrate on writitng the engine.
The following link is old... old enought that I can't find it any longer on the chessbase site, but it's still a good read and a good first introduction to engines and GUIs:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070208110241/http://chessbase.com/support/support.asp?pid=213
Droidfish for the phone. It is brilliant.
Ask IM pfren about this.
I use Rybka engine on the Tarrasch GUI. *shrugs* It's easy to use, no frills, does the job. Not the best, but it works for me.
Download rybka a
Rybka is an engine veteran. It's like Ferrari in F1. Show some respect. ;)
If speed is a big factor, then Stockfish DD is the only engine worth considering for main analysis. Compare engine blundercheck on depth 15 and you'll see what I mean. Stockfish takes only seconds (on core i5-2500k) while others like Houdini 3 or 4, Fritz or Deep Fritz takes minutes.
YMMV if you're like a GM or something.