Horizon 4.3.114

[Ron Murawski]

I've uploaded Horizon 4.3.114 to the 'Beta' page.

Lots of search bugs have been corrected but, despite this, playing strength has *not* climbed substantially. Perhaps there's more bugs lurking! There is quite a lot of information about this version on the web site 'Beta' page.

To all tournament directors: Please use this version in your tournaments.

http://horizonchess.com/

Best regards,
Ron

[Graham Banks]

Ron - CCRL test beta versions for our blitz lists, but not at 40/40.

Regards, Graham.

PS - keep up the good work developing your engine.

[Tony Thomas]

You know Graham, sometimes you can change the rules, because Ron doesnt release as many beta versions as some of the other famous engines. Also it looks like he has made quite a lot of bugfixes.

[Ron Murawski]

Hi Tony and Graham,

I don't want to release any beta as the "official" Horizon 4.4 version until there is a clear Elo increase. There is a possibility that 4.3.114 is stronger at longer time controls but I didn't test that myself. According to my own testing it's about the same strength as Horizon 4.3 in Blitz. That made me think that I should not release this beta version. But I had to weigh the importance of the bugfixes as well. Because those fixes can be important to some kinds of tournaments I decided to make it a public beta.

Now that the search code is more-or-less debugged I can try some provocative ideas that may (or may not) increase playing strength. If any of these ideas bear fruit [joke!] or if it turns out that at long time control the strength is better, or if I've underestimated Blitz playing strength then an official 4.4 version will quickly follow.

Whatever you decide for CCRL is fine with me.

Best regards,
Ron

[Graham Banks]

Hi Tony and Graham,

I don't want to release any beta as the "official" Horizon 4.4 version until there is a clear Elo increase. There is a possibility that 4.3.114 is stronger at longer time controls but I didn't test that myself. According to my own testing it's about the same strength as Horizon 4.3 in Blitz. That made me think that I should not release this beta version. But I had to weigh the importance of the bugfixes as well. Because those fixes can be important to some kinds of tournaments I decided to make it a public beta.

Now that the search code is more-or-less debugged I can try some provocative ideas that may (or may not) increase playing strength. If any of these ideas bear fruit [joke!] or if it turns out that at long time control the strength is better, or if I've underestimated Blitz playing strength then an official 4.4 version will quickly follow.

Whatever you decide for CCRL is fine with me.

Best regards,
Ron

Hi Ron,

please don't get me wrong.

We would love to test betas at 40/40, but with our resources spread thinly, it would be even more difficult to get a decent number of games per engine.
Although we have 12 testers, some do multi-cpu only, some stick primarily with our blitz testing and some concentrate on single-cpu 40/40.

Also the constant stream of new releases makes it difficult to think about testing betas. (not that I'm complaining! )

We do test betas at 40/4 though!

Regards, Graham.

[Ron Murawski]

Hi Ron,

please don't get me wrong.

We would love to test betas at 40/40, but with our resources spread thinly, it would be even more difficult to get a decent number of games per engine.
Although we have 12 testers, some do multi-cpu only, some stick primarily with our blitz testing and some concentrate on single-cpu 40/40.

Also the constant stream of new releases makes it difficult to think about testing betas. (not that I'm complaining! )

We do test betas at 40/4 though!

Regards, Graham.

Hi Graham,

CCRL is a wonderful resource for chess programmers as well as for WinBoard fans. I am grateful for any testing!

In my post I was trying to warn you that Horizon may change frequently. My internal betas change daily and, at this point, any breakthough at all will warrant an "official" release. Personally I have found that a pre-release beta is a great way to find any latent bugs before releasing officially. For instance, in this beta I have halved the displayed scoring so Horizon seems more in line with other engines. I'm not sure if people will like this or not. I don't expect extensive testing of any of my betas, I'm just hoping for some light testing and, maybe, some feedback!

Best regards,
Ron

[Ron Murawski]

The Beta page has been updated once more.

http://horizonchess.com/

Best regards,
Ron