Great Expectations: Pharaon 3

[Mike Scheidl]

I'm very curious if the upcoming (?) release of Paraon 3 will bring a new top level engine, comparable to List 5.x, Aristarch 4.50, SOS.4 etc. I always liked this strong engine, also because it's complete support for all the features listed on WBEC.

To shift the expectations even more, here is a nice example where Pharaon 2.61 wins against Ari 4.4 utilizing the famous Hor(r)witz Bishops:

[Event "8m+3s P3/700"]
[Site "Wien"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aristarch 4.4"]
[Black "Pharaon 2.61"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C80"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2002.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. a4
Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 Be6 11. axb5 axb5 12. Rxa8 Qxa8 13. Rd1 c6 14. Qe5
Nc5 15. Re1 Nxb3 16. cxb3 h6 17. Kh1 Qc8 18. f4 Kd8 19. Nc3 Qc7 20. Qd4 b4 21.
Na4 c5 22. Qd3 d4 23. Kg1 Qc6 24. f5 Bd5 25. Re2 Bd6 26. Bd2 Re8 27. Rf2 Kc8
28. Kh1 Bc7 29. Kg1 Qd6 30. g3 Ba8 31. Qb5 Re5 32. Bf4 Qd5 33. Re2 d3 34. Qe8+
Rxe8 35. Rxe8+ Kb7 0-1

<IFRAME src="http://www.marochess.de/php3/epd2html.php3?epd=3k3r/5pp1/2qb3p/2pb1P2/Np1p4/1P1Q4/1P2R1PP/2B3K1 w - - 0 26&header=&footer=Black's Horrwitz Bishops (after 25...Bd6)
&align=center&show=true&light=%23F8C478&dark=%23E08000&htmlbg=%23FFFEEE&diagbg=%23EEEEEE" frameborder="0" height="550" width="550">
</IFRAME>

Code: Select all

8m+3s P3/700, 2002

                   123456789012
1   Pharaon 2.61   0?110?01???1  6.5/12
2   Aristarch 4.4  1?001?10???0  5.5/12



[mike schoonover]

pharaon does a good job here.
thanks for sharing it with us.
regards
mike schoonover

[Franck]

Hi !

I do not expect Pharaon 3.0 to be that strong compared to v2.62 ,
perhaps a 50/60 elo point increase ?

The major improvement associated with this version is a new testing methodology (based on a huge set of selected positions)
This mehod appears to be more reliable then playing (even very long) test matches vs various engines.

BTW, Pharaon 3 will be released just after the French Computer Chess Championship (16/17 october).

Best regards.

Franck

[Mike Scheidl]

I do not expect Pharaon 3.0 to be that strong compared to v2.62 ,
perhaps a 50/60 elo point increase ?

I would consider this to be very good! Nowadays, this is an increase much above average, from one version to the next.

The major improvement associated with this version is a new testing methodology (based on a huge set of selected positions)
This mehod appears to be more reliable then playing (even very long) test matches vs various engines.

Wonderful!

I'll forward your announcement; thanks.

[Joachim Rang]

Hi !

The major improvement associated with this version is a new testing methodology (based on a huge set of selected positions)
This mehod appears to be more reliable then playing (even very long) test matches vs various engines.

Franck

this are quite interesting news! In fact it is what every engine author is dreaming about? Will you reveil your testing methodology or at least share some ideas? I would greatly appreciate it (and many others I think).

regards Joachim

[Graham Banks]

Pharaon 3.00 did very well in Olivier's Chess Wars Final and Franck has been good enough to send me Pharaon 3.00 to include in Super Tournament III Final being run at 40 moves in 120 minutes repeating. You can follow progress in the tournament section of the forum.