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Gauging the balance between tactical/positional and middlegame/endgame play as well,what engine stands out if you were to pit it against a strong human opponent?
Rybka , of course . It is strong tactically and miles ahead of other engines positionally . It is strong in all phases of the game ( it plays some unconventional notes in the opening sometimes but no engine has been able to prove that they are worse than the conventional moves . It is also the strongest against the human opponents ( and it is very difficult to play successful anti-chess against Rybka ) Azaad
I agree, especially if you play with it right from the start(not a setup position)... I'm currently playing against Rybka 2.1c, Rybka 1.2n, Rybka 1.2f, Rybka 1.2 test 7 and Rybka 1.1. So far, the best that I've got was a draw(even with human bonus time). I'm not saying that I'm good in chess that you have to take my word for it, I am just saying that it's fun to play against Rybka(especially in a 10 minute blitz game)...
What about Fritz? This engine does a great job annihilating Grandmasters,I mean Top Grandmasters.Some testers say Fritz is tactically better than Rybka ,others find it best for analysis because it finds the meanest possible combinations,whereas Rybka doesn't,and the its endgame prowess is quite questionable to many.We have yet to see Rybka demolish a top GM.
You are right in pointing out that Rybka has not defeated any tks grandmaster- because it so far has not met any . It has taken part in one human tournament (Santiago March 2006) winning it comfortably with 8/9 and achieving a performance rating of over 2740. I don't think Vas had resources to arrange a match with likes of Anand , Kraminik and Topalov. Lets hope Chessok can change that . As for the other points , I don't think Rybka is worse than any engine tactically . I would place Rybka , Fritz and Toga II on roughly equal level tactically . But when it comes to positional play Rybka is parsecs ahead of every other engine . Also Rybka'sweak endgame play is more a myth than a reality . Someone had organized a tournament based on endgame positions and Rybka won it . I don't remember the details but there was a thread at the CCC about it and this fact has been pointed out in a number of threads there . Same goes for analysis . A couple of times Fritz may find moves that Rybka missed but the reverse is more likely to happen . The simple fact is this : if one program is about 150 points stronger than the other program one can talk about the virtues of the weaker program till the cows come home without convincing anyone. Azaad
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