Rybka
3 – Computer Chess World Champion
Rybka 2, the world’s strongest chess program, leads all ranking lists
clearly, with ratings well above Elo 3000. Now Rybka 3 is here, with a dramatic
improvement of at least 80 Elo points.
Rybka, which translates to "little fish", is the shooting star of
computer chess and the reigning world champion, having won its title in Amsterdam
2007.
But strength is not everything. Today the main use of chess software is interactive
analysis. Rybka's superior playing strength helps you to quickly assess a position.
But analysis with Rybka 3 is much more than just evaluations and best moves.
In the user interface designed by ChessBase, Rybka 3 introduces several ground-breaking
new analysis features:
Monte Carlo Analysis yields precise evaluations by playing
thousands of ultra-fast games in a few minutes in a given position. This is
very much like using game result statistics, something human players do when
choosing their opening variations. Monte Carlo Analysis can be used in any position,
but generally it's most useful in two types of positions:
Interesting: in the starting position the Monte Carlo Analysis gives a 52.8%
win probability for White
Sampled Search gives detailed information about the search
process, showing scores and alternative moves in the main line. This is helpful
when the program searches for a long time in one position. It lets the users
see how the engine is thinking and making its decisions.
Note that in in the live search you can see that the Rybka engine is working
on Kasparov's famous 30.Rxb7 sacrifice, which has not turned up in the engine
window yet (it will become the main variation after the next iteration). Note
too that the square Chess Informant symbol behind certain moves means that these
are forced.
Singular Moves are annotated graphically. This indicates situations
where only one clearly best move exists.
Look for win: whenever you feel that there should be a forced
win in a position you can explicitly ask for it. Rybka then searches for a decisive
move, considerably faster than in normal analysis.
New high-resolution 3D Staunton pieces in Rybka 3
Persistent Hash: Rybka can save its hash tables between analysis
sessions to preserve valuable information already accumulated in the search
tree.
The author of Rybka, Czech-American International Master Vasik Rajlich,
has implemented an extraordinary understanding of dynamic factors into his program.
This often results in long-term pawn or exchange sacrifices and an active positional
playing style resembling human chess. Rybka scores well in all types of situations
but dominates especially in asymmetric positions which arise e.g. from Sicilian
systems.
The success of the program stems from dedicated team work: IM Iweta
Rajlich, rated 2417, is the main tester; Jeroen Noomen contributes
opening theory and tournament preparation; IM Larry Kaufman develops positional
algorithms.
The Rykba 3 Book by Jeroen Noomen
The Rybka 3 opening book is a high-class compilation of opening theory. It
was developed for the world’s strongest chess program Rybka 3 and will
maximize the program’s playing strength. The choice of variations in the
book is well suited to the style of the program, and the book has been fine-tuned
and checked in thousands of games.
The Rybka Book has high value outside computer chess. It reflects the state
of current opening knowledge as played in master, correspondence and 100,000
top computer games (up to June 2008). And this is only the starting point: the
value of the book lies in its deep original analysis and move choices, which
lead to a re-evaluation in many critical points of modern theory. This makes
it useful for tournament and correspondence players alike. The book contains
a lot of computer-checked analysis never published anywhere before.
The author of the Rybka 3 book is Jeroen Noomen, one of the
world’s leading experts in computer opening theory. Jeroen Noomen has
been on the Rybka team since the very start, and his preparation is used in
all official events, including the World Championship 2007 which Rykba won.
In his long career as an opening analyst he has achieved many fine novelties
in top computer chess events.
Number of positions in the Rybka 3 book: 3,387,966.
Size 260 MB. The book runs on any recent ChessBase software.
Prices
Note that Rybka 3 includes a database of one million games, and that the purchase
of the program entitles you to one year of access to the chess server Playchess.com.
Rybka 3 is a UCI engine, with 32 and 64-bit versions included in the package.
Rybka can be made the default engine in ChessBase 10.
Order
Rybka now
Delivery starts on August 1st 2008