64 bit multiprocessor version
In computer chess there is no getting past Komodo, the triple TCEC Champion. Last year Komodo won the computer rapid chess world championship with an incredible score of 96%!
But what does the surprising success of the AI project AlphaZero mean for the future of computer chess? Will the classical engines, with cunning algorithms and any amount of human chess knowledge, still manage to keep their noses in front?
The new Komodo 12 may not have a final answer to this question but it does have two engines up its sleeve! For with Komodo 12 you get on one hand the new and improved classical Komodo engine. The developing team of computer expert Mark Lefler and chess grandmaster Larry Kaufman has cranked up the playing strength of the top program further.
On the other hand a Komodo 12 “Monte Carlo” version is included.
Here the engine behaves quite differently in analysis: within a short time it expands its game tree by making many thousands of short searches, and is guided by the winning percentages gathered from its search and evaluation. In playing strength, the Monte Carlo version is not yet up there with the classical Komodo 12. But what is interesting is that the style of the two versions is quite different: the Monte Carlo version plays clearly more aggressively and also bases its play less on the material balance on the board.
Komodo 12 is thus two things: an absolutely top program and an exciting analysis partner, which will often surprise you with its suggestions and introduce you to interesting ideas! It is delivered with the new program interface of Fritz 16 and premium membership (six months) for the ChessBase Account, including access to playchess.com, ChessBase Videos, the Live Database, and much more.
"I am deeply moved by the style of Komodo. In my opinion, it's the perfect combination of computer accuracy and human positional understanding. I get the feeling it's taken positional understanding to the next level. After such an impressive performance I am going to test Komodo in my future work, especially in very positional play, and am really looking forward to working with it." – GM Boris Avrukh
The playing strength of the regular Komodo engine only represents a gain of about thirty Elo points over Komodo 11. The playing strength in MCTS mode, running on one thread, is well over 3000 Elo, which is stronger than any other PC engine in the world. On two or three threads Komodo 12 will gain roughly the same amount as normal engines do, which is roughly fifty Elo for two threads and about eighty for three.
Big news: the Komodo 12 package includes a working Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) option, which allows Komodo to use MCTS in place of the normal alpha-beta search, while still allowing the user to play games, to analyze, and pretty much to do the same things he would do with normal Komodo. But it has the characteristic behaviour of AlphaZero and Leela in that it is less materialistic and more aggressive (and human-like) than normal engines.
Komodo MCTS has some real advantages over the normal Komodo engine. First of all, if you want to look at the evaluations of many (or in fact all) legal moves at the root, Komodo MCTS will not lose strength while displaying this information. Regular chess engines lose hundreds of Elo points when displaying multiple lines.
The playing style of Komodo MCTS is far bolder than that of the regular engine. It plays much like AlphaZero, preferring activity to material (within reason). The moves tend to be more human because MCTS doesn't assume perfect play by the opponent. Finally, the evaluations change more gradually, not in sudden jumps as is typical with normal engines.
Komodo 12 has additional skill levels, now 0 thru 20, to allow players to face an opponent of comparable strength. Level 0 is roughly beginner level, level 19 perhaps Magnus Carlsen level in quick games, and level 20 is the full strength. Find your matching level and practice against the computer.
In computer chess there is no getting past Komodo, a two-time ICGA Computer World Chess Champion. Find out how Komodo can take your game to the next level!
System requirements: Minimum: Dual Core, 2 GB RAM, Windows 7 or 8.1, DirecX11, graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9 and Internet access. Recommended: PC Intel i5 (Quadcore), 8 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11, graphics card with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10-compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet access.
For the ChessBase Account: Internet access and current browser, e.g. Chrome, Safari. For Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, Linux.
Order Komodo 12 (today for €67.43 — save €94! — instead of regular €89.90)
