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Using powerful engines on a laptop is often inefficient. ChessBase has developed the Engine Cloud so that you can benefit from enormous computing power without burdening your own device or investing in expensive hardware. With the Engine Cloud there is no burden on your own infrastructure or wallet as all calculations are performed on external high performance computers. Your own device stays cool and saves power, you don't have to invest in high performance components, but you can always access the latest technology from the cloud.
You can rent or offer computing power in the ChessBase Engine Cloud. You can even run multiple engines in parallel for complex analyses.
In this article, we will introduce you to two of our providers that offer their engines in the cloud:
RANCH Computing was founded in Paris in 2006 and has become one of the leading providers of high-performance cloud rendering services for CPU- and GPU-based 3D projects. This means that powerful computers in the cloud are used to calculate complex 3D processes. Both CPUs (processors) and GPUs (graphics processing units) are used to efficiently distribute the computing tasks and shorten calculation times.
Ranch Computing provides insights into the server room.
"We sell and rent advanced hardware solutions," says Support Team Manager Jean-Philippe Louguet. The application of the technology developed by his company to the field of chess was an obvious one, as several team members are passionate chess players. One of the co-founders developed the “Chess Wizard” as a pioneer at the time. This was one of the first non-commercial programmes worldwide. In February 1999, the electronic wizard defeated a grandmaster at the international tournament in Aubervilliers (near Paris) and achieved a then enormously impressive performance of 2656 Elo. As a result, the tournament organisers, who were obviously also deeply impressed, decided to ban chess programs from tournaments with human participants. Chess Wizard then won three titles at the French Computing Chess Championship (FCCC).
RANCH Computing uses this in-depth experience in the field of computing power and also offers powerful chess engines at extremely competitive prices.
February 1999 at the Aubervilliers tournament: Chess Wizard with its programmer Frederic Louguet (co-founder of Ranch Computing) against GM Hichem Hamdouchi.
Data
AMD EPYC Turin Dual CPU (384 cores / 768 threads) with 1.5 Tb RAM. The MN/s with Stockfish 17 for this machine are around 320 MN/s and were able to reach over 400 MN/s in my test.
"I discovered chess when I was looking for task for my computers, all of which I build myself. You can never have too much computing power in computer chess," says Lukas Cimiotti. The computer expert and member of the Rybka team is a well-known figure in the chess community and appears under the user name "Rechenschieber" (calculator) on GitHub, an online platform for software development. He is particularly well known for building a powerful computer cluster that is used specifically for chess analysis. This so-called "Lukas Cluster" consists of numerous processors and was used, among other things, to develop the Rybka 4 opening book.
However, modern chess engines, such as Stockfish, place a very high load on the computer, so that the cooling of both the CPUs and the voltage converter must function optimally. There was a major change in CPUs about five years ago. Until then, computers with two Xeon CPUs were the norm. Then the third generation of AMD Threadripper CPUs with up to 64 cores came onto the market. It beat the previously dominant "Xeons" by a long way. At the same time, the second AMD EPYC generation was released, which was initially very expensive. "My best computers are now fourth-generation EPYCs with 64 or 96 cores per CPU," says Cimiotti. The fifth generation is just coming onto the market and initial tests suggest that chess performance will continue to improve.
Impressions from Cimiotti's Engine room
The Engine Cloud offers maximum flexibility, especially in critical moments when a game requires in-depth analysis. Even with a simple notebook, you can access the combined computing power of several high-performance computers with just one click of the mouse. The ChessBase Engine Cloud, with its great range of engine providers, is a first-class tool that allows even non-computer experts to access the best possible computing power and use it to improve their own game.
Ranch Computing is offering a 50 per cent introductory discount on its rental prices in March and has halved the prices for all computers in the price list. So it's a good opportunity to try out a top-of-the-range machine.
Overview of engine providers – sorted by speed (MN/s)
Would you like to learn more about the ChessBase Engine Cloud? Here's a tutorial.
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