8/20/2019 – Some people keep a Komodo dragon in their yard, and some keep it in their living room, safely inside their computer! In this interview with Grandmaster Larry Kaufman, one of the creators of Komodo, the World Chess Software Champion, we gain new insight into the latest release of the popular chess program. Komodo has gained strength both in the standard version, but particularly in the Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), making the engine a valuable research tool for correspondence games, and openings.

1/30/2019 – Until now, chess programs mostly worked according to the so-called alpha-beta pruning search algorithm. The spectacular Deep Mind project Alpha Zero is based on the Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). The Komodo developers, too, are now increasingly relying on this method — with success. STEPHEN OLIVER PLATZ explains the difference and shows the progress. | Photo: (Komodo Dragon) Ryan Vaarsi, CC BY 2.0

5/28/2018 – This is what the chess world has been waiting for: one of the strongest chess engines in the world, but with access to the most important AI enhancement of recent times: Komodo 12 can be switched to a Monte Carlo search, very similar to the one employed by AlphaZero. This engine achieves over 3000 Elo, but more importantly, it plays more aggressively and more human-like. Komodo Monte Carlo is not primarily concerned with material advantage and provides a completely new strategic evaluation of the game.