When I first started with the idea of using Computer Chess as a way to help deal with pain and depression from long term permanent disability, naturally I had to find a good engine.
At the time, Rybka 1 series was out along with Fruit. I was kind of undecided, but at the time had recieved a gift, so I bought both (They weren't as expensive as they are now) , compared them with matches on my computer and Rybka won most of the time. It was then that Rybka won it's first Computer Chess Championship. It was first developed by Vasik Rajlich (IM) and Jeroen Noomen (opening book work, I believe), I'm sure Vas had other help as well!
I then decided to start a Computer Chess account on ICC, first CreepingChess, devoted to Comp vs Comp play (Humans could play as well) After a while, with Creep going well, I decided to try a 6 month trial of a Human only comp. This as you know is, TransWarp. Now, generally, Human only comps are regarded with distaste by the comp vs comp crowd. Assuming they are just in it for the rating points. In my case, it was not. I just wanted to see for myself how well a computer could play vs humans. But I wanted to make sure there were NO limitations (except for the 700 pt rating difference rule, people who were over 700 pts below TransWarp's rating couldn't play, as the games would be unrated, I feel people play better when there's something up for stake and the opening book statistics wouldn't become skewed by dubious move wins against lower rated players), like having only 0 increment as an option, or just 1 second inc. TransWarp has always allowed any increment. Like Tactical, who only allows 1 second increment. GM Maxim Dlugy likes to play with 5 second increment, which is cool with me.
It's been a bumpy ride at times, I couldn't afford to keep CreepingChess online. I was having problems with crashes and in computer vs computer play, you often get rematched over & over and with auto accept on, you can have a marathon. But I would get threats of being norated, so for a while, I could only keep CreepingChess online while I sat here. Since humans don't play as often, it was easier to just stay with TransWarp until I could save to put Creep back online. Sadly, that didn't happen and the account got deleted, I thought we had a year, but I guess they changed that. Most of CreepingChess' games are with a slower processor, but can still be found if you do a search.
Wow, I lost track of the subject! It happens. Lots of pain meds do that at times. But I've stuck with Rybka since getting 1.2 I believe. I know there was only 64 bit and 32 bit versions at the time, no MP versions yet :) It sure is fun to use Multi-Processor with 64 bit OS. Soon to come, 8 GB of DDR2 6400 RAM. Will max out this machine, but I found a good deal, my little tax returns came in handy. That should be hopefully Tuesday, I would like to be able to observe the games and be online on my account, it sits unused while TransWarp is online. I may get online with it, but if a TransWarp game starts, I have to hightail it offline! Will have to ask in they Rybka forum (soon to be a link) what hashtable size I should use.
Anyway, despite Rybka's loss to Zappa Mexico in a 6 game match (Hardly enough to consider who's really stronger) I will always be a Rybka fan. Vas & Larry Kaufman (IM) are really cool guys. Larry joined the Rybka team and has been a great help. Rybka's demand caused the need to help distribution for the team by www.Chessok.com a few bugs at first, to be expected, but now a major part of their site, along with Chess Assistant 9.1, a great database AND gui to log into ICC and ChessOk's playing site. We are all patiently waiting for Rybka 3.0 to come out! It's supposed to come out with it's own interface as well, which would be nice, because they were made for each other! As far as I know, they are working out the last bugs and we may see it in a few months. Whenever it's stable, that's the main thing :)
Go Rybka!
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