Komodo (chess)

Last updated

Komodo
Original author(s)
Developer(s) Komodo Chess, Chess.com
Initial releaseJanuary 2010;13 years ago (2010-01)
Stable release
Komodo 14.1 / November 2, 2020;2 years ago (2020-11-02)
Written in C, C++
Operating system Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android
PredecessorDoch
SuccessorDragon
Type Chess engine
License Proprietary
Website komodochess.com
Dragon by Komodo Chess
Developer(s) Komodo Chess, Chess.com
Initial releaseNovember 9, 2020;2 years ago (2020-11-09)
Stable release
Dragon 3.2 / December 17, 2022;10 months ago (2022-12-17)
Written in C, C++
Operating system Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android
PredecessorKomodo
Type Chess engine
License Proprietary
Website komodochess.com

Komodo and Dragon by Komodo Chess (also known as Dragon or Komodo Dragon) are UCI chess engines developed by Komodo Chess, [1] which is a part of Chess.com. [2] The engines were originally authored by Don Dailey and GM Larry Kaufman. Dragon is a commercial chess engine, but Komodo is free for non-commercial use. [3] Dragon is consistently ranked near the top of most major chess engine rating lists, along with Stockfish and Leela Chess Zero. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Contents

History

Komodo

Komodo logo Komodo Chess logo.svg
Komodo logo

Komodo was derived from Don Dailey's former engine Doch in January 2010. [9] The first multiprocessor version of Komodo was released in June 2013 as Komodo 5.1 MP. [10] This version was a major rewrite and a port of Komodo to C++11. A single-processor version of Komodo (which won the CCT15 tournament in February earlier that year) was released as a stand-alone product shortly before the 5.1 MP release. This version, named Komodo CCT, was still based on the older C code, and was approximately 30 Elo stronger than the 5.1 MP version, as the latter was still undergoing massive code-cleanup work. [11]

With the release of Komodo 6 on October 4, 2013, Don Dailey announced that he was suffering from an acute form of leukaemia, and would no longer contribute to the future development of Komodo. [12] On October 8, Don made an announcement on the Talkchess forum that Mark Lefler would be joining the Komodo team and would continue its development. [13]

Komodo TCEC was released on December 4, 2013. This was the same version that had won TCEC Season 5, and was the last with input from Don Dailey, to whom it was dedicated. [14] Komodo 7 was released on May 21, 2014, adding Syzygy tablebase support. [15]

On May 24, 2018, Chess.com announced that it has acquired Komodo and that the Komodo team have joined Chess.com. [2] The Komodo team is now called Komodo Chess. [1]

On December 17, 2018, Komodo Chess released Komodo 12.3 MCTS, a version of the Komodo 12.3 engine that uses Monte Carlo tree search instead of alpha–beta pruning/minimax. [16]

The latest version, Komodo 14.1, was released on November 2, 2020. [17]

Dragon

On November 9, 2020, Komodo Chess released Dragon by Komodo Chess 1.0, which features the use of efficiently updatable neural networks in its evaluation function. Dragon is derived from Komodo in the same way that Komodo was derived from Doch. [18] [19] Dragon is also called Komodo Dragon in certain tournaments such as the Top Chess Engine Championship and the World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) but not in the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCC). A Chess.com staff member named Dmitry Pervov joined the Dragon development team to write the NNUE code for Dragon, and Dietrich Kappe joined the Dragon development team to help Larry Kaufman and Mark Lefter train Dragon's neural networks. [20]

The latest version, Dragon 3.2, was released on December 17, 2022. [21] On March 17, 2023, Larry Kaufman announced that he and Mark Lefter have stepped down from Dragon development and from ownership of Komodo Chess, and that Chess.com have taken full control of Komodo Chess. As of March 17, 2023, Dietrich Kappe is the only person responsible for the development of Dragon, but Chess.com are looking for more programmers to help with Dragon development. [22]

Competition results

Komodo

Komodo has played in the ICT 2010 in Leiden, and further in the CCT12 and CCT14. Komodo had its first tournament success in 1999, when it won the CCT15 with a score of 6½/7. [23] Komodo also fared very well in the TCEC competition, where in Season 4, it lost only eight out of its 53 games and managed to reach Stage 4 (Quarterfinals), against very strong competition which were running on eight cores (Komodo was running on a single processor). [24] In TCEC Season 5, it won the superfinal against Stockfish. It managed to reach the Superfinal in TCEC Season 6 again, but this time, it lost to Stockfish. Komodo regained the title in TCEC Season 7, defeating Stockfish in the superfinal. In TCEC Season 8, Komodo defeated Stockfish again in the superfinal. [25] Komodo won both the World Computer Chess Championship [26] and World Computer Software Championship [27] in 2016. Komodo once again won the World Computer Chess Championship [28] and World Blitz [29] in 2017. Komodo came third in TCEC Season 11 losing to Stockfish and Houdini, and came second in Season 12 losing to Stockfish. [30] [31] [32]

Chess.com Computer Chess Championship

Main Events
EventYearTime ControlsResultRef
CCC 1201815+54th [33]
CCC 220185+22nd [34]
CCC 3201930+53rd [35]
CCC 420191+24th [36]
CCC 5201910+54th [37]
CCC 6201910+107th [38]
CCC 720195+26th [39]
CCC 8201915+56th [40]
CCC 920195+25th [41]
CCC 10201910+34th [42]
CCC 11201930+54th [43]
CCC 1220201+14th [44]
CCC 13202010+54th [45]
CCC 14202010+35th [46]
CCC Blitz 202020205+59th [47]
CCC Blitz 202120215+510th [48]
CCC Chess 960 Blitz20215+59th [49]

Dragon

Chess.com Computer Chess Championship

Main Events
EventYearTime ControlsResultRef
CCC Blitz 202020205+53rd [50]
CCC Rapid 2021202115+33rd [51]
CCC Blitz 202120215+53rd [52]
CCC Chess 960 Blitz20215+52nd [53]
CCC 16: Rapid202115+33rd [54]
CCC 16: Bullet20212+12nd [55]
CCC 16: Blitz20225+52nd [56]
CCC 17: Rapid202215+32nd [57]
CCC 17: Bullet20222+12nd [58]
CCC 17: Blitz20225+53rd [59]
CCC 18: Rapid202215+33rd [60]
CCC 19: Blitz20225+52nd [61]
CCC 19: Rapid202215+33rd [62]
CCC 19: Bullet20231+12nd [63]
CCC 20: Blitz20233+23rd [64]
CCC 20: Rapid202310+33rd [65]
CCC 20: Bullet20231+13rd [66]
CCC 21: Blitz20233+24th [67]
CCC 21: Rapid202310+34th [68]

Top Chess Engine Championship

Main Events
EventYearTime ControlsResultRef
Season 20202060+73rd [69]
Season 21202190+93rd [70]
Season 222022120+122nd [71]
Season 23202260+63rd [72]
Season 24202360+63rd [73]
Season 25202360+63rd [74]
Cup
EventYearTime ControlsResultRef
Cup 8202130+53rd [75]
Cup 9202130+53rd [76]
Cup 10202230+32nd [77]
Cup 11202330+33rd [78]
Fischer random chess (FRC)
EventYearTime ControlsResultRef
FRC 3202130+51st [79]
FRC 4202230+53rd [80]
Swiss
EventYearTime ControlsResultRef
Swiss 1202145+71st [81]
Swiss 2202245+71st [82]
Swiss 3202245+4.54th [83]
Swiss 4202330+32nd [84]

Notable games

Komodo vs Hannibal
abcdefgh
8
Chessboard480.svg
Chess rdt45.svg
Chess bdt45.svg
Chess rdt45.svg
Chess kdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess rlt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess pdt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess plt45.svg
Chess blt45.svg
Chess rlt45.svg
Chess klt45.svg
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Komodo plays the exchange sacrifice 33. Rxc6 and goes on to win the game, proving the superiority of its pieces over Black's two rooks.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junior (chess)</span>

Junior is a computer chess program written by the Israeli programmers Amir Ban and Shai Bushinsky. Grandmaster Boris Alterman assisted, in particular with the opening book. Junior can take advantage of multiple processors, taking the name Deep Junior when competing this way in tournaments.

ChessBase is a German company that develops and sells chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates an internet chess server for online chess. Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells large-scale databases containing the moves of recorded chess games. The databases contain data from prior games and provide engine analyses of games, while endgame tablebases offer optimal play in some endgames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chess engine</span> Computer program for chess analysis and game

In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest.

Socrates II is a chess program that, in 1993, won the 23rd North American Computer Chess Championship. It ran on an IBM PC. This was the first and only time that a stock microcomputer won this event, finishing ahead of past winners Cray Blitz and HiTech. The authors, Don Dailey and Larry Kaufman, renewed their collaboration twenty years later to create the Komodo chess engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockfish (chess)</span> Free and open-source chess engine

Stockfish is a free and open-source chess engine, available for various desktop and mobile platforms. It can be used in chess software through the Universal Chess Interface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houdini (chess)</span> UCI chess engine

Houdini is a UCI chess engine developed by Belgian programmer Robert Houdart. It is influenced by open-source engines IPPOLIT/RobboLito, Stockfish, and Crafty. Versions up to 1.5a are available for non-commercial use, while 2.0 and later are commercial only.

Top Chess Engine Championship, formerly known as Thoresen Chess Engines Competition, is a computer chess tournament that has been run since 2010. It was organized, directed, and hosted by Martin Thoresen until the end of Season 6; from Season 7 onward it has been organized by Chessdom. It is often regarded as the Unofficial World Computer Chess Championship because of its strong participant line-up and long time-control matches on high-end hardware, giving rise to very high-class chess. The tournament has attracted nearly all the top engines compared to the World Computer Chess Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Dailey</span> American researcher and game programmer

Don Dailey was an American researcher in computer chess and a game programmer. Along with collaborator Larry Kaufman, he was the author of the chess engine Komodo. Dailey started chess programming in the 1980s, and was the author and co-author of multiple commercial as well as academic chess programs. He has been an active poster in computer chess forums and computer Go newsgroups. He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and served in recent years as an elder in the church of Roanoke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chess.com</span> Internet chess website

Chess.com is an internet chess server and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be played against other users in daily, rapid, blitz or bullet time controls, with a number of chess variants also available. Chess versus a chess engine, computer analysis, chess puzzles and teaching resources are also offered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AlphaZero</span> Game-playing artificial intelligence

AlphaZero is a computer program developed by artificial intelligence research company DeepMind to master the games of chess, shogi and go. This algorithm uses an approach similar to AlphaGo Zero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leela Chess Zero</span> Deep neural network-based chess engine

Leela Chess Zero is a free, open-source, and deep neural network–based chess engine and volunteer computing project. Development has been spearheaded by programmer Gary Linscott, who is also a developer for the Stockfish chess engine. Leela Chess Zero was adapted from the Leela Zero Go engine, which in turn was based on Google's AlphaGo Zero project. One of the purposes of Leela Chess Zero was to verify the methods in the AlphaZero paper as applied to the game of chess.

The 14th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship took place between 17 November 2018 and 24 February 2019. Stockfish was the defending champion, having defeated Komodo in the previous season's superfinal.

The 15th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on the 6 March 2019 and ended on 12 May 2019.

The 16th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 15 July 2019 and ended on 13 Oct 2019.

The 17th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 2 January 2020 and ended on 22 April 2020. TCEC Season 16 3rd-place finisher Leela Chess Zero won the championship, defeating the defending champion Stockfish 52.5-47.5 in the superfinal.

The 18th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 4 May 2020 and ended on 3 July 2020. The defending champion was Leela Chess Zero, which defeated Stockfish in the previous season's superfinal. The two season 17 superfinalists qualified again for the superfinal. This time Stockfish won, winning by 7 games (+23−16=61).

The 19th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 6 August 2020 and ended on 16 October 2020. The season 19 superfinal was a rematch between Stockfish and Leela Chess Zero, the same two engines that had contested the superfinal in the previous two seasons. Stockfish, the defending champion, won by 9 games.

The 20th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 1 December 2020 and ended on 1 February 2021. The defending champion was Stockfish, which defeated Leela Chess Zero in the previous season's superfinal. The season 20 superfinal was a rematch between the same two engines. Stockfish once again came out ahead, winning by 6 games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torch (chess engine)</span>

Torch is a chess engine created by Chess.com. Torch finished second in the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship 20: Bullet and 21: Blitz, only behind Stockfish in both cases. It initially participated in the tournament under the name "Mystery". It is freely available through Chess.com’s analysis page. It has also been tested by some chess engine rating lists.

References

  1. 1 2 "Frequently Asked Questions".
  2. 1 2 "Chess.com Acquires Komodo; Launches New 'Monte Carlo' Version Similar To AlphaZero". Chess.com. May 24, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Available Versions of Komodo".
  4. ↑ "CCRL 40/40 Rating List — All engines (best versions only)". computerchess.org.uk. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  5. ↑ "IPON Rating List". inwoba.de. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  6. ↑ "SWCR chess engine ratings list". amateurschach.de. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  7. ↑ "CEGT Best Versions". husvankempen.de. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  8. ↑ "CCRL 40/4 Rating List". CCRL. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  9. ↑ Dailey, Don. "Komodo 1.0 JA by Don Dailey available" . Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  10. ↑ Dailey, Don. "Komodo 5.1 MP has been released" . Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  11. ↑ Dailey, Don. "Komodo CCT". Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  12. ↑ Dailey, Don. "Komodo release" . Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  13. ↑ Dailey, Don. "Who is Don/Larry's new partner!?" . Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  14. ↑ Kaufman, Larry. "Komodo TCEC released". Computer Chess Club. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Komodo 7". Komodo chess engine. Archived from the original on May 25, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Komodo 12 Chess Engine - Official Site". Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Komodo 14 Chess Engine" . Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  18. ↑ Sam Copeland (November 10, 2020). "Komodo Releases Powerful New 'Dragon' Chess Engine" . Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Dragon Chess Engine - Official Site".
  20. ↑ Larry Kaufman. "Dragon by Komodo Chess".
  21. ↑ "Dragon Chess Engine - Official Site" . Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  22. ↑ Larry Kaufman. "KomodoChess and chess.com".
  23. ↑ Skinner, Peter. "CCT15 - Results" . Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Komodo - Performance". Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  25. ↑ "TCEC - Top Chess Engine Championship - Archive Mode". Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  26. ↑ "WCCC2016".
  27. ↑ "WCSC 2016".
  28. ↑ "WCSC 2017".
  29. ↑ "World Bltz 2017".
  30. ↑ "TCEC Season 11 final standings – Chessdom".
  31. ↑ "Stockfish convincingly wins TCEC Season 11 – Chessdom".
  32. ↑ "TCEC Season 12 Superfinal 2018".
  33. ↑ "CCC 1". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  34. ↑ "CCC 2". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  35. ↑ "CCC 3". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  36. ↑ "CCC 4". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  37. ↑ "CCC 5". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  38. ↑ "CCC 6". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  39. ↑ "CCC 7". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  40. ↑ "CCC 8". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  41. ↑ "CCC 9 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  42. ↑ "CCC 10 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  43. ↑ "CCC 11 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  44. ↑ "CCC 12". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  45. ↑ "CCC 13 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  46. ↑ "CCC 14". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  47. ↑ "CCC Blitz Championship 2020". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  48. ↑ "CCC Blitz Championship 2021". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  49. ↑ "CCC Chess 960 Blitz". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  50. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship Blitz 2020". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  51. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship Rapid 2021". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  52. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship Blitz 2021". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  53. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship Chess 960 Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  54. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 16: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  55. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 16: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  56. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 16: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  57. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 17: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  58. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 17: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  59. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 17: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  60. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 18: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  61. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 19: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  62. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 19: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  63. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 19: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  64. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 20: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  65. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 20: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  66. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 20: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  67. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 21: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  68. ↑ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 21: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  69. ↑ "TCEC Season 20 Premier Division". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  70. ↑ "TCEC Season 21 Infrafinal". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  71. ↑ "TCEC Season 22 Superfinal". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  72. ↑ "TCEC Season 23 Infrafinal". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  73. ↑ "TCEC Season 24 Division P Playoff". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  74. ↑ "TCEC Season 25 Division P Playoff". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  75. ↑ "TCEC Cup 8". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  76. ↑ "TCEC Cup 9". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  77. ↑ "TCEC Cup 10". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  78. ↑ "TCEC Cup 11". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  79. ↑ "TCEC FRC 3". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  80. ↑ "TCEC FRC 4". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  81. ↑ "TCEC Swiss 1". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  82. ↑ "TCEC Swiss 2". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  83. ↑ "TCEC Swiss 3". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  84. ↑ "TCEC Swiss 4". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  85. 1 2 "Interesting Games from Season 2". Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  86. ↑ Chen, Franklin (October 24, 2013). "The computer plays the exchange sacrifice" . Retrieved October 26, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.