21.08.2005, Ralf Schäfer / Volker Böhm

Q: Congratulations to the new Chess960 World Computerchess Champions! But Spike improved also a lot in traditional chess, is probably No.2 of the freeware engines and maybe No. 3 of all available engines. How is it possible to improve an engine such fast and do you see even more room for improvements?

A: Thanks Alex! Actually all our improvements for the 1.0 were tested in traditionally chess, fortunately they also turned out to be good for chess960.
I wouldn't say that Spike is number 3 of all available engines. Toga and Shredder are clearly better and I expect the new Fruit from WCCC to be  on the top of the rating lists. Fritz seems to be some Elo above Spike and concerning Zappa, the new champion in computer chess - well let's see.

If you want to improve an engine, then all you need is a) many ideas (and of course at least some of them should be good) and b) the possibility to test them reliably. Improvement is then just a matter of time. We played more than 50.000 test games for the last version of Spike.

Well, I hope there is always some room for improvement, otherwise it would be boring ;-) For Spike I can imagine that we can do better in the endgame and the transition from late midgame to endgame. Also we should have a look at the king safety which is still unchanged since 0.8a. And certainly much other things...

Find more informations about Spike and download the champ itself here.

20.06.2005, Stefan Meyer Kahlen

Q: After first results the new Fruit 2.1 could be very close to the best commercial chess engines, even to Shredder 9. What is more scaring for you, Fabien Letouzey himself or the GPL behind Fruit?

A: I have to admit that I have not yet downloaded and tested Fruit 2.1. From what I have heard so far it seems to be quite strong so I will certainly take a look at it. I have already had a short email conversation with Fabien. He seems to be a nice guy so there should be no reason to be afraid :-)
Also I see no problems with the GPL license behind Fruit. If others will be able to find some ideas in Fruit there is probably also some inspiration for me. As far as I know taking ideas from GPL licensed software is ok. The best motivation for me to further improve Shredder is, if someone is overtaking Shredder at the top of the rating lists or will beat Shredder badly in a match. So my personal judgement about Fruit is not negative but positive. The only negative point is that the clone problem in tournaments might be bigger now, but there should be a solution for this.

Find more informations about Shredder at www.shredderchess.com

20.06.2005, Fabien Letouzey

Q:  Would you say the GPL idea was helpful for the improvements of Fruit, in fact did it help to see what Thomas Gaksch changed or added? If yes, do you expect more 'help' like this in the future from other upcomming Fruit clones?

A: Not really, I kept only 1 small idea from Toga. I think Thomas was just lucky. However, I think OTHERS do benefit from it.

Get Fruit at WBEC-Ridderkerk