Houdini 4 has been released.
More information at http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm .
Translation is making incredible progress.
24 hours after the announcement below, volunteers have already contributed Italian, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese versions.
Other people are working on Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Croatian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Serbian, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
This means that at the release the App will be available in nearly 30 languages.
Than...k you all!!
Below a sneak preview of the Chinese version:
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/img/Houdini3_Chinese.jpg
Happy New Year!
The release of Houdini 3 for Android is approaching fast.
We need your help in translating the interface in different languages....
Currently we have French and Dutch translations of the English original, and a Spanish version in the works.
It would be very nice if some of you would be willing to translate the labels in your mother tongue. There are about 300 labels to translate, it should probably take about 2 hours (that’s how much time the French version took me).
We're looking forward to translations in any language supported by Android, including German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Polish, Romanian, ...
If you're interested, send an e-mail to houdini@cruxis.be and we will send you all the necessary information. A good translation will earn you a free Houdini license!
Here's an example of the portrait lay-out, with a different board texture and chess piece set:
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/img/Houdini3_for_Android_2.jpg
As promised, below a screen shot of Houdini 3 for Android taken on my Asus TF300T 10" tablet. I hope you like 
.
As announced before, we're currently working very hard to release a "Houdini 3 for Android" package. It will consist of the Houdini 3 engine in its own Android GUI.
There's no release date yet, but we're trying to release the new product ASAP. I'll attach some screen shots in due course.
Pricing has still to be decided, we're interested to hear what you would consider a fair price for this package.
Game 3 and 4 of the match Houdini 3 (16 cores) against Rybka Cluster (64 cores) have been played yesterday and today.
Houdini 3 continued its "stroll in the park" by drawing relatively comfortably with black in game 3 yesterday, and by smashing Rybka's Sicilian defense in game 4 today. Game 4 was quite a remarkable game, the game score can be found below and is certainly recommended for replay.
After 4 games Houdini 3 leads by 3.5-0.5 and has taken a decisive advantage in the... 6-game match.
Rybka Cluster - Houdini 3 (Game 3 - 2012/12/04): 1/2-1/2
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 d6 6. Be2
Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Nf6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 Qa5 11. f3
Be6 12. Rc1 Rfc8 13. b3 a6 14. Na4 Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Nd7
16. g4 Re8 17. h4 h6 18. Nc3 Nc5 19. b4 Nd7 20. Nd5 a5
21. b5 Rac8 22. f4 Bf6 23. b6 Bb2 24. Rc2 Bxd5 25. exd5 Ba3
26. h5 e5 27. hxg6 exf4 28. Bxf4 Re4 29. gxf7+ Kxf7
30. Bxh6 Nxb6 31. Kd3 Rexc4 32. Rxc4 Nxc4 33. Bf4 Kg7
34. Ke4 Re8+ 35. Kf3 Ne5+ 36. Kg3 Rc8 37. Rb1 Rc3+ 38. Kh4
Bb4 39. Rc1 Ng6+ 40. Kg5 Nxf4 41. Rxc3 Bxc3 42. Kxf4 a4
43. a3 Bb2 44. Kf5 Bxa3 45. Bb5 Bc1 46. Bxa4 Bd2 47. Be8
Bc3 48. g5 Bd4 49. Kg4 Be5 50. Bb5 Kg6 1/2-1/2.
Houdini 3 - Rybka Cluster (Game 4 - 2012/12/05): 1-0
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3
Nf6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Nc4 Rc8 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Nb6
Rb8 12. Ncd5 Qg6 13. Qd3 Be7 14. Nc7+ Kd8 15. Ncd5 f5
16. Qc3 fxe4 17. O-O-O Bxd5 18. Nxd5 Rc8 19. Kb1 Rf8
20. Qb3 b5 21. Qa3 Qg4 22. f3 exf3 23. Nxe7 Kxe7 24. Qxd6+
Kf7 25. gxf3 Qf5 26. Qd5+ Kf6 27. Bd3 Qe6 28. Qe4 g6 29. h4
Rcd8 30. a3 Rd7 31. h5 g5 32. h6 Nd4 33. Rhg1 Rfd8 34. Qe3
Rg8 35. Rde1 Qd5 36. Rg4 Qc5 37. Rg2 Qd5 38. Qg1 Qf7
39. Qf2 Rd5 40. c3 Ne6 41. Bc2 Nf4 42. Rg3 Rd7 43. Qe3 Qd5
44. Ka1 Re8 45. Rg4 Ne6 46. Bb1 Rc7 47. Ba2 Qc5 48. Qe4 Qd6
49. Rg2 b4 50. axb4 Nf4 51. Bb1 Qd7 52. Rd2 Qa4+ 53. Ba2
Qc6 54. Qc2 Rd7 55. Rxd7 Qxd7 56. Rd1 Qc7 57. Bb1 e4
58. Qa4 Qb8 59. Qd7 Re7 60. Rd6+ Ne6 61. Qc6 Qb5 62. Qxe4
Qe5 63. Qd3 Ra7 64. Rc6 a5 65. b5 Re7 66. b6 a4 67. Qd8 Kf7
68. Qc8 1-0.
Houdini 3 - Rybka Cluster: 2-0 !
The second game of the match ended like the first, with a win of Houdini. The Rybka Cluster played a rather passive opening, and was punished for it.
It must probably be the first time in history that the Rybka Cluster lost 2 games in a row.
Here's the game:
Houdini 3 Pro x64 (16 cores) - Rybka Cluster (64 cores)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 h6 4. e3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+
6. Qxd2 b6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bd3 d6 9. Rd1 Bb7 10. e4 Nc6
11. O-O e5 12. Bc2 Nd7 13. Nd5 a5 14. Rfe1 f6 15. Re3 Rf7
16. Rde1 Rb8 17. Bb3 Kh8 18. h3 Kh7 19. Nc3 exd4 20. Nxd4
Nc5 21. Nxc6 Bxc6 22. Bd1 Be8 23. b3 Rf8 24. h4 Bf7 25. Bg4
Re8 26. Nb5 Qe7 27. Nd4 Ra8 28. Nc6 Qf8 29. f4 Be6 30. Bh5
Bf7 31. Bf3 Be6 32. Qc2 Kh8 33. e5 dxe5 34. fxe5 f5 35. Bh5
Rec8 36. Bg6 f4 37. Rf3 Bd7 38. Nd4 Ne6 39. Nxe6 Bxe6
40. Ref1 Rd8 41. Qe4 Qc5+ 42. Kh2 b5 43. Rxf4 bxc4 44. Bf7
Ra6 45. bxc4 a4 46. R1f3 Rc6 47. h5 Rf8 48. Bg6 Rg8 49. Rg3
Ra6 50. Bf7 Bxf7 51. Rxf7 Re6 52. Re3 Rge8 53. Qg4 Rg8
54. Qf4 Rb8 55. Qg3 Rg8 56. Re4 a3 57. Qf4 Re7 58. Rxe7
Qxe7 59. e6 Rf8 60. Qe5 Kh7 61. c5 Kh8 62. Kg3 Kh7 63. Rf4
Kg8 64. Kf3 Rxf4+ 65. Kxf4 Qf8+ 66. Ke3 Qe7 67. Ke4 c6
68. Kd3 Qe8 69. Qd6 Qxh5 70. Qxc6 Qf5+ 71. Kc3 h5 72. Kb4
Qb1+ 73. Kxa3 Qf5 74. Ka4 Qf4+ 75. Kb5 Qe5 76. a4 h4
77. Qe8+ Kh7 78. e7 Qe2+ 79. Kb6 h3 80. gxh3 Qb2+ 81. Ka7
Qe5 82. Qd8 Qxc5+ 83. Ka8 Qc6+ 84. Kb8 Qxa4 85. e8=Q Qb3+
86. Kc7 Qc4+ 87. Qc6 Qxc6+ 88. Kxc6 Kg6 89. Kd5 Kf5 90. Qb8
Kg5 91. Qe5+ Kg6 92. Ke6 Kh6 93. Kf7 g6 94. h4 Kh7 95. Qg7#
1-0
Houdini 3 - Rybka Cluster: 1-0 !
Some members of the German CSS-forum are organizing a show match between Houdini 3 on 16 cores and the Rybka Cluster playing with 64 cores. Time control: 105 minutes + 15 sec/move.
Tonight was the first match, played from the opening position without opening book. That didn't prevent Houdini 3 from playing a standard Nimzo-Indian defense against the Cluster's queen pawn opening - it's a testimony to the quality of current top engines that very... good main-line openings are played without book.
Houdini 3 slowly outplayed the Rybka Cluster in the middle game, and with a couple of excellent moves that took the Cluster by surprise (37...Qe6! and 42...a5!!) it completely invaded white's fragile position.
A very fine performance by the world's #1 against the former world champion.
Here's the complete game.
Rybka Cluster on 64 cores - Houdini 3 on 16 cores
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. f3 c5
7. Nge2 Nc6 8. O-O cxd4 9. exd4 O-O 10. Qc2 h6 11. a3 Be7
12. Na4 Rc8 13. b4 Re8 14. Bb2 b5 15. Nc5 bxc4 16. Bxc4 Ba8
17. Qd2 Nd5 18. Ba6 Rb8 19. Bd3 Bg5 20. f4 Bh4 21. Rac1 d6
22. Ne4 Nce7 23. g3 Bf6 24. h3 h5 25. Rf2 Nf5 26. Re1 Nb6
27. Nxf6+ Qxf6 28. d5 Qg6 29. Nd4 Nxd5 30. Nxf5 exf5
31. Kh2 Nf6 32. Rfe2 Ne4 33. Qe3 Re7 34. Bxe4 Bxe4 35. Bd4
a6 36. Qc3 Ree8 37. Rc1 Qe6 38. Qa1 Rec8 39. Rce1 Qg6
40. Rc1 Rxc1 41. Qxc1 Qe6 42. Bb2 a5 43. Qc3 f6 44. Kg1
axb4 45. axb4 Rc8 46. Qd2 Qd7 47. Qe3 Qb5 48. g4 Rc4
49. gxf5 d5 50. Qf2 Bxf5 51. h4 d4 52. Qg3 Rxb4 53. Re7 Bg4
54. Bc1 Rb1 0-1.
10 Years of Computer Chess!
In a recent Talkchess Chess Forum thread, Kai Laskos discusses a blitz match between Houdini 3 and the "beast of the early 2003, undisputed SSDF leader, undisputed Playchess Engine Room favorite" Shredder 7.04.
The match ended 99.5-0.5 in favor of Houdini 3....
In 100 games Shredder 7.04 managed to get only a SINGLE draw!
From Shredder's point of view, Houdini 3 is playing virtually "perfect" chess.
Note that both engines played on the same hardware, so the progress is entirely by software.
It shows the tremendous progress in computer chess that's been made over the last decade, not in the least because of the faster spreading and sharing of information over Internet.
Imagine the same evolution over the next 10 years...
The correction for the problem reported last Thursday is now available. We will inform all customers directly by e-mail in the next 48 hours.
As explained below (see post of 25 October), this correction is only needed for some of the Houdini 3 users.
Only if you're using older hardware without POPCNT we recommend that you install the correction. You shouldn't expect any measurable change in strength, but your analysis results will be consistent and as intended.
...If you're using hardware with POPCNT instruction (Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, most Intel Xeons, AMD Phenom X6 or X4, AMD Bulldozer, AMD Opteron...) there will be NO need to install the new Setup. Your current analysis results are correct and as intended.
We've received a couple of messages about Houdini 3 not working in the new Windows 8. This is a simple activation issue: changing the Windows version has an impact on the activation.
If you've upgraded your computer to the new Windows 8, you'll simply need to install Houdini again. In case you've reached your activation limit, just send us an e-mail at houdini@cruxis.be.
A problem has been reported about Houdini 3 occasionally producing different analysis results depending on the hardware used.
After investigation it appears that the problem is real and occurs in the code paths without POPCNT instruction: in some cases an evaluation term can be computed incorrectly. The impact on strength should be minimal, but it was obviously not intended that the analysis results are different.
We will release a corrected Setup soon. ...
If you're using hardware with POPCNT instruction (Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, most Intel Xeons, AMD Phenom X6, AMD Bulldozer, AMD Opteron...) there will be no need to install the new Setup. Your current analysis results are correct and as intended.
If you're using older hardware without POPCNT we recommend that you install the correction. Don't expect any measurable change in strength, but your analysis results will be consistent and as intended.
All customers will be notified by e-mail when the new Setup is available.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
For people that want to install Houdini 3 on a computer without internet, the Off-line Activation module is now available.
The off-line activation boils down to clicking 3 times on a button on 2 computers and shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes.
It's documented in the user's manual at:
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/manual/off_line_activation.htm
If you've previously shown an interest in the off-line activation we'll contact you with instructions, otherwise send us an e-mail to get access to the module.
Four days after the release some results from independent testing groups have been published.
In the IPON rating list (http://inwoba.de) Houdini 3 is 65 Elo above Houdini 2.0c, and now leads the rating lists with an 85 point lead.
In the CCRL Chess960 list (http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404FRC/) Houdini 3 has made a jump of 88 Elo points. A lot more CCRL testing is underway.
...The first intermediate CEGT results (http://cegt.siteboard.eu/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=388&p=909#p909) show an improvement of about 60 Elo.
In the "New Moon" Tactical Test Suite organized by Carl Bicknell (see http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl…), Houdini 3 in Tactical Mode has achieved the best score ever.
Big thanks to all the people from the testing groups for providing us these results so quickly after the release.
The release is going rather well, except for some problems with the activation (which is rather complex).
We've had several reports of Houdini not correctly recognizing the activated License number on some computers (and sometimes even generating a crash). The problem appears to be related to user rights on the computer.
We’ll try to fix this problem ASAP, thank you for your patience, and our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.
Houdini 3 has now been released.
See our web page http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm.
The Houdini 3 release will be made next Monday 15 October, sorry for the delay.
We're currently trying to figure out the best way to offer Houdini 2 customers an upgrade discount, unfortunately PayPal doesn't propose discount codes by default.
Have a nice week-end and see you on Monday!
