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I downloaded and installed a UCI engine in my Fritz today. Firebird 1.1. Got it at Chesslogik. It seems to install nicely in the Fritz interface.
They claim it's strong but I haven't really tested it yet. Has anyone else given it a try?
My computer is older so I have to use the one that says "no ss2" in the title. Probably with a faster machine one of the others would be better. Actually, I don't know what "ss2" is but a couple of the others did not work for me.
Gary,
Thanks for the heads-up. I've just installed the 64-bit version and will test it over the next few days. Hard to believe that a free program can be as strong as Rybka 3 or Fritz 12, but it's happened before (Toga II is a killer!)
Dan
I did a quick test with Firebird (64-bit) vs Rybka 3.1 - a 12 game 1 min + 1 sec time control match. Firebird won 10 to 2 (8 wins, 4 draws). It was always ahead on time as well. A similar match vs Fritz 12 was also won - 11.5 to .5!
I am impressed with it's strength. But it does seem a little flakey on the Fritz 12 interface (hung a couple of times) but worked ok under the Chessbase Rybka interface. Perhaps I need to read more of the documentation.
A little digging on Google indicates that there is some controversy over the origin of the Firebird code, with some claiming that it was stolen preliminary Rybka 4.0 code. Overall very little mention of Firebird on the mainstream boards. Makes you wonder.
With blitz chess, it's possible Firebird calculates the lower level plys faster than Fritz 12. A better test of the strength might be longer times or fixed ply at around 18. More than that would likely take a long time to play the game.
Gordon said Shirov mentioned Firebird is consisered stronger and I suspect GM's using it would likely be setting the ply high to check for tactics in a line they are preparing.
I'm not even sure if Firebird makes use of the tablebases for the endings.
Our visiting SuperGM, Alexei Shirov, did mention that Firebird is considered stronger than Fritz12 or Rybka 3.
Tried Firebird vs. Deep Rybka 3 and Fritz12 (4' + 2") and easily beat both chess engines but had a hard time beating Toga II 1.1. Firebird showed longer lines in its calculation as compared to the three chess engines.
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