Houdini?

I am considering purchasing new chess software and was thinking of Houdini. I have noticed that several chess professionals use it.

Any suggestions? If you like Houdini, what version should I get? If you don't, why not and what do you recommend?

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

This depends on what you're actually want and how you're going to use the software.

Are you looking for a bundle (GUI plus an engine) or just the engine?

Top 3 programs nowadays are Stockfish, Komodo and Houdini. Some versions of Komodo and Houdini are free, Stockfish is open source. You can download all of them and see for yourself which one appeals the most. You may also find that they are good enough for you and you therefore don't need to buy a new version.

Stockfish [1]

It is free (open source), new version (Stockfish 6, about +50 Elo points) comes out soon and is going to top the rating lists [2][3], tactically good. Actively developed.

The evaluation score is too materialistic, it can switch a lot between suggested moves in the beginning, so you might need to give a program some time (a minute or so).

Komodo [4]

Regarded to have a more positional style. Some older versions are free (as in beer) [5][6]. Actively developed.

Houdini [7]

Evaluation score is more conservative. Tactically good. Older version is free (as in beer) [8]. No new version came last year and there're no news, so development may have been stopped.

Free chess GUIs in case you need one:

Scid vs PC [9], ChessX [10], Arena [11]

[1] Stockfish, official site: http://stockfishchess.org/
     Development builds: http://abrok.eu/stockfish/

[2] CCRL 40/40: http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/rating_list_all.html

[3] IPON: http://www.inwoba.de/

[4] Komodo, official site: http://komodochess.com/

[5] Komodo 5.1 MP: http://komodochess.com/pub/Komodo_5.1r2.zip

[6] Komodo CCT (single core version): http://komodochess.com/pub/cct_dist.zip

[7] Houdini, official site: http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm

[8] Houdini 1.5a: http://www.cruxis.com/download/Houdini_15a.zip

[9] Scid vs PC: http://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/
     Support thread: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/scid-vs-pc

[10] ChessX: http://chessx.sourceforge.net/

[11] Arena: http://www.playwitharena.com/

cavelorum   What program bundles both the engine and the GUI together?  To me it makes no sense to create an engine and not have the GUI to go with it.  But then I do not create this software.  I am looking for software, free or purchase, one program where I can play games vs. the computer and also input my own games from over the board and see what the engine suggests I should have done at one point. But I can't see downloading 2 programs an engine and a GUI. Why make it so difficult?

Well, if you buy one of the Chessbase playing packages, you'll get an interface, a powerful engine, an openings book and a database.  It's not inexpensive but it is a one stop solution, so to speak.

Here's a link to Chessbase's offering of Komodo 8, which would be my choice:

http://shop.chessbase.com/en/products/komodo_chess_8

Thinking further about this, I should mention that Arena comes with some engines pre-configured.  One of these is Rybka 2.32, which is plenty strong enough for spotting tactical shots.

I mention this because Arena is free.

http://www.playwitharena.com/

And that's why you have bundles, like ChessOK's Houdini Aquarium (Aquarium GUI and preconfigured Houdini engine) or Chessbase's Houdini, Komodo, etc. (these are preconfigured Houdini, Komodo, etc. engines and Fritz GUI).

But let's say you have Chessbase's Houdini, and want another engine, you don't really wish to pay for the same GUI again. In this case you can simply buy an engine without the GUI and add to the prorgam that you already have.

Speaking of engines. What engine(s) does chess.com use for their Computer1234, etc. chess bots?

I could be wrong, but I think Houdini is still actively developed. Houdini 4 is a pretty new release, I think quite a bit less than 1 year old. As I said, I *could* be wrong. If anybody really needed to know, better investigate yourself.

Houdini 4 was released on November 25, 2013. Anyhow, my comment is mostly based on the fact that new version wasn't released with the new Aquarium, which came out around Christmas, and that the author isn't around to comment.

Tom, the consensus seems to be that Houdini development has stopped.  Houdart did not submit a development version for TCEC last year and neither Chessbase nor ChessOK have released new versions.  Also, Houdart has expressed the opinion that Stockfish will ultimately kill commercial engine development.

Houdini 4 is over a year old now and Houdart has been silent.  I suppose it's possible a new Houdini version could be released this year but it's not looking good.

To my surprise, I was trying to do this months ago, I had Scid vs PC installed ver 4.12 released 3/25/14.   It already has installed (Computer UCI) then below that has 2 engines Stockfish and Toga to choose from.  So i guess this settles my question.  I can also see so many tables I can open up and have a ton of items to choose from.  I would say they could print an owners manual 2,000 pages and they wouldn't cover everything.

How does one go about getting their feet wet. I have tried but I am cleless in what to do. Is there any help besides what is installed on the program. Is there a Scid vs PC for Idiots?

Have you seen this? ---->> http://edcollins.com/chess/scidvspc/index.html

Thanks Folks for updating me on Houdini. I was clearly not abreast of the situation.

I guess Houdart has a point saying SF will kill commercial development as the differences between top engines today are pretty marginal. And if one of them is entirely free, it's easy to foresee what will happen.

Houdart may have a point, somewhere, but he makes the universal mistake of blaming someone else for his own problems.

These engines are simply the victims of their own success; potential users have no need to get the new version of an engine if the old version still maintains an estimated rating of 2900+ and can defeat any human in the world.

Stockfish 4, 5, or 6 is not the reason I don't purchase Houdini 4. Houdini 1.5 is the reason. While I don't intend to purchase a new version of Houdini (or even to simply download the latest version of Stockfish), I do plan to purchase the latest version of Komodo, because while Houdini gets better primarily in the typical way - by adding one half move to its calculations for real but imperceptible gains - Komodo actually improves its "understanding", making newer versions of Komodo substantially better than previous versions. I wonder how this will play out now with the recent death of Komodo's main developer - maybe I will be purchasing the last version of Komodo to be sold.

There were plenty of free and open source engines before Stockfish, and at least one of them (Crafty) had become good enough to beat anyone in the world 100% of the time, and that only resulted in an explosion of commercial engine development; the real competition came with the advent of uber powerful multi-core home PCs and the ratings race among commercial engines that provided researchers with a ready made means of benchmarking their ideas.

Right now, computer engines play chess the same way they play checkers or tic-tac-toe. Most improvement is to be found by squeezing more cycles out of the machine to increase the depth of calculation, although there has been some recent advance in evaluation functions. Now with hundreds and even thousands of engines out there, one of these devs may finally come up with a way to program an engine to think like humans and still be a strong player. THAT would be a development worth buying new versions for.

First of all, thanks to the contriutors to this thread. I appreciate your thoughtful, substantive input. My prime interest in buying new software is to get a good sparring partner that can accurately challenge me in the openings that I play. It would also be nice to be able to save positions that I have played inaccurately and build a pictorial catalogue of my mistakes. Ultimately my play with the machine must help me prepare for tournaments with humans. I am looking for a bundle. I want the setup to be simple.

From the discussion so far, Komodo sounds like the best choice.

Also worth mentioning is Lucas Chess (open source):

http://lucaschess.blogspot.com.es/

Probably the easiest to use if you're going to play against computer.

Why would it be a waste of money? Some of us don't like the way that Stockfish plays. I know I don't. Feels very mechanical compared to engines such as Hiarcs.

No offense but that's likely psychological, at 3300+ rating who can really tell?