Opening Books Battle..

Swaminathan · Post by **Swaminathan** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 2:56 am

Do you believe in opening book tournaments posted in Rybka forum and elsewhere? I mean do you think that the well-designed engine specific opening book may prove effective in strength improvement than the normal-balanced opening book which can be used by many engines?

I'm new to opening books, and I've no idea which one is the best. So, please post links to download/view results etc

Thanks!

Dave Mitchell · Post by **Dave Mitchell** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 5:07 am

I don't have links for you, but I guarantee that a good opening book is indispensable for serious competition. Among programs or players that are close in chess playing strength, the opening book can swell to the point it overshadows other important factors in the competition.

Swaminathan · Post by **Swaminathan** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:07 pm

Dave Mitchell wrote:I don't have links for you, but I guarantee that a good opening book is indispensable for serious competition. Among programs or players that are close in chess playing strength, the opening book can swell to the point it overshadows other important factors in the competition.

You're ofcourse right. SuperGrandmasters invest a lot of time into opening preparations. They always like to have razor sharp opening lines which give them slight advantage/better position and a lot of play, before they get into early middlegame.

BB+ · Post by **BB+** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:52 am

I don't know how scientific the testing is, but the ChessBase advert says the "Pro" version of the Hiarcs opening book "adds up to 50 Elo" over the "Lite" version.

[...] The Hiarcs 13 Pro book has a very large amount of playable variations which gives a lot of variety and means the book is able to address the needs of many different players, from human tournament preparation to online computer games. Despite having more variety than most other commercial books the Hiarcs 13 Pro Book is significantly stronger typically scoring 55+% in head to head matches between books with equal engines over 300 games. For example, in a match of 300 games against the highly rated Rybka 4 book, the Hiarcs 13 Pro book scored more than 55%.

Hiarcs 13 customers who already have the Hiarcs 13 Lite opening book will be delighted to know the Pro book adds up to 50 Elo to the strength of the program. The book is written by Mark Uniacke, the author of HIARCS, and he has been supported by Correspondence IM Harvey Williamson and computer chess expert Eric Hallsworth, both of whom are also part of Team HIARCS.

In our next review of the Hiarcs suite we will be presenting a small fraction of the new or reassessed material that is available in the Hiarcs 13 Pro book. Prepare to be surprised...

I'm not quite sure whether it is designed for maximal efficacy with the HIARCS engine or not.

MichaelIsGreat · Post by **MichaelIsGreat** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:07 am

Hello to All,

To answer Swaminathan's request for links, check the following ones that I have gathered in my quest to know more on chess opening books to use with chess engine programs especially.

I do not have a clue at all as to the strength of the opening books whose links that I give you.

Some of the links below might not work anymore, as I have gathered this information in a Word file over time. Just use Google.com to find working links or new information on these opening books below.

I had to delete a few links by deleting some parts of it (/ or .) to respect the limit of having a maximum of 5 links in this posting. Again, use Google.com and you should find the information related to these opening books.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---53 chess opening books tested by Sedat Canbaz
From “SedatChess” at http://sedatchess.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_70
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---Download: ZEEMAN 3.5 final.7z
File Name: ZEEMAN 3.5 final.7z
File Size: 208.70MB
Last Download: 12/27 06:24 [12/27/2010]
from http://www.zshare.net/download/795234347961ff16/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---Also:
ZEEMAN 3.5 Final
----------
It says:
File name: ZEEMAN 3.5 final.7z
File description: Powered by Multiupload.com
File size: 208.7 MB
----------
From http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YRQNMTRX
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---From “Vesely 1.0 book - Chess.com” at http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-e ... ly-10-book
-----------------------------------
29th January 2011, 08:19am
#1
by vesely
prague Czech Republic
Member Since: Mar 2010
Member Points: 17

VESELY chess book 1.0 (VS1)
- most of openings
- manually optimized lots of positions
- deep openings (up to 100 half moves)
- optimized for strongest engine Houdini 1.5a
- optimized for E4 (C5, E5, C6). D4 (D5)
- optimized for engines and human match
- perfect for openings learning

Setup:
Variety of play: 0 (minimum) !!!!
Influence of learn value: 100 (max)
Learning strength: 100 (max)
Minimum games: 0
Up to move: 100

http://www.ulozto.cz/7610611/vesely-1-0-7z [it says: 1.26 GB for this link.]

for megaupload members fast link:
the link is: http thesicilian forumotion net go aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tZ2xkLz9kPThHT09OMzMx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
—From “OpenChess • View topic - Opening Books Battle..” at http www open-chess org viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1073
------------------------------------------------
Re: Opening Books Battle..
by BB+ » Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:52 am
I don't know how scientific the testing is, but the ChessBase advert says the "Pro" version of the Hiarcs opening book "adds up to 50 Elo" over the "Lite" version.
[...] The Hiarcs 13 Pro book has a very large amount of playable variations which gives a lot of variety and means the book is able to address the needs of many different players, from human tournament preparation to online computer games. Despite having more variety than most other commercial books the Hiarcs 13 Pro Book is significantly stronger typically scoring 55+% in head to head matches between books with equal engines over 300 games. For example, in a match of 300 games against the highly rated Rybka 4 book, the Hiarcs 13 Pro book scored more than 55%.

Hiarcs 13 customers who already have the Hiarcs 13 Lite opening book will be delighted to know the Pro book adds up to 50 Elo to the strength of the program. The book is written by Mark Uniacke, the author of HIARCS, and he has been supported by Correspondence IM Harvey Williamson and computer chess expert Eric Hallsworth, both of whom are also part of Team HIARCS.

In our next review of the Hiarcs suite we will be presenting a small fraction of the new or reassessed material that is available in the Hiarcs 13 Pro book. Prepare to be surprised...
I'm not quite sure whether it is designed for maximal efficacy with the HIARCS engine or not.
------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perfect 2010 books: 1) optimized for engine vs engine matches; 2) depth is 'Up to 8 moves'. (Download Perfect 2010 books (Full Package) (rybkaforum.net)

—From “Download Perfect 2010 books (Full Package)” at http rybkaforum net cgi-bin rybkaforum topic_show.pl?tid=18414

Topic The Rybka Lounge / Computer Chess / Download Perfect 2010 books (Full Package) (1380 hits)
-----------------------------------
By Sedat Canbaz (****) [tr] Date 2010-08-05 01:21

Hello Chess Friends !

I am pleased to announce the release of Perfect 2010 books

Perfect 2010 is compatible:
---------------------------
1.ChessBase
2.Arena
3.Shredder
4.Aquarium
5.Winboard
6.ChessPartner
7.ChessGUI
8.ChessMaster

Some Notes about Perfect 2010 books:
-------------------------------------
-Highly tuned and optimized for engine vs engine matches
-Perfect 2010 Book's depth is 'Up to 8 moves'
-It's recommended to be used same opening book for all engines

Download Perfect 2010 books (Full Package):
http sedatchess.110mb.com index.php?p=1_6

Happy Testing,
Sedat Canbaz
-----------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---Of course, the Rybka 4 opening book by Jiri Dufek.
And the Rybka 3 opening book by by Jeroen Noomen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The challenges is to know the criteria that could accurately assess the strength of the various opening books available.

Second, most of these opening books are in the ctg format that is used in the Fritz GUI (Graphical User Interface).

Hope this help.

Regards to All
MichaelIsGreat

Swaminathan · Post by **Swaminathan** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:35 am

thanks for the info, Michael.

I've heard few of these names in Rybkaforum and elsewhere. I just wasn't sure which one is continually updated.

BB+ · Post by **BB+** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:41 am

In our next review of the Hiarcs suite we will be presenting a small fraction of the new or reassessed material that is available in the Hiarcs 13 Pro book. Prepare to be surprised...

ChessBase reviews/hawks the HIARCS 13 Professional Book (article by Uniacke). There are about 10 example positions given (four from B90). There are computer-oriented comments like:
*) "However, experience in many computer games indicates that both 19..b5 and 19...g6 are worthy alternatives"
*) "However we have found the surprising 7.d4!? has a better performance in tests"
*) "However 16...b5 has been tested in many computer games and this move appears to be a strong alternative and scores well for Black"
*) "11...h5!? appears a good alternative which has done well in computer practice"
*) "This variation has become the mainline in the 10.e5 variations with theory largely expanded by thousands of high quality computer games." [You might already be able to guess the context for this one -- they now claim an advantage in a line that had fallen out of favour, due to a novelty on move 29].

Harvey Williamson · Post by **Harvey Williamson** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 6:08 pm

BB+ wrote:
In our next review of the Hiarcs suite we will be presenting a small fraction of the new or reassessed material that is available in the Hiarcs 13 Pro book. Prepare to be surprised...
ChessBase reviews/hawks the HIARCS 13 Professional Book (article by Uniacke). There are about 10 example positions given (four from B90). There are computer-oriented comments like:
*) "However, experience in many computer games indicates that both 19..b5 and 19...g6 are worthy alternatives"
*) "However we have found the surprising 7.d4!? has a better performance in tests"
*) "However 16...b5 has been tested in many computer games and this move appears to be a strong alternative and scores well for Black"
*) "11...h5!? appears a good alternative which has done well in computer practice"
*) "This variation has become the mainline in the 10.e5 variations with theory largely expanded by thousands of high quality computer games." [You might already be able to guess the context for this one -- they now claim an advantage in a line that had fallen out of favour, due to a novelty on move 29].

The problem with all opening books is that they become out of date very quickly, particularly some of the sharp Sicilian lines. CB printed an article that was submitted with the book in December. I was looking through out February version of the Hiarcs book and some of those lines have already been updated again. The best way to get the Hiarcs book is with the update subscription http://www.hiarcs.com/chess-opening-book.htm

Some people are updating their books every day after playing several Playchess games. For the Hiarcs book we collect Computer, GM and top Corr games. The book does work well with other engines in our test not just Hiarcs. Before a new move is added to the book at the end of each month it has to meet various criteria including asking Hiarcs if it likes the move.

smasher9000 · Post by **smasher9000** » Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:37 am

BB+ wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:52 am
I don't know how scientific the testing is, but the ChessBase advert says the "Pro" version of the Hiarcs opening book "adds up to 50 Elo" over the "Lite" version.
[...] The Hiarcs 13 Pro book has a very large amount of playable variations which gives a lot of variety and means the book is able to address the needs of many different players, from human tournament preparation to online computer games. Despite having more variety than most other commercial books the Hiarcs 13 Pro Book is significantly stronger typically scoring 55+% in head to head matches between books with equal engines over 300 games. For example, in a match of 300 games against the highly rated Rybka 4 book, the Hiarcs 13 Pro book scored more than 55%.

Hiarcs 13 customers who already have the Hiarcs 13 Lite opening book will be delighted to know the Pro book adds up to 50 Elo to the strength of the program. The book is written by Mark Uniacke, the author of HIARCS, and he has been supported by Correspondence IM Harvey Williamson and computer chess expert Eric Hallsworth, both of whom are also part of Team HIARCS.

In our next review of the Hiarcs suite we will be presenting a small fraction of the new or reassessed material that is available in the Hiarcs 13 Pro book. Prepare to be surprised...
I'm not quite sure whether it is designed for maximal efficacy with the HIARCS engine or not.

Could you share updated links

Harvey Williamson · Post by **Harvey Williamson** » Thu Jun 27, 2019 1:19 pm

smasher9000 wrote: ↑
Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:37 am

Could you share updated links

http://www.hiarcs.com/opening-books.htm

OpenChess

OpenChess