The Top 10 Chess Engines (& free versions)
Which are the strongest chess engines?
The chart above is based on the IPON rating list (as at 4/11/12), and shows the relative strength of the top engines running on a single core. It can be seen that, in a match, Deep Fritz 13 could be expected to score 0.23 of a point for every point scored by Houdini 3; e.g. a final score might be 81-19 to Houdini in a 100 game match. On systems with multiple processors/cores, Komodo 5 and 3, which are only available in SP versions, wouldn't be so highly placed; my guess is that they would fall somewhere between Rybka 4.1 and Chiron.
Below are the ratings with the release date and cost of the multiple processor version of the engine. Links to their websites are on the right of the page, with free engines in a red border. Critter 1.4a isn't available on the author's website, but the latest version, 1.6a, has virtually the same rating.
| pos. | name | IPON rating | score | released | cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houdini 3 | 3087 | 1.00 | 10/2012 | 40€ |
| Houdini 1.5a | 3017 | 0.67 | 01/2011 | free | |
| 2 | Komodo 5 | 3001 | 0.61 | 07/2012 | 24€ |
| 3 | Critter 1.4a | 2981 | 0.54 | 12/2011 | free |
| Komodo 3 | 2972 | 0.52 | 08/2011 | free | |
| 4 | Deep Rybka 4.1 | 2959 | 0.48 | 03/2011 | 65€ |
| 5 | Stockfish 2.3.1 | 2958 | 0.48 | 09/2012 | free |
| 6 | Chiron 1.5 | 2845 | 0.25 | 12/2011 | 28€ |
| 7 | Deep Fritz 13 | 2829 | 0.23 | 06/2012 | 100€* |
| 8 | Naum 4.2 | 2829 | 0.23 | 03/2010 | n/a |
| 9 | Hiarcs 14 | 2816 | 0.21 | 08/2012 | 60€ |
| Rybka 2.3.2 | 2802 | 0.19 | 06/2007 | free | |
| 10 | Deep Shredder 12 | 2800 | 0.19 | 10/2009 | 100€** |
* Chessbase engine. Includes the Fritz interface and 12 months premium membership at playchess.com. ** UCI engine with the Shredder interface, or a Chessbase engine with the Fritz 12 interface and basic membership at Playchess.