The twilight of Lc0?...

[massimilianogoi]

I've just discovered a couple of days ago that Lc0 was updated to v.0.29.0 in December, so I wanted to give to it a try on my S20 smarpthone. Worst than I imagined... And on DroidFish it even gave loading error (the official APK was badly compiled. Maybe someone should get a course from Archimedes...).

Three games with Acid Ape Pro, two 1+1 versus the latest Berserker and the latest Stockfish Polyglot. Lc0 has lost with both, with a big time deficiency. Its time issue has still not been resolved, after all these years... I though to increase the time to 3+2 and give Black to Stockfish Polyglot, but Lc0 managed to lose anyway.

[Event "1+1 engine duel"] [Site "?"] [Date "2023.03.31"] [Round "?"] [White "Lc0 v0.29.0"] [Black "Berserk 11.1"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "3372"] [BlackElo "3489"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qd2 Be6 10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Nd5 Bxd5 14.exd5 f6 15.gxf6 Bxf6 16.Kb1 Nb6 17.Na5 Nf4 18.Nc6 Qc7 19.Bxb6 Qxb6 20.Qb4 Qf2 21.Bd3 Qxf3 22.Be4 a5 23.Nxa5 Qe3 24.Nc6 Ra4 25.Rhe1 Ne2 26.Qxd6 Qxe4 27.a3 Rc4 28.Nb4 Qg2 29.Rd2 Nc3+ 30.Kc1 Bg5 31.Qe6+ Kh8 32.bxc3 Qxd2+ 33.Kb1 Qxe1+ 34.Ka2 Qxc3 35.Qd6 Ra8 36.Na6 Qxc2+ 37.Ka1 Qc3+ 38.Ka2 Qd2+ 39.Ka1 Rc1# 0-1

[Event "1+1 engine duel"] [Site "?"] [Date "2023.03.31"] [Round "?"] [White "Stockfish Polyglot 15.1 64-bit"] [Black "Lc0 v0.29.0"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "3524"] [BlackElo "3372"] [TimeControl "1+1"] [Time "07:12:57"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.h3 Be6 9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.O-O-O Rc8 11.Nd5 O-O 12.g4 Bxd5 13.exd5 Nb6 14.g5 e4 15.gxf6 exf3 16.fxe7 Qxe7 17.Bxb6 Qg5+ 18.Kb1 Rfe8 19.Bd3 g6 20.h4 Qh5 21.Nd2 Qxd5 22.h5 Re2 23.Be3 Re8 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.Nc4 R8xe3 26.Nxe3 Qe5 27.Bxe2 fxe2 28.Rd2 d5 29.Re1 d4 30.Nc4 Qc5 31.b3 d3 32.cxd3 Qxf2 33.Rdxe2 Qd4 34.Rd1 b5 35.Ne3 a5 36.Nc2 Qg4 37.Ree1 Qd7 38.d4 Qd5 39.Re5 Qf3 40.Kc1 Qf4+ 41. Re3 g5 42.d5 Qd6 43.Rd4 1-0

[Event "3+2 engine duel"] [Site "?"] [Date "2023.04.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Lc0 v0.29.0"] [Black "Stockfish Polyglot 15.1 64-bit"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "3372"] [BlackElo "3524"] 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 Bg4 4.Be2 e6 5.O-O Ne7 6.d4 c5 7.dxc5 Nbc6 8.Ne1 h5 9.Nd3 Ng6 10.f4 b6 11.Bxg4 hxg4 12.Qxg4 bxc5 13.f5 Rh4 14.Qg5 Be7 15.f6 gxf6 16.exf6 Bf8 17.Nc3 Nd4 18.Ne5 Qd6 19.Bf4 Rxf4 20.Nxg6 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 fxg6 22.Qxg6+ Kd7 23.Qh5 Kc6 24.g4 c4 25.Rf2 Qb8 26.Nd1 Bc5 27.Kg2 Qh8 28. Qxh8 Rxh8 29.b3 cxb3 30.axb3 Nf5 31.gxf5 Bxf2 32.Nxf2 exf5 33.Kg3 Kd6 34. Nd3 Ke6 35.Nf4+ Kxf6 36.Nxd5+ Ke5 37.Nf4 Ke4 38.Nd3 f4+ 39.Nxf4 Rg8+ 40. Kf2 Kxf4 41.Ke2 Ke4 42.Kd2 Rg2+ 43.Kc3 Rxh2 44.b4 Kd5 45.Kb3 Rh3+ 46.c3 Rg3 47.b5 Kc5 48.Kc2 Kxb5 49.Kd2 a5 50.Ke2 Rxc3 0-1


I am thinking to start a more serious computer match to see if changing the Lc0 network file with the latest more compatible with my videocard (780 Ti OC) and using more games could bring to a better result. Otherwise this chess engine could be already defined as doomed.

One possibility to be useful for weak engines is if their playing style is similar to humans, but this is not the case of Lc0.

[massimilianogoi]

At the moment an eliminatory tournament is running between Lc0 using Nvidia with latest compatible network (2020) and Lc0 using CPU with latest network availavle (1 Avril 2023) on time 3+2.

Surprisingly enough the Nvidia version is winning.

[massimilianogoi]

Lc0 GPU vs Lc0 CPU, Blitz 3.0min+2.0sec 2023

1 Lc0 v0.29.0 Graphic Card +23 +5/=54/-1 53.33% 32.0/60
2 Lc0 v0.29.0 CPU -23 +1/=54/-5 46.67% 28.0/60

https://www.mediafire.com/file/rcp9sc03 ... U.pgn/file

[massimilianogoi]

Specifications:

Time per game: 3 minutes + 2 seconds gaining
2 threads for Lc0 (1 CPU + 1 Graphic card), 4 threads for Stockfish Polyglot
Permanent brain (ponder): off
No opening book nor opening suite
Hashtable size: 4096 MB
Tablebases used: 3-4-5 pieces Syzygy
Interface used: Fritz 18
Operating system: Windows 10

System:

CPU: Intel i7-4771
Video card: Nvidia GeForce 780 Ti
Memory: RipJaws DDR3 RAM 24 GB
Hard disk: EVO SSD 512 GB

Participants:

Lc0 v0.29.0 Graphic Card
Stockfish Polyglot 15.1



Download here the games.


Lc0 keeps to be a no match for Stockfish, with an enourmous difference of 280 elo points. I really doubt, with such gap, that even having the new GeForce 4090 would make Lc0 win. Maybe in a thematic tournament the difference could be lower.