Komodo and Dragon by Komodo Chess (also known as Dragon or Komodo Dragon) are UCI chess engines developed by Komodo Chess,[1] which is a part of Chess.com.[2] The engines were originally authored by Don Dailey and GM Larry Kaufman. Dragon is a commercial chess engine, but Komodo is free for non-commercial use.[3] Dragon is consistently ranked near the top of most major chess engine rating lists, along with Stockfish and Leela Chess Zero.[4][5][6][7][8]

Komodo
Original author(s)
Developer(s)Komodo Chess, Chess.com
Initial releaseJanuary 2010; 14 years ago (2010-01)
Stable release
Komodo 14.1 / November 2, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-11-02)
Written inC, C++
Operating systemLinux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android
PredecessorKomodo
TypeChess engine
LicenseProprietary
Websitekomodochess.com
Dragon by Komodo Chess
Developer(s)Komodo Chess, Chess.com
Initial releaseNovember 9, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-11-09)
Stable release
Dragon 3.3 / October 4, 2023; 13 months ago (2023-10-04)
Written inC, C++
Operating systemLinux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android
PredecessorDoch
SuccessorDragon
TypeChess engine
LicenseProprietary
Websitekomodochess.com

History

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Komodo

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Komodo logo

Komodo was derived from Don Dailey's former engine Doch in January 2010.[9] The first multiprocessor version of Komodo was released in June 2013 as Komodo 5.1 MP.[10] This version was a major rewrite and a port of Komodo to C++11. A single-processor version of Komodo (which won the CCT15 tournament in February earlier that year) was released as a stand-alone product shortly before the 5.1 MP release. This version, named Komodo CCT, was still based on the older C code, and was approximately 30 Elo stronger than the 5.1 MP version, as the latter was still undergoing massive code-cleanup work.[11]

With the release of Komodo 6 on October 4, 2013, Don Dailey announced that he was suffering from an acute form of leukaemia, and would no longer contribute to the future development of Komodo.[12] On October 8, Don made an announcement on the Talkchess forum that Mark Lefler would be joining the Komodo team and would continue its development.[13]

Komodo TCEC was released on December 4, 2013. This was the same version that had won TCEC Season 5, and was the last with input from Don Dailey, to whom it was dedicated.[14] Komodo 7 was released on May 21, 2014, adding Syzygy tablebase support.[15]

On May 24, 2018, Chess.com announced that it has acquired Komodo and that the Komodo team have joined Chess.com.[2] The Komodo team is now called Komodo Chess.[1]

On December 17, 2018, Komodo Chess released Komodo 12.3 MCTS, a version of the Komodo 12.3 engine that uses Monte Carlo tree search instead of alpha–beta pruning/minimax.[16]

The latest version, Komodo 14.1, was released on November 2, 2020.[17]

Dragon

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On November 9, 2020, Komodo Chess released Dragon by Komodo Chess 1.0, which features the use of efficiently updatable neural networks in its evaluation function. Dragon is derived from Komodo in the same way that Komodo was derived from Doch.[18][19] Dragon is also called Komodo Dragon in certain tournaments such as the Top Chess Engine Championship and the World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) but not in the Chess.com Computer Chess Championship (CCC). A Chess.com staff member named Dmitry Pervov joined the Dragon development team to write the NNUE code for Dragon, and Dietrich Kappe joined the Dragon development team to help Larry Kaufman and Mark Lefter train Dragon's neural networks.[20]

On March 17, 2023, Larry Kaufman announced that he and Mark Lefter have stepped down from Dragon development and from ownership of Komodo Chess, and that Chess.com have taken full control of Komodo Chess. As of March 17, 2023, Dietrich Kappe is the only person responsible for the development of Dragon, but Chess.com are looking for more programmers to help with Dragon development.[21]

The final version, Dragon 3.3, was released on October 4, 2023.[22]

Competition results

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Komodo

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Komodo has played in the ICT 2010 in Leiden, and further in the CCT12 and CCT14. Komodo had its first tournament success in 1999, when it won the CCT15 with a score of 6½/7.[23] Komodo won both the World Computer Chess Championship[24] and World Computer Software Championship[25] in 2016. Komodo once again won the World Computer Chess Championship[26] and World Blitz[27] in 2017.

In TCEC competition, Komodo was historically one of the strongest engines. In Season 4, it lost only eight out of its 53 games and managed to reach Stage 4 (Quarterfinals), against very strong competition which were running on eight cores (Komodo was running on a single processor).[28] The next season, Komodo won the superfinal against Stockfish. The two engines jockeyed for the championship over the next few seasons: Stockfish won in Season 6, while Komodo won Seasons 7 and 8. Komodo failed to make the superfinal in Season 9, losing out to Houdini; but after Houdini was later disqualified for containing code plagiarized from Stockfish,[29][30][31] Komodo was promoted to the runner-up. Komodo retrospectively won Season 10 in the same way. Starting from Season 11 however, Stockfish improved at a rate that left its rivals behind, crushing Komodo in Season 12 and 13. The advent of the neural network engine Leela Chess Zero meant Komodo has largely failed to qualify for the superfinal since, with a single exception in Season 22, when it lost to Stockfish. Although Komodo has not qualified for the superfinal, it has cemented itself as the third-strongest engine in the competition, finishing in that position for five of the last six seasons.

Chess.com Computer Chess Championship

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Main Events
Event Year Time Controls Result Ref
CCC 1 2018 15+5 4th [32]
CCC 2 2018 5+2 2nd [33]
CCC 3 2019 30+5 3rd [34]
CCC 4 2019 1+2 4th [35]
CCC 5 2019 10+5 4th [36]
CCC 6 2019 10+10 7th [37]
CCC 7 2019 5+2 6th [38]
CCC 8 2019 15+5 6th [39]
CCC 9 2019 5+2 5th [40]
CCC 10 2019 10+3 4th [41]
CCC 11 2019 30+5 4th [42]
CCC 12 2020 1+1 4th [43]
CCC 13 2020 10+5 4th [44]
CCC 14 2020 10+3 5th [45]
CCC Blitz 2020 2020 5+5 9th [46]
CCC Blitz 2021 2021 5+5 10th [47]
CCC Chess 960 Blitz 2021 5+5 9th [48]

Dragon

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Chess.com Computer Chess Championship

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Main Events
Event Year Time Controls Result Ref
CCC Blitz 2020 2020 5+5 3rd [49]
CCC Rapid 2021 2021 15+3 3rd [50]
CCC Blitz 2021 2021 5+5 3rd [51]
CCC Chess 960 Blitz 2021 5+5 2nd [52]
CCC 16: Rapid 2021 15+3 3rd [53]
CCC 16: Bullet 2021 2+1 2nd [54]
CCC 16: Blitz 2022 5+5 2nd [55]
CCC 17: Rapid 2022 15+3 2nd [56]
CCC 17: Bullet 2022 2+1 2nd [57]
CCC 17: Blitz 2022 5+5 3rd [58]
CCC 18: Rapid 2022 15+3 3rd [59]
CCC 19: Blitz 2022 5+5 2nd [60]
CCC 19: Rapid 2022 15+3 3rd [61]
CCC 19: Bullet 2023 1+1 2nd [62]
CCC 20: Blitz 2023 3+2 3rd [63]
CCC 20: Rapid 2023 10+3 3rd [64]
CCC 20: Bullet 2023 1+1 3rd [65]
CCC 21: Blitz 2023 3+2 4th [66]
CCC 21: Rapid 2023 10+3 4th [67]

Top Chess Engine Championship

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Main Events
Event Year Time Controls Result Ref
Season 20 2020 60+7 3rd [68]
Season 21 2021 90+9 3rd [69]
Season 22 2022 120+12 2nd [70]
Season 23 2022 60+6 3rd [71]
Season 24 2023 60+6 3rd [72]
Season 25 2023 60+6 3rd [73]
Cup
Event Year Time Controls Result Ref
Cup 8 2021 30+5 3rd [74]
Cup 9 2021 30+5 3rd [75]
Cup 10 2022 30+3 2nd [76]
Cup 11 2023 30+3 3rd [77]
Fischer random chess (FRC)
Event Year Time Controls Result Ref
FRC 3 2021 30+5 1st [78]
FRC 4 2022 30+5 3rd [79]
Swiss
Event Year Time Controls Result Ref
Swiss 1 2021 45+7 1st [80]
Swiss 2 2022 45+7 1st [81]
Swiss 3 2022 45+4.5 4th [82]
Swiss 4 2023 30+3 2nd [83]

Notable games

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Komodo vs Hannibal
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8
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Komodo plays the exchange sacrifice 33. Rxc6 and goes on to win the game, proving the superiority of its pieces over Black's two rooks.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions".
  2. ^ a b "Chess.com Acquires Komodo; Launches New 'Monte Carlo' Version Similar To AlphaZero". Chess.com. May 24, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
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  4. ^ "CCRL 40/40 Rating List — All engines (best versions only)". computerchess.org.uk. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  5. ^ "IPON Rating List". inwoba.de. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  6. ^ "SWCR chess engine ratings list". amateurschach.de. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  7. ^ "CEGT Best Versions". husvankempen.de. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  8. ^ "CCRL 40/4 Rating List". CCRL. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
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  10. ^ Dailey, Don. "Komodo 5.1 MP has been released". Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  11. ^ Dailey, Don. "Komodo CCT". Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  12. ^ Dailey, Don. "Komodo release". Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  13. ^ Dailey, Don. "Who is Don/Larry's new partner!?". Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  14. ^ Kaufman, Larry. "Komodo TCEC released". Computer Chess Club. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
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  19. ^ "Dragon Chess Engine - Official Site".
  20. ^ Larry Kaufman. "Dragon by Komodo Chess".
  21. ^ Larry Kaufman. "KomodoChess and chess.com".
  22. ^ "Dragon Chess Engine - Official Site". Retrieved January 17, 2023.
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  41. ^ "CCC 10 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  42. ^ "CCC 11 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  43. ^ "CCC 12". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  44. ^ "CCC 13 Semifinals". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  45. ^ "CCC 14". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
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  47. ^ "CCC Blitz Championship 2021". chess.com. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
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  56. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 17: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  57. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 17: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  58. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 17: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  59. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 18: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  60. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 19: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  61. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 19: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  62. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 19: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  63. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 20: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  64. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 20: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  65. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 20: Bullet". Chess.com. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  66. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 21: Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  67. ^ "Computer Chess Championship CCC 21: Rapid". Chess.com. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
  68. ^ "TCEC Season 20 Premier Division". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  69. ^ "TCEC Season 21 Infrafinal". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  70. ^ "TCEC Season 22 Superfinal". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  71. ^ "TCEC Season 23 Infrafinal". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  72. ^ "TCEC Season 24 Division P Playoff". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  73. ^ "TCEC Season 25 Division P Playoff". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  74. ^ "TCEC Cup 8". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  75. ^ "TCEC Cup 9". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  76. ^ "TCEC Cup 10". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  77. ^ "TCEC Cup 11". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  78. ^ "TCEC FRC 3". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  79. ^ "TCEC FRC 4". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  80. ^ "TCEC Swiss 1". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  81. ^ "TCEC Swiss 2". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  82. ^ "TCEC Swiss 3". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  83. ^ "TCEC Swiss 4". tcec-chess.com. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  84. ^ a b "Interesting Games from Season 2". Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  85. ^ Chen, Franklin (October 24, 2013). "The computer plays the exchange sacrifice". Retrieved October 26, 2013.
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