Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
So, I see that Deep Shredder 9 and 10 are available as 64-bit UCI engines [and
chessbase may be packaging a 64-bit version in Chessbase protocol as well].
Has anybody tried these and has there been any notable performance [i.e. ELO]
increase?

Thanks in advance.

64 bittedness isn't anything special in and of itself. But in
combination with the right amount of cache and enough stacks, then you
should be able to get a significant search boost at a given processor
speed.

You may also need to write some custom in-line assembler because the
current compilers may not be "chessie" enough to take advantage.

But ultimately, something like Shredder may not take the full advantage.
We may very well be in the middle of the "last ply" problem. In that
there are no real improvements available (either in hardware or
software) to the top programs to generate enough searches to get to
another ply (hydra and deep blue as exceptions). But that there is a
lot of headroom that can be utilized for smarter searches (which is
where Rybka seems to be excelling).

So, I think there is a new race underway. It used to be he who thought
deepest beat he who thought best. But now that everyone is the same
depth, and you just can't see deeper, it will again become a contest of
he who thinks best. It's a fun time for engine to engine matches.