Strongest Free Engine - Stockfish

      A lot of people are not too familiar with Martin Thoresen’s nTCEC site. The goal of the site is to provide viewers with a live broadcast of quality chess, played strictly between computer chess engines created by different programmers.
      Back in May Houdini won the final game in its match with Stockfish 3 in the Super Final, thereby winning the championship by a score of 25-23.
      What I liked about this event was the time limit; it wasn’t Blitz. The time control was 150 minutes + 60 seconds added per move for the whole game. If an engine lost on time, the result was not changed or the game replayed.
      So, if you are looking for the BEST FREE ENGINE at ‘normal’ time controls, it looks like it’s Stockfish. Download from Stockfish site HERE. 
      I have been experimenting with the modified version of Stockfish (version 270413) on Lechenicher SchachServer and have been quit pleased with the results. One thing I have noticed is that SF is considerably more optimistic (or pessimistic) that H2. But, so far based on my experiments on LSS, I have had much better results than when I was using the free version of Houdini, Critter and the earlier versions of Stockfish.

Top nTCEC Ratings:

 

Houdini 3 = 3156

Stockfish 250413 = 3102

Rybka 4.1 = 3099

Komodo 4534 = 3084

Critter 1.6a = 3073

Vitruvius 1.19 = 3064

Gull R375 = 3052

Equinox 1.65 = 3049

  Hiarcs 14 = 2984

Chiron 1.5 = 2983

Hannibal 200213 = 2942