How fast is Stockfish 15?
Stockfish 15, the latest version of my favorite open-source chess engine, was just released in January 2023. As an avid chess player and fan of computer chess, I couldn‘t wait to get my hands on it! According to the Stockfish developers, this new version searches about 1 million positions per second on consumer hardware. But what exactly does this mean? Let‘s break it down.
Lightning Fast Analysis – Over 1 Million Nodes Per Second
When running Stockfish 15 on specialized servers, like those used for the Chessify analysis board, it can analyze positions at an astounding rate of over 1 million nodes/positions evaluated per second. That‘s up from 800,000 nodes/second for Stockfish 14. For us chess nerds, that‘s seriously impressive! It means Stockfish 15 can calculate deeper and see much further ahead than humans in even extremely complex positions.
To put this into perspective, it took Deep Blue, the computer that famously beat Kasparov in 1997, only 200 million positions to defeat a world champion. With Stockfish 15‘s speed, it would take just over 3 minutes to analyze that many positions! The capabilities of chess engines continue to grow rapidly.
Stockfish 15 Over 700 Elo Stronger Than Humans
Based on Stockfish 15‘s performance in computer chess tournaments and matches against prior versions of Stockfish, its estimated Elo rating is approximately 3620! For reference, the current highest ever human rating belongs to Magnus Carlsen at 2882 Elo. Stockfish 15 sits a staggering 700+ points ahead of even the world‘s best players!
It completely dominates other elite engines too. In extensive testing, Stockfish 15 defeated Stockfish 14 in 9 out of 10 game pairs. It‘s estimated to have improved in playing strength by 50 to 80 Elo over Stockfish 14‘s already computer-crushing ability.
| Engine | Estimated Elo Rating |
|---|---|
| Stockfish 15 | 3620 |
| Stockfish 14 | 3550 |
| Leela Chess Zero | 3400 |
| Komodo 13.2 | 3100 |
As you can see in the table above, Stockfish 15 sits comfortably at the top of major chess engines based on estimated playing strength. A controlled test match against reigning Computer Chess Champion Leela Chess Zero would be fascinating!
What Does This Mean: Can A Human Ever Beat Stockfish?
With its unbelievable search speed and accuracy, I think Stockfish 15 has gotten frighteningly close to "perfect" play, at least within practical human game conditions. It‘s rated nearly 700 Elo above Magnus Carlsen, which means the probability of even the human World Champion scoring a win against Stockfish 15 is nearly 0%!
No human alive today can challenge the chess mastery of Stockfish 15. However, that doesn‘t mean chess between humans has lost all interest. There is still beauty in the ongoing battle among chess grandmasters competing against each other at the limits of human capability. But for now, the age of man vs. machine battles appears over – the machines have won.
Stockfish 16 and beyond will surely be even stronger. Perhaps one day a chess engine will definitively solve chess, proving either checkmate or stalemate against perfect defense in any position. We‘re not quite there yet, but Stockfish 15 represents one step closer on that never-ending march of computer chess progress!
