Strong ConHex program by Thomas Streichan

Happy New Year to all ConHex fans!

I've heard from Thomas Streichan that he has made a new version of the TM-Conhex program. It has been in development for over a year, starting as a study of MCTS algorithms. MCTS addresses a key problem of making engines for connection games: no function is needed for evaluating the board position. Instead, the program uses a flow optimization algorithm inspired by hydraulics.

The program plays a very strong game of ConHex: I often find myself in a losing position during the midgame. Even when I end up winning, it's clear that TM-Conhex can find clever moves that humans would sometimes miss. In some ways, it's like a dream come true! TM-Conhex seems like a great tool for studying midgame tactics and unusual variations for intermediate-advanced players.

It's Windows-only, but please give it a try if you're interested! The strongest mode can be enabled by using the player "Tom" with 12 threads and 800,000 iterations or more. You can download it from here:

http://www.TM-Soft.de/Downloads/Conhex.zip

Still no proper board for this amazing game :-(

Give us 7x7 please <3

Florian, I would call the standard ConHex grid 11x11 including the corners. Do you want a smaller grid?

Esa thanks, this is great news! Is there any English documentation available?

I call what we have 5x5, which make the game quite useless.

David, I think the application should present a choice of language in the top right corner or one of the menu bars. Is it no longer there?

Screenshot link:
https://drive.google.com/u/0/drive-viewer/AKGpihaSe2zZPlgKInANWJlHB1jhQQJOH50a0VlGJ-Rspc8mIr9HWhSs2RASoBw1zYsWG9ls1WOSdx5Evn2PupbIndnwaYO1BW63EYM=s1600-rw-v1

I'm well aware of Florian's grievances with the board size :) Although larger boards are intriguing, I think 5x5 (11x11) is still fine as the standard size for quick games. It's not anywhere near fully explored yet, and we keep seeing new moves year after year.