Rybka is undoubtedly the strongest chess engine in the world. I have tried to benchmark the performance of The King engine in Chessmaster with Rybka 2.3. Here are the results.

With the default setting, Chessmaster lost ALL the games to Rybka, no matter played as white or black.

Then after some fine-tuning on personality, Chessmaster played another 4 games with Rybka, 2 as white and 2 as black, Chessmaster won with 2.5-1.5 as follows.

Game One
[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2007.3.25"]
[Round ""]
[White "Chessmaster X"]
[Black "Rybka 2.3 MP"]
[TimeControl "7200"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "oft "]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 Bb6 5.d4 Nf6 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.dxe5 Nxe4 8.Qg4 Bxf2+ 9.Ke2 Qh4 10.Qxg7 Rf8 11.Nd2 Nxd2 12.Bxd2 Bc5
13.Qg3 Qh5+ 14.Ke1 Be7 15.Be2 Qg6 16.Rd1 b6 17.Bf3 c6 18.Be2 Bb7 19.Rf1 O-O-O 20.Bf4 Qe6 21.Qh3 Qxa2 22.Rd2 Rg8 23.Bd3 h6
24.Rff2 Bc5 25.Rfe2 Qa1+ 26.Rd1 Qa4 27.Qxh6 Ba6 28.b3 Qa3 29.Bc1 Qa1 30.Qd2 Bb5 31.Bxb5 cxb5 32.b4 Be7 33.Qd5 Qa6 34.Qxf7 Rge8
35.Qd5 Qb7 36.Qxb5 Rg8 37.Qd5 Qxd5 38.Rxd5 d6 39.e6 Bf6 40.e7 Rde8 41.Rxd6 Bxc3+ 42.Bd2 Bxd2+ 43.Kxd2 Rg7 44.Rde6 Kd7 45.R6e3 a6
46.Kc3 Rgxe7 47.Rxe7+ Rxe7 48.Rxe7+ Kxe7 49.h4 Ke6 50.g4 Ke5 51.h5 Kf6 52.h6 Kf7 53.g5 Kg6 54.Kc4 a5 55.bxa5 bxa5 1-0

Game two
[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2007.3.26"]
[Round ""]
[White "Chessmaster X"]
[Black "Rybka 2.3 MP"]
[TimeControl "7200"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "oft "]

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.a3 O-O 9.d3 Be6 10.b4 Nd4 11.Bb2 Nb3 12.Rb1 f6 13.d4 exd4
14.Nb5 Bc4 15.Nfxd4 c6 16.Qc2 a6 17.Nxb3 axb5 18.Rfd1 Qc7 19.Nc5 Rfd8 20.Be4 h6 21.e3 Bxc5 22.bxc5 Na4 23.Bd4 Qe7 24.Bd3 Bxd3
25.Rxd3 Rd5 26.Rc1 Qd7 27.Qb3 Kh8 28.Rcd1 Rd8 29.e4 Nxc5 30.Qxd5 cxd5 31.Bxc5 Qc8 32.Bb6 Rd6 33.Rxd5 Rxd5 34.exd5 Qc2 35.Rd4
Qc1+ 36.Kg2 g6 37.h4 Kg7 38.Kh2 Qb2 39.d6 Qxf2+ 40.Kh1 Qf1+ 41.Kh2 Qe2+ 42.Kg1 Qe3+ 43.Kg2 Qxa3 44.d7 Qe3 45.Rd6 Qe4+ 46.Kf2
Qf5+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ 48.Kf1 Qc4+ 49.Kg1 Qc1+ 50.Kg2 Qc2+ 51.Bf2 Qe4+ 52.Kf1 Qb1+ 53.Ke2 Qe4+ 54.Be3 Qg2+ 55.Kd3 Qf1+ 56.Kd2 Qg2+
57.Kc3 Qxg3 58.d8=Q Qxe3+ 59.Kb4 Qe1+ 60.Kxb5 Qf1+ 61.Kb6 Qa6+ 62.Kc7 Qa5+ 63.Rb6 Qe5+ 64.Kc8 Qf5+ 65.Kb8 Qf4+ 66.Rd6 h5 67.Qe7+
Kh6 68.Qf8+ Kh7 69.Qf7+ Kh6 1-0

Game three
[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2007.3.27"]
[Round ""]
[White "Rybka 2.3 MP"]
[Black "Chessmaster X"]
[TimeControl "7200"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "oft "]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 c4 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O Be7 8.b3 cxb3 9.axb3 O-O 10.Ne5 Bf5 11.Bb2 Qc7 12.c4 Nc6 13.Ndf3
Bb4 14.Bd3 Be4 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Ne5 a5 17.Qc2 Rfe8 18.Rfc1 Qb7 19.Ra2 Bd6 20.f3 Bxd3 21.Nxd3 Rab8 22.c5 Bc7 23.Ra3 Ra8 24.Qd2 Qb8
25.Ne5 Bxe5 26.dxe5 Nd7 27.f4 Qb4 28.Qd4 Qb5 29.Qf2 Rab8 30.Bd4 f6 31.exf6 Qd3 32.Raa1 Re2 33.Rd1 Qxd1+ 34.Rxd1 Rxf2 35.Kxf2
gxf6 36.Rd3 Rb4 37.g4 Kf7 38.Be3 f5 39.g5 Rb5 40.Ke2 Nf8 41.Bd2 Rxc5 42.Rh3 Rb5 43.Rh6 Rxb3 44.Rxc6 Ne6 45.Ra6 Nd4+ 46.Kf2 Rb2
47.Ke3 Nb3 48.Bxa5 d4+ 49.Kf3 d3 50.Ke3 d2 51.Ke2 Ra2 52.Rf6+ Kg7 53.Bc3 Rc2 54.Bb4 Rc4 55.Bxd2 Nxd2 56.Kxd2 Rxf4 57.Rh6 Rg4
58.h4 Re4 59.Kd3 Rb4 60.Ke3 Re4+ 61.Kf3 Rg4 62.Kf2 Rd4 63.Kg3 Rg4+ 64.Kh3 Rd4 65.Rf6 Rf4 66.Rb6 Rf3+ 67.Kg2 Rf4 68.Kg3 Rg4+
69.Kh3 Re4 70.Ra6 Re3+ 71.Kg2 Re4 72.Kg3 Rg4+ 73.Kh3 Rc4 74.Ra7+ Kg6 75.Ra6+ Kg7 76.Rd6 Rc3+ 77.Kg2 Rc4 78.Kg3 Rg4+ 79.Kh3 Rb4
80.Rd3 Re4 81.Rd7+ Kg6 82.Rb7 Re3+ 83.Kg2 f4 84.Ra7 Rd3 85.Kf2 Rh3 86.Ra6+ Kg7 87.Ra7+ Kg6 88.Ra6+ Kg7 89.Ra7+ Kg6 1/2-1/2

Game four
[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2007.3.27"]
[Round ""]
[White "Rybka 2.3 MP"]
[Black "Chessmaster X"]
[TimeControl "7200"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "oft "]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6 10.Kh1 a6 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bf4 Nh5 13.Be3 f5
14.Qd2 f4 15.Bf2 Be5 16.Nb3 a5 17.Rad1 Kh7 18.Rfe1 Ng3+ 19.Kg1 Nxe2+ 20.Nxe2 Qg5 21.h4 Qf6 22.Nbc1 Be6 23.Nd3 Bxc4 24.Nexf4 Bxa2
25.Ne2 Bb3 26.f4 Bxf4 27.Ndxf4 Bxd1 28.Rxd1 Nd7 29.h5 g5 30.Ng6 Ne5 31.Qc3 Ng4 32.Bd4 Qe6 33.Ng3 c5 34.Nf5 Qf7 35.Qf3 cxd4
36.Qxg4 Rad8 37.Rxd4 d5 38.e5 Qe6 39.Qf3 Qb6 40.Kh2 Qe6 41.Ne3 Kg7 42.Nxd5 Qf7 43.Qd3 b5 44.Nf6 Rxd4 45.Nxe8+ Qxe8 46.Qxd4 Kf7
47.Qd6 Kg8 48.e6 g4 49.Qd4 Kh7 50.Qd7+ Qxd7 51.exd7 g3+ 52.Kxg3 Kg8 53.d8=Q+ Kf7 54.Qe7+ Kg8 55.Qf8+ Kh7 56.Qf7# 1-0

The testing environment is as follows.
Pentium-M 1.3GHz processor, single CPU, 1 GB RAM
Rybka 2.3 MP UCI engine imported to Chessmaster 10 interface using Polyglot 1.4
Both engines use the same Chessmaster opening book
Both engines have same hash table size 256 MB
Both engines pondering on
The fine-tuned Chessmaster X has the following personality setting:

Attacker/Defender = -3
Selective Search = 14
Transposition Table = 256 MB
Own/Opposing Control of Center = 120
Own/Opposing Mobility = 120
Own/Opposing King Safety = 160
Other parameters remain unchanged.

Seems improve significantly after fine-tuning! It is a little bit surprising that a three years old engine can achieve such result when facing the currently strongest engine in the world.

Especially the “Transposition Table = 256 MB” option is a huge improvement!
This table is directly used in Windows memory (check theKing.exe in taskmanager/processes!)

I think a couple years ago, when this version of CM came out, the average computer didn't have the memory for a 256meg transposition table, thats why the default is only 16meg.

Although I think 16meg even 2 years ago was pretty small, the default should have been at least 64megs. Not sure their is a huge difference between a 64 meg transposition table and a 256 transposition table, but 16 meg is very small, even for 2 years ago.

A better way to test each engine is to get a deep search heuristic problem to run on each on and see how long it takes for each machine to get the correct response.

A deep heuristic problem by definition isn't a solve for mate problem, since even a low level chess program can solve that given enough time.

I can't think of any problems off hand, but maybe I'm sure you can find some on the internet if you look hard enough.

Most of the problems revolve around the computer program giving up material for a dynamic, long term initiative, and attack.

Something weaker programs could never solve. (and in fact, Deep Blue sacrificed a Bishop for a win in one of its games).

Interesting! Where do you change those settings?

http://www.husvankempen.de/nunn/CM.htm

here in this link, there is a rating list of many fine-tuned chessmasters, and you can see the configurations too. I think you may be interested.

I found this site where graham banks gives his fine tuning settings to chessmaster. How do i go about making this changes? i see a lot of tweaks but i can't find "these" settings on my chessmaster program. i own CM9 & CMX, i also use Arena and Rybka (demo). i have had trouble with UCI and winboard interfaces before (none with arena). this is the link where i found the info:"http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/cgi/engine_details.cgi?print=Details&eng=CM9000%20Enforcer#CM9000_Enforcer"
Any help will be greatly appreciated.