Human vs. computer

RATING CHESS PROGRAMS

If you are going to buy a chess program, and really want the best, you must of course act methodically. One way is to study the rating lists, but then remember that the rating lists chiefly are based on matches between the chess programs and that no rating list is complete. Not even the list of SSDF (the Swedish Chess Computer Association) is complete, which also means that Eric Hallsworth´s list, which is based on the list of SSDF, neither is complete. You can also study the results from different chess computer tournaments - see Tournaments chess programs. Furthermore you can read reviews and analyses of chess programs - see Chess software reviews .

There is only one producer, who gives away older versions, that is Lokasoft/Ed Schröder. Why not test Rebel Decade 3.0, a slimmed version of Rebel 9, but which plays with full strength on Fridays?

Or be satisfied with the information that the best chess programs as Rybka, Fritz, Shredder, Junior, Rebel, Tiger, HIARCS, Gandalf and Chessmaster are rather equal in strength and that only taste decides in the end...

Blitzchess - this site, which was submitted to the net in March 2008, is about electronic chess boards and chess programs. Various electronic chess boards are presented; reports about tournaments between portable chess computers and between chess programs as well as relevant articles from the French press. Language: French.

Gunnar Blomstrand carries out the so called 64-test, which is an attempt to see which chess program which makes the most "human" moves". There is also a commented list of game collections on the internet. Furthermore he carries out tournaments with WinBoard compatible engines and 148 of them are represented on his rating list.

Brettcomputer-Eloliste is testing electronic chess boards - there are totally 127 on this list. Electronic chess boards are also represented on the list of SSDF. Language: German.

CCLR - a team is testing a number of chess programs and engines. Rybka 1.2 was leading the list from August 12 2006, followed by Zap!Chess Paderborn, while Deep Shredder 10 took the third place. Language: English.

ChessBit´s rating list from the 16/6 2001 numbers 83 chess programs, which have played 20141 games totally. But some of the programs are experimental and not for sale. Different versions of Tiger are well represented among the ten best programs.

ChessWar - Olivier Deville organizes tournaments with a great number of programs, from his own secret programs, all free chess engines, which function in WinBoard, UCI and CB, and some commercial chess programs. Language: English.

Computer Chess with reports from tournaments, game databases and test results.

Walter Eigenmann gives his attention to the development of computer chess during the latest years. He has placed the 200 best chess programs and 50 best programmers in order of precedence, basing his opinion on 120000 computer chess games. Language: German.

Eric Hallsworth´s list includes the list of SSDF and besides he organizes own games between the chess programs. Rybka 1.2 took the first place on the list from the 17/5 2006, followed by Shredder 10 and Hiarcs 10.

Michaels Computerschachseite has rating lists and information about different tests of chess programs. Language: German.

Surak´s Computer-Chess Trophy - there are 773 chess programs, in different versions and run on different computers, on his rating list.

Svenska schackdatorföreningen (The Swedish Chess Computer Association), publishes the most known and maybe most respected rating list for chess programs. Through the years SSDF has tested a great number of chess programs. The list is not complete due to certain reasons. Rybka 2.3.1 was number one on the list from 3/11 2007 - Rybka 1.2 was second and Hiarcs 11.1 took the third place. Language: English.

Tony´s Chess Site - Tony Hedlund is a member of SSDF. Here is the database of SSDF with test games, "PLY/SSDF - the story" and links to sites about computer chess. He also publishes a newsletter, "Tony´s Computerchess Newsletter". Language: English .

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TOURNAMENTS CHESS PROGRAMS

1. Livingston Chess960 Computer WM - three non-comercial programs, Spike, Jonny, and Glaurung took the first three places ahead of Shredder in this Chess960-tournament in August 2005. Chess960 means that the major pieces are set up randomly behind the pawns.

Cadaques Tournament, Spanish tournament, in which six of the strongest chess programs took part 2001. Also in English.

ChessEngineGrandTournament (CEGT) organizes tournaments between chess programs, commercial as well as non-commercial. Rybka 2.0 Beta is leading with an ELO-rating of 3002 on the latest rating list (15/7 2006). On the whole there are many ”rookies” on this list. Languages: German and English.

Chessfuns Computer Chess Pages reports about tournaments between chess programs, both commercial and amateur.

Computerschaak Vereniging Nederlands organizes Dutch Computer Chess Championships. You can download games from the homepage, which also have many links to computer chess.

ComputerSchach Corner by Gerhard Sonnabend organizes matches and tournaments between chess programs. Language: German.


Engine Tours - these tournaments are played on the ChessBase server. On December 9 in 2005 1976 chess engines had played 1020303 games. Among the top 10 chess engines you can only find one non-commercial.

FSV Chess Services, which is run by Torsten Schoop and Gunnar Schoenmann, has organized tournaments between chess programs since 1981.

Andreas Hermann organizes tournaments between Winboard-compatible chess engines.

Internet Chess Club also organizes tournaments between chess programs - the fourth took place in the end of January 2002.

International Paderborn Computer Chess Championships (IPCCC) has arranged tournaments between chess programs in more than ten years. Shredder won the tournament in 2003.

Kurt & Rolf Chess - Kurt Utzinger and Rolf Bühler from Swiss arrange tournaments between chess programs, both commercial and amateur programs. Languages: German and English.

Michaels Computerschackseite - new German site with first and foremost results from different tournaments between chess programs.

Odyssey 2001 was a tournament, organized by Torsten Czub, between the 26 strongest chess programs in the world. The tournament took months to finish. All games were analysed by members from Baltijos Lyga Chess Club, a chess club in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Volker Richey informs continuously about tournaments between chess programs. Furthermore there is Computer Chess Tournament Forum affiliated with the page. Languages: German and English.

SCCS Computer Chess Portal - with reports from matches between the best chess programs, reviews and so forth. Language: English.

Sedatchess - Sedat Canbaz organizes tournaments between chess programs. Language: English.

Superchessengine.com - with the subtitle ”Everything you need to know about uci chess engine & more” – organizes tournaments between known and unknown chess engines.

Swedish Championship in Computer Chess 2003 (unofficial) was organized by Albert Bertilsson, who has created the program Sharper. Ruffian 1.0.1 won by a surprisingly narrow margin ahead of KnightDreamer 3.2 with Terra 3.1 b10 taking the third place. Ten programs took part. Language: English.

The 7th Computer Olympiad - Maastricht 2002 was organized by ICCA and IKAT. Junior became champion. The Olympiad in 2003 took place in Graz, Austria, and was won by Shredder ahead of Fritz and Junior. See the homepage for further information.

The Spacious Mind collects dedicated chess computers and organizes also tournaments between them.

Thüringer Computerschach - Rainer Serfling organizes tournaments between chess programs. Language: German.

Tom´s Live Chess Viewer is a utility for watching live computer vs computer chess tourneys being broadcast on the internet. The utility provides information on who is playing, time left on clocks, time control, scores, thinking output, nodes per second, and more, all in real time.

Heinz Walz implements tournaments with different time controls between different chess programs and has besides established his own rating lists. Language: German.

Horst Wandersleben carries out tournaments with ”naked” chess engines, that is engines ripped off their opening books and tablebases, only using their calculating capacity. Language: German.

WBEC Ridderkerk is managed by Leo Dijksman and organizes WinBoard tournaments. Extensive list of WinBoard-compatible chess engines. Language: English.

Wiezeneckers Schachseite carries through tournaments with many chess programs, most of them commercial. Language: German.

WinBoard Classic Liga is organized by Uwe Kleinschmidt. Language: German.

WINNCOM organizes tournaments between WinBoard-engines and commercial programs. Language: English.

World Online League organizes tournaments with twenty programs taking part, amateur programs as well as commercial programs.

HUMAN VS. COMPUTER

3D Technologies Corp. organized the last match in November 2003 between Gary Kasparov and Fritz, which ended with a draw, 2 - 2.

1000 Computer defeats - Boussios Christos has analysed 1000 games between computers and humans, mainly in ICC, to find out the weaknesses of the chess programs (for example flank attacks).

Anticomputer Chess or how to beat a chess program.

Olivier Evan against Junior 7 - Olivier Evan played a number of games against Junior 7 1/10 – 13/10 2002. He used Shredder 5.32, HIARCS 7.32 and Fritz 7 as assisting chess programs. Language: French. Broken link.

Jay´s Chessentials contains advices about how to defeat chess computers.

Jim´s Chess Strategy discuss among other things how to defeat a chess program.

Vladimir Kramnik played a draw, 4 - 4, against Deep Fritz in Bahrain in November 2002.

Man-Machine Partiendatenbank contains selected games from matches between outstanding chess players and chess programs. You can replay the games directly on the website. Language: German.

Mes stratégies anti-ordinateur - Eduard Nemeth, who has played heaps of games against chess programs, tells about his strategy and his various tricks, among other things the “troyan sacrifice”. Language: French.

Mis-assessing your chess (engines) - article by FM Doug Eckert, who means that computers really do not come up with good plans and for that reason it is easier to beat them in positional games than in tactical ones.

Rebel has organized several matches between different Rebel versions and eminent players like Vishwanatan Anand and Arthur Jusupov.

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