HIARCS similar to many other games checkers and free bingo are available on many different platforms just to name a few : Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Freescale DragonBall and ARM-based Palm OS operating systems (since 2004), and on the iPhone and IPod Touch (since August, 2009). It is one of the few top-level chess programs which are available for Mac OS X.
Version 12, was released in April 2008, the strength of the program comes more from its positional algorithms than from its search speed. HIARCS won the silver medal behind Rybka at the 2008 World Computer Chess Championship.
]]>| Pos | Score | Program | Opponent | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |||
| 1 | 10.0 | Rybka | X | = | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 9.0 | Zappa | = | X | 1 | = | 1 | = | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 7.5 | Loop | = | 0 | X | 0 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 7.0 | Shredder | 0 | = | 1 | X | 0 | = | = | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 7.0 | GridChess | 0 | 0 | = | 1 | X | = | 1 | = | 1 | = | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 6.0 | Deep Sjeng | 0 | = | 0 | = | = | X | = | = | 1 | = | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 5.0 | Jonny | 0 | = | 0 | = | 0 | = | X | 1 | 0 | = | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 4.5 | Diep | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | = | = | 0 | X | 1 | = | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 4.0 | The Baron | 0 | 0 | = | = | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 3.5 | IsiChess | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | = | = | = | = | 0 | X | = | 1 |
| 11 | 2.5 | The King | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | = | X | 1 |
| 12 | 0.0 | micro-Max | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
The Blitz Championship was won by Shredder:
| Pos | Score | Program | Opponent | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
| 1 | 6.0 | Shredder | X | = | 1 | = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 5.0 | Rybka | = | X | = | = | = | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 4.5 | Zappa | 0 | = | X | = | 1 | = | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 4.0 | GridChess | = | = | = | X | = | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 3.5 | Deep Sjeng | 0 | = | 0 | = | X | = | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 3.0 | Jonny | 0 | 0 | = | 0 | = | X | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 2.0 | Loop | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 1 |
| 8 | 0.0 | micro-Max | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
The Excalibur Grandmaster is an example of a great chess computer that feel great and peforms like Kasparov on steroids. The feel of the thing – the size of the thing – and the weighted full size pieces are it’s strengths. We’ll come to the weaknesses in a moment. After setting up the board and turning on – the machine immediately feels right. This is electronic chess at it best. The size helps, a full tournament board with full size tournament pieces. Moving a piece from square to square is immediately reassuring through the ‘beep’ uttered by the chess machine (the sound changes for incorrect movements). No pressing down to activate the press sensory mechanism – it doesn’t have that limitation – the reed switch underneath the board top surface – one per square – picks up the abscence of magnetic pull and throws the software into a ‘from’ mode, paired with the ‘to’ mode when placed down onto the next square. No extra pressure, no typing in the move, the computer takes care of it all. With a maximum elo of over 2000 – you’ll have to play like a grand master to beat this grandmaster.
The weaknesses? It’s plastic. Novag’s new Citrine is all wood. But we expect our silicon oponent to be a little unnatural. However – plastic is plastic – for the price they could have made it in graphite. Also the booklet is a little dated. Come on Excalibur – it’s not the 1970’s – change the picture on the book! Another weakness is the fundamental technology of the reed switches – they are just too prone to failure through even minor drops. They are reasonably easily repaired, but the carriage to and from a repairer for modern electronics is too much for a machine that may realise further reed switch failure. This aspect of the machine isn’t just sub-optimal – it’s stupid of Excalibur – they’re stuck in last century’s electronics and user guides but with up-to-date software, reflective of the companies clash of values in customer service – truly awful.
Overall – still a Rolls Royce of a computer chess game – but come on Excalibur – move into 2007!
]]>The book presents new results of computer-chess research in the areas of selective forward pruning, the efficient application of game-theoretical knowledge, and the behavior of the search at increasing depths. It shows how to make sophisticated game-tree searchers more scalable at ever higher depths.
Ernst A. Heinz
Scalable Search in Computer Chess
Morgan Kaufmann Publishers (December, 1999)
ISBN: 3528057327
Table of contents
- Intro
- 0 Computer-Chess Primer
- Part I — Forward Pruning without Tears
- 1 Adaptive Null-Move Pruning
- 2 Extended Futility Pruning
- 3 AEL Pruning
- Part II — Integration of Perfect Knowledge
- 4 Efficient Interior-Node Recognition
- 5 Index Schemes of Endgame Databases
- 6 Knowledgeable Endgame Databases
- Part III — Search Behaviour at Increasing Depths
- 7 DarkThought Goes Deep
- 8 Modeling the “Go Deep” Behaviour
- 9 Self-Play Experiments Revisited
- Perspectives on Future Work
- Part IV — Appendices
- A How DarkThought Plays Chess
- B Tournament History of DarkThought
- C DarkThought and Test Suites
- D DarkThought at Test Games
D.F. Beal (editor)
Advances in Computer Chess 5
Elsevier Science Publishing, 1989
ISBN 0-444-87159-4
Table of contents
- Some Special Benefits of Advances in Computer Chess (Keynote Address), A.D. de Groot
- Measuring the Performance Potential of Chess Programs, H. Berliner et al.
- An Incremental Negamax Algorithm, I. Althöfer
- Reasoning with Uncertainty in Computer Chess, H. Horacek
- Experiments with the Null Move, D.F. Beal
- Weight Assessment in Evaluation Functions, M. v.d. Meulen
- Notions of Evaluation Functions Tested Against Grandmaster Games, D. Hartmann
- A Model of Chess Knowledge – Planning Structures and Constituent Analysis, R. Seidel
- Towards a Theory of Knowledge, H. Kaindl
- Interactive Solution of King and Pawn Endings, A.N. Walker
- Conspiracy Numbers, J. Schaeffer
- A Knowledge-Based System and a Development Interface for the Middle Game in Chess, P. Ciancarini, M. Gaspari
- Performance Improvements in Problem-Solving Programs since 1984, L. Lindner
- Generalized Minimax Algorithms Are No Better Error Correctors than Minimax Itself, I. Althöfer
- Some Innovations Introduced by Hitech, H. Berliner
- Perfect Knowledge and Beyond, S.T. Dekker, H.J. v.d. Herik, I.S. Herschberg
- Efficient Pattern Recognition in Large Game Trees, R.W.G. Hünen
Proceedings of the International Conference, Brunel University, UK, 1984.
D.F. Beal (editor)
Advances in Computer Chess 4
Pergamon Press, 1986
ISBN 0-08-029763-3
Table of contents
- Towards a knowledge accelerator, D Michie
- Cray Blitz, R M Hyatt, A E Gower, H L Nelson
- Deriving correct pattern descriptions and rules for the KRK endgame by deductive methods, R Seidel
- Multiprocessor tree-search experiments, T A Marsland, M Olafsson, J Schaeffer
- Artificial stupidity, W R Hartston
- Experiments in chess cognition, D Kopec, M Newborn, W Yu
- Problem solving: the present and possibilities for development, L Lindner
- Presence and absence of pathology on game trees, G Schrüfer
- Detection of positional patterns in chess, I Bratko, P Tancig, S Tancig
- N.N.: a case study in chess knowledge representation, B Owsnicki, K von Luck
- A self-commenting facility for inductively synthesised endgame expertise, A Shapiro, D Michie
- Computer chess at Carnegie-Mellon University, H J Berliner
- Chess master versus computer, D N Levy