Any machine or computer program that plays chess, with the possible exception of The Turk ;-)
5
votes
1answer
61 views
Is there software that simulates the Tri-D or 3-D chess as seen in Star Trek?
I want to try this game without making/buying a board and it is easier to learn to play when the computer can prevent invalid moves. Does any software, preferably freeware, exist which simulates this ...
2
votes
3answers
107 views
How is a computer programmed to play chess? [duplicate]
How is a computer programmed to play chess? What are the ways by which they sort out the moves? My question is not about programming but the idea behind programming to play chess. That can really help ...
4
votes
2answers
62 views
What type of hardware is the most important for analysing with Houdini
I am going to analyse a lot of games with Houdini 3.
The system on which I am going to analyse it is really powerful, but I am curios, what is the most important type of hardware for such analysis:
...
5
votes
2answers
104 views
Playing chess on a Mac with Stockfish and some GUI
I have a Macbook OS X 10.6 and want to play chess against a challenging program. I'm not very computationally inclined but it seems that I need to download Stockfish and some UCI-compatible GUI. I ...
6
votes
2answers
74 views
Computers in correspondence chess
In competitive correspondence chess, can humans win at all against computers? Do humans contribute at all to the game?
Provided that it is allowed by the rules, I fail to see how it is not just ...
5
votes
2answers
77 views
strongest chess engine
Can somebody tell me where can i find an updated list of the strongest chess engines. I want to find out a comparison (ordered list of engines)
Information on wiki ...
5
votes
1answer
47 views
Can you really learn from playing against computers just like when playing against humans?
I am wondering whether or not playing against chess against a computer will help you get better as quickly as playing against humans.
The motivation for this questions come from video gaming. I used ...
7
votes
1answer
84 views
Scandinavian: 2. Nc3 d4
I started out with a simple opening: 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 and then the computer played 2... d4, surprising me, as I had never encountered it before. Since then, I've been trying to analyse the possible ...
13
votes
4answers
204 views
How do chess engines “think”?
What I want to know is how engines are programmed to find moves. I'm sure they first calculate the most forcing lines such as captures and checks. But what about subtle, deep positional moves? They ...
6
votes
3answers
139 views
Why do people say today's chess is dominated by computers?
Everytime I read articles on chess, I see people who say that chess nowadays is dominated by computers. For example if you look for a thread on the subject 'fischer vs carlsen' (just an example) you ...
6
votes
3answers
246 views
Are the best engines better than the best humans?
I think the title asks it all.
Under match conditions, would the best chess engines routinely beat the best grandmasters?
If you say yes, have there been enough matches played under tournament ...
3
votes
4answers
224 views
Why do chess engines sometimes miss good moves (or take forever to spot)?
It is not the first time that I found a greatly superior move than the chess engine did, it even takes them a while to understand these moves after you make them.
For example, the move 15 ... Bf2 in ...
6
votes
4answers
158 views
Computer evaluations: How trustworthy are they?
Fritz 12 with Rybka gave a friend of mine an evaluation of +3 for white in this endgame position, which turned out to be a draw. But I've heard that +3 from a computer means a guaranteed win with ...
4
votes
0answers
70 views
Chess engine - Losers variant
I often use the Pulsar engine to analyze my Atomic games for better play (post-mortem). I definitely learn something, since I am not as smart as Pulsar. I am interested in doing the same thing for ...
6
votes
1answer
927 views
Deep Rybka vs Deep Fritz vs Houdini vs (other), which one to buy?
I want to invest my hard-earned money to buy a chess engine which can help me to:
analyze games easily
experiment with different opening repertoire
strategical analysis
positional play
I don't ...
7
votes
8answers
503 views
Free, simple chess program for beginners
I can't play chess very well, and want a computer game to play against. I've tried two so far - Chessbase (Fritz 5.32) and Crafty Chess. Both had the same problem that even on the lowest difficulty ...
5
votes
2answers
142 views
chess engines, for analysis of the game
Up till now I am using Rybka for analysis of my games.
What other chess engines have people used and how good have you found them.
Please I am not interested in the list of chess engines with their ...
6
votes
2answers
165 views
Computer endgame strength without tablebases
I have seen that engines aren't particularly strong in the openings without access to a book.
How strong are modern engines in the endgame when they are not allowed access to tablebases? E.g., can ...
6
votes
4answers
110 views
When playing a Computer opponent what situations should I create to give myself a better chance of winning?
Normally when I play against a computer I try to avoid any positions where I feel the knowledge-base of the computer would give it an advantage. For example I find computers very strong in typical ...
4
votes
1answer
206 views
How many moves ahead does Anand calculate in his mind?
I always wondered about this! How many moves ahead can strong players like Anand actually 'see' during the game? How does the calculation of a supercomputer like Deep Blue differ from that of strong ...
3
votes
1answer
207 views
What is the strength of the Shredder Chrome app?
Today, for the first time, I played against the Chrome app Shredder Chess, and at the "Hard" playing strength of the engine, I was easily able to beat it.
I am just about 1850-1900 Elo. My question ...
5
votes
2answers
158 views
Free chess computer game
I am a chess novice.
Can someone suggest a good, free chess computer game that I can use to start to learn chess by playing against the computer? Maybe with some different difficult levels...
8
votes
2answers
130 views
What was the first chess-playing automaton?
One well-known automaton is The Turk. But which was the first one and when was it constructed?
EDIT : I'm also ok with fake automatons (as the Turk was)
7
votes
1answer
104 views
Elements to take into account when evaluating 'board strength'
As part of a demo for a rules engine I'm dreaming up, I'd like to do an evaluation of a chess board that communicates each side's general strength at that point in time. Advanced things like ...
15
votes
5answers
647 views
Suggestion for a good chess engine on Linux
I'm using GNUChess with Knights client (Knights doesn't seem to be THAT matured, crashes are common). Is there any equivalent of Chessmaster on Linux? What about good clients to play on servers like ...
4
votes
4answers
203 views
What is the best automatic chess playing app for a beginning level player?
I play chess very infrequently. Whenever I restart, I take a bit of time to get up to speed. Which chess playing apps are best for a beginner? I would prefer apps that scale up in diifficulty ...
1
vote
1answer
139 views
Programming chess engine [closed]
I'm a Java programmer, particularly an Android developer. I'm also a good chess player. My question is where do I start if I want to program a chess engine, may or may not be from scratch. Later I ...
5
votes
1answer
232 views
How do grandmasters prepare against computer endgames?
This question is a sequel to an earlier one . Just as in the openings, computers dominate endgames. Endgame tablebases provide an exhaustive analysis of endgame positions with a small number of ...
6
votes
1answer
182 views
How do I use the analysis output of a UCI engine?
I'm trying to analyze some of my games with the Stockfish UCI engine. I'd like to make sure I'm interpreting the output correctly. Using this screenshot as an example.
Can someone explain to me ...
13
votes
7answers
624 views
A purely self-trained chess AI
Insofar as I understand, it appears that, before moving, all strong chess software
examines thousands or millions of possible, future positions;
evaluates each future position according to some ...
4
votes
0answers
124 views
Why can't I analyze with Stockfish 2.0.1 in Winboard 4.5 beta?
I have to ask an engine-related question: after I installed the Stockfish 2.0.1 engine on my Winboard 4.5 beta, I can't analyze with it. What I mean is, it's giving nothing in the engine output; it ...
8
votes
1answer
169 views
Why are there no more exhibition games between top players and computers?
The 1997 match between Kasparov and Deep Blue is likely the most famous chess match in history. This is because it broke ground, and for the first time ever, a computer had beaten the best player in ...
4
votes
2answers
256 views
Which is the most CPU efficient chess engine?
I am learning artificial intelligence and chess programming. I want to analyze the architecture/read code for existing chess engines. But I am confused between multiple choices. There are several free ...
5
votes
2answers
869 views
What are good UCI-compatible GUIs for Mac?
Is anyone running a UCI-compatible GUI on a Mac? Preferably something native and modern, so WINE and Rosetta (etc) are not needed. My goal is to simply set up chess positions and let Stockfish ...
6
votes
2answers
223 views
Is there any chess engine that can show if one side has a forced draw?
Is there any chess engine that has an analysis mode that can show if a position is a forced draw by either side?
It is common for engines to output evaluations of 0.0 when they detect a draw. But an ...
4
votes
1answer
189 views
What's the highest rating any computer has ever attained?
Along with that, I'd like to know what the highest rating of any human has ever been - including historical estimates.
5
votes
4answers
2k views
Alternatives to chessbase on OS X
Most of my chess preparation and studying used to revolve around Chessbase products. I stored my databases and notes in .cbh files, used computers with the Chessbase interface to study and do ...
4
votes
4answers
108 views
When is it appropriate to use a program during games with a longer timeframe, such as correspondence chess?
Are there rules about when a player may use a chess engine to aid his game? Is it always frowned upon? Do you have to specially ask? Not that you can stop your opponent from using an engine, but is ...
12
votes
3answers
397 views
Deep Blue vs Kasparov - Aftermath
Evaluating 200M positions per second and having a search tree of 20+ moves might not be enough to beat a World Champion if a computer searches in the wrong direction or if it's evaluating positions a ...
3
votes
1answer
106 views
Is the World Chess Blitz Championship for Robots going to be broadcast over the Internet? [closed]
Does anyone know if the World Chess Blitz Championship for Chess Robots in Moscow is going to be streamed over the web? Sounds really cool and I'd like to see it.
7
votes
2answers
103 views
How can I find good tactics problems?
Say you have a database of a lot of games.
How would you go about finding good tactics problems? I suppose you would search until there was a spot where the score shifted, and there was only one good ...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
What is the status for seven man end game table bases?
There are complete (or nearly complete) six man end game table bases available for download, and even online.
What is the status of seven man table bases? Is there still active development in this ...
10
votes
1answer
271 views
What algorithms and heuristics are popular in computer chess?
Computer chess has exploded in the last twenty years, with a computer world championship being established and many chess computer designers becoming quite profitable from their endeavors. Some of ...
6
votes
1answer
162 views
Has AI changed opening theory, and if so, how?
Pre-AI, it's hard to imagine that opening moves had changed much. Following the birth of computer engines, has AI changed opening theory, and if so, how?
