Fidelity Chess Challenger 1

Want to play chess and have no one to play against? In no time at all, you can download dozens of engines and a GUI. There are hundreds of engines and several GUIs available. However, it has not always been this way. 35 years ago, you had no options other than finding another human being, unless you knew how to program a chess engine and build your own computer. That changed with the introduction of the Fidelity Chess Challenger 1.

Also-Rans Rating List update - download links

I have included a link to Google Documents. The spreadsheet I have created contains information, including download links, for most engines on the list. I am in the process of adding more engines to it. It also contains info on engines not yet on the list.

Computer Chess Utilities Updated

The computer chess utilities page has been updated. It now includes information about the adapters Wb2Uci, InBetween, and Polyglot. Also, I have included information about the Elo rating programs Bayeselo, Elostat, and Ordo.

Also-Rans Rating List Update - May 26, 2012

I have updated the Also-Rans rating list. The update includes additional games for St Andersen 1.31 64-bit JA, ChessRikus 1.466, Frank-Walter 1.08, Jester 0.84 JA, Nero 6.1, Pooky 2.7, Roque 1.1, SdBC 0.41.40, and Simon 1.2 64-bit JA. These games have also been submitted to the CCRL 40/4 lists. I have also taken the opportunity to clean up the list a bit.

The games are available for download here.

The Many Projects of Kirill Kryukov

Kirill Kryukov, a founding member of the CCRL and creator/maintainer of KCEC, is a man of many computer chess interests. In addition to engine testing, he has contributed much in several other areas:

Watching Engine Matches Online - Part 1

There are several people who broadcast engine versus engine matches online, most notably Oliver Deville (Chess War), Graham Banks of the CCRL, and Fonzy Bluemers, one of the authors of the chess engine Dirty. The following is a description of how to view these broadcasts:

Les Diodes du Roi

No matter how much I search and read about computer chess, I keep finding new information and new websites. At least they are new to me. For example, I found on Óscar Toledo G.'s website a link to a French site Les Diodes du Roi, which Google Translate renders into English as "The King of Diodes". The site belongs to Eric Terrien, and the focus of the site is dedicated chess computers, the history of computer chess, and free chess programs (engine plus GUI) for PC and Mac. Eric includes screenshots, information, and links for each of the chess programs. Les Diodes du Roi is much like what I hope my chess site to be, only it is done much better.

Engine Downloads

In order to indulge in the hobby of computer chess, it is necessary to download at least one chess engine (unless you author your own engine). The following sites will allow anyone to find the download link for any publicly available chess engine:

WBEC (links to Winboard engines also can be found here)

Computer Chess Wiki

RWBC

Jim Ablett Winboard Chess Projects

Arena Chess GUI 3.0

Homepage links for each CCRL tested engine can be found at its results page.


Finally, you can ask for a copy of an engine at any computer chess forum (such as TalkChess, OpenChess, Winboard forum, etc ...) and you request may be fulfilled.

Other Rating Lists

UCI Engines Ligue (UEL) is a French language blitz rating list. Though the rating list is no longer maintained, the website is still active and contains a wealth of information as well as the UEL database.


SWCR was a rating list maintained by Frank Quisinsky (in German and English) from 2009 until January, 2012. The database, which is of quite good quality, is still available for download, as well as opening books constructed by Frank.


Leo Dijksman maintains a rating list based on the accumulated games from the WBEC tournament.


Clemens Keck has a blitz rating list, though I am not sure if it is still active.


Sedat Canbaz occasionally constructs rating lists from his engine-engine matches.


There are many more rating lists, some made public and some maintained in private.

KCEC

Kirr's Chess Engine Comparison (KCEC) is a rating list (and much more) maintained by Kirill Kryukov since 2005. Superficially, it is a rating list which can be considered ancillary to the CCRL 40/4 lists (the KCEC database is also a subset of the CCRL 40/4 database). The great value in Kirill's work is not the rating list itself, but the bug reports and the statistical analysis he has performed on the data. Statistics concerning draw rates, ECO, openings, ponder hits, and more can be found there.

CCRL

The Computer Chess Rating List (CCRL) was founded in 2006 by Graham Banks, Ray Banks, Sarah Bird, Kirill Kryukov and Charles Smith. Similar to the CEGT in several ways (indeed, the founding members were/are testers for the CEGT), it is most well-known for the amount of statistical information (derived from its databases) that it provides to the public. Also of note, it provides the only known FRC (Chess960) rating list.

ATOMICC Computer Chess Testing

ATOMICC Computer Chess Testing is a new rating list conducted by Brent M. It focuses on testing the top engines under non-varying conditions (much like IPON). The games produced are high quality.

IPON

IPON is the best rating list for comparing the strongest chess engines. The rating list is generated and maintained by Ingo Bauer. He is normally quick to test new engines or new version of engines that might be among the top 20 strongest engines.

CEGT

Chess Engine Grand Tournament (CEGT) is a well-respected ratings organization. Founded in 2005, the group tests chess engines at 40 moves/4 minutes, 40 moves/20 minutes, and 40 moves/120 minutes (ponder off), as well as 40 moves/20 minutes (ponder on). Also, it tests 32-bit and 64-bit versions of engines, as well as single cpu and multiple cpu versions of engines.

SSDF

Swedish Chess Computer Association (SSDF) is the longest running rating list in existence. Its origins can be traced to 1979 as a subscription group for a computer chess magazine called PLY. In 1984, the SSDF was formally founded, with the purpose "to coordinate the interest for computerchess and chesscomputers in Sweden, and to release PLY". The first public rating list was published in PLY in that year. A history of the SSDF can be found here.