Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 08:07:04 03/28/01
The release of Chess Tiger 14.0 and Gambit Tiger 2.0 for the Rebel-Tiger,
ChessAssistant and ChessBase GUIs has raised a number of questions.
It appears that some confusion may exist about this release.
This is why I have decided to write this FAQ, and to publish it here.
If you have further questions, please feel free to ask. I will answer and update
the FAQ if necessary.
Christophe Théron, author of Chess Tiger.
**************************
*** ***
*** The Tiger 14 FAQ ***
*** ***
**************************
NOTE: very basic questions about what Chess Tiger is are answered
at the end of this document.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NEW TIGER ENGINES
-------------------------------------
Q: When are the Chess Tiger 14.0 and Gambit Tiger 2.0 engines going
to be released ?
A: Chess Tiger 14.0 and Gambit Tiger 2.0 are going to be released
on April 2nd 2001.
Q: Where can I get these engines, and how much do they cost ?
A: On April 2nd, 2001, you will be able to
* either download them FOR FREE from www.rebel.nl if you are
a Rebel 11 customer
* either download them FOR FREE from the www.chessassistant.com
if you are a ChessAssistant 6.0 customer
* or buy them from ChessBase (www.chessbase.com) or one of its
distributors.
Q: I already have the ChessBase GUI (because I own Fritz 6 or higher,
or another program from ChessBase). Can I download the update from
the Rebel site or the ChessAssistant site and have Tiger running
under my ChessBase GUI ?
A: No. You need to buy Chess Tiger from ChessBase (or one of its
distributors) if you want the Tiger engine to run under the
ChessBase GUI (Fritz GUI).
Q: Is ChessBase going to sell the Tiger engines running in the
Rebel-Tiger interface ?
A: No. ChessBase will provide its own Fritz-like graphical user
interface.
Q: Is ChessBase going to sell the Rebel 11 CD (which includes
Rebel-Tiger II and Rebel Century 3) ?
A: No. This product is sold exclusively by Schröder BV and
its distributors.
Q: Will the Jeroen Noomen's opening book for Tiger be available with
the Tiger product sold by CB ?
A: No. ChessBase is going to provide a book of good quality
of its own. Only the customers of the Rebel 11 product have
the Noomen opening books, and can download updates to these
books.
ChessAssistant also provides its own, good quality,
opening book.
Q: How can I have the new Tiger engines using tablebases ?
A: there are several options:
OPTION 1: purchase the Endgame Turbo CD from ChessBase
(www.chessbase.com).
Once it is installed, all the Tiger engines (that is
Rebel-Tiger, ChessAssistant Tiger and ChessBase Tiger)
will automatically detect that the endgame CD has been
installed and will start to use the tablebases.
There is no further configuration step required. Just
install the CD and you are done.
OPTION 2: purchase the endgame CD from ChessAssistant
(www.chessassistant.com).
As in the above case, the installation procedure
is very simple.
OPTION 3: download the endgame tablebases files for free from the
Internet. Be prepared to several days (or weeks) of
downloading if you want the full set (more than 6Gb).
The tablebases are available from:
ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/pub/hyatt/TB
(thanks to Prof. Robert Hyatt and Eugene Nalimov)
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COMPANIES INVOLVED
--------------------------------------
Q: Has Christophe Theron the programmer of Chess Tiger left Rebel
Company and moved to Chess Assistant or ChessBase ?
A: No.
It has always been the policy of Rebel Company to push
Chess Tiger into popular User Interfaces as now the case
with Chess Assisant and ChessBase. Many people like these
User Interfaces and our policy has always been to offer
our customers what they want. As a result we have got many
enthusiastic reactions.
Q: Will Chess Tiger be developed further for Chess Assistant
and Chessbase ?
A: Not necessarily.
Our first and main job is to develop Chess Tiger further
for the REBEL interface and release a worthy successor for
REBEL 11.0. The Chess Tiger versions made for Chess Assistant
and ChessBase are one-time non-exclusive products with no
furher obligations nor new plans.
BASIC QUESTIONS
---------------
Q: What is Chess Tiger 14.0 ?
A: Chess Tiger 14.0 is the successor of Chess Tiger 13.0.
It is a very high level chess engine. That means that it
is a computer program able to play chess, at a very good level.
Chess Tiger 14.0 is significantly stronger than Chess Tiger 13.0
In order to use Chess Tiger 14.0 you need a program which is
called a "GUI" (Graphical User Interface). That's the program
which displays the chess board, allows you to enter your moves,
and so on.
Exactly like a car engine model can actually be shipped with
different car models, the Chess Tiger engines can be used inside
several GUIs. At this time, these are:
* The Rebel-Tiger GUI, sold by Schröder BV (www.rebel.nl)
* The ChessAssistant GUI, sold by Convekta Ltd
(www.chessassistant.com)
* The ChessBase GUI (also known as the Fritz GUI) sold by
ChessBase Gmbh (www.chessbase.com)
When you buy one of these products, the engine is included in
the product.
Each GUI has its own strong points that we cannot detail here.
Q: What is Gambit Tiger 2.0 ?
A: Gambit Tiger 2.0 is the successor of Gambit Tiger 1.0.
It is an engine which is always shipped with the Chess Tiger
engine, but which has a much more agressive playing style,
leading to usually more entertaining games.
Gambit Tiger has not yet replaced Chess Tiger because it is
not 100% clear at this time if it is stronger overall or not.
So both engines are still provided to the users, and the GUIs
give you the choice of the engine you want to use.
(End of FAQ)
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