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Subject: Re: Best non Bitboard Open Source Chess Program

Author: Tord Romstad

Date: 02:52:30 07/09/04

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On July 08, 2004 at 20:43:57, Dann Corbit wrote:

>34   7    SlowChess 2.89b          2467   57     136 (this version is not open
>source and is bitboard)

I thought SlowChess was a non-bitboarder?

>Phalanx is definitely the strongest from these lists.  But the code...
>Not a pretty sight.

Could you please explain why?  I have never seen any open source chess
engine which is more readable and easy to understand than Phalanx (with
the possible exception of toy engines like MSCP, TSCP and Faile).

I suppose this has a lot to do with experience.  Phalanx might be ugly
in the eyes of experienced C programmers, but to C newbies like me the
clear and straightforward code is a pleasure to read.  I think I could
learn a lot by knowing why experts like you consider Phalanx to be badly
written.

>I would look at (in this order):
>1.  TCSP (but don't use this -- just to get an overview)
>2.  Fruit (strongest, and beautifully written)
>3.  ExChess (nicely written)
>4.  Scidlet (nicely written)

My suggestion:

1. Faile
2. Phalanx
3. Fruit
4. GnuChess 4

Tord




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