Author: ludicrous
Date: 14:57:17 09/21/05
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>>wchess 2000 is from 1999 and is maybe weaker then wchess in majestic ! >> >>i guess it is version 1.2 while majestic wchess is version 1.6. Isn't WChess 2000 from the millenium package an improved version of the Wchess engine that whipped a few GM butts in the 1994 Harvard Cup? I also have Majestic Chess. Is it possible to extract the engine and be used in Arena? Introducing Wchess After receiving fame (about fortune I don't know) with the NOVAG Super Constellation Kittinger wrote the program Wchess. It is based on the operating system DOS (see below for some remarks on this fact). Like most chess computers and chess programs Wchess has been tested extensively by (the members of) the Swedish Computer Chess Association (SSDF). For information on test procedures and the newest list here is the link: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-36794/ssdf There has been much discussion on how to compare SSDF-ratings to ELO-ratings. Not being an expert on this I simply avoid the topic. However, from the way the SSDF-list is generated it allows one to compare the strength of the different programs (with certain error margins). The September 1999-list of the SSDF contains about 200 entries, among them Wchess 1.03 and Wchess 1.06. The hardware specification associated with Wchess 1.03 is a 486 / 50-66 MHz processor while Wchess 1.06 is associated with a 90 MHz Pentium processor. I guess that the programs were designed for PCs with these specifications. Fritz 3.0, like Wchess 1.06, is also a program for a 90 MHz Pentium PC. Both programs competed successfully in the 8th World Computer Chess Championship in 1995 and hence it is interesting to take a look at their respective ratings. In the quoted September-1999 list, Fritz 3 has an SSDF-rating of 2342 (+- 19 points error margin) versus Wchess's 2335 (+- 20 points error margin). Given the fact that both programs have more than 1200 rated games one can say that they are of about identical playing strength. But, of course, the truth is not entirely in the numbers. In the cited World Championship in 1995 both programs played the Deep Blue Prototype and ... well, see the tournament report below. By the way, we find that the NOVAG Super Constellation (6502 / 4MHz processor) has an SSDF-rating of 1731 (+- 18 points error margin) based on 1626 games. It is understood that in chess programming five years are a lot of time. Wchess is not one of the top programs anymore. All of today's top software is now based on the operating system Windows which has some obvious advantages over DOS: 1) much more RAM (computer memory) is available for the program and 2) the RAM can be accessed much faster. These advantages allow the programmers to implement much more ambitious algorithms (and still get good results in games played under blitz and/or tournament conditions). Millennium GmbH recently released David Kittinger's newly developed program Wchess 2000, which they say shows significant differences in its playing style compared to its DOS-predecessor. However, the veteran WChess has achieved already what all those new programs are competing for. Two highlights of Wchess's career were its performances in the Harvard Chess Club Challenge in 1994 and in the 8th World Computer Chess Championship in 1995, which I wish to present in detail to the reader now. Harvard Cup Chess Challenge The first Harvard Cup Chess Challenge was held at Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) on October 29, 1989. It was a Man vs. Machine event where a team of humans (Lev Alburt, Maxim Dlugy, Boris Gulko, and Michael Rhode) faced a team of computers (Chiptest-M, Deep Thought, Hitech, and Mephisto Portorose) in rapid chess. Each human played each computer once at the reflection time of 30 minutes for the whole game. The result was a fantastic 14.5 - 1.5 victory for humankind. The machines managed only two scores: Deep Thought was able to win one game and Mephisto contributed a draw. So it seemed that even in rapid chess computers were no threat to professional players. However, in the following years the computer teams improved their results at Harvard. Already in the third Harvard Cup in 1992 the machines came rather close to the 50% barrier by scoring 7 points out of 18 games. In 1994's Harvard Cup six grandmasters faced eight computers. Again, each human played each computer and the humans won by the large margin of 29.5 - 18.5. Wchess, however, caused a sensational upset. The program won four games and drew the remaining two making it an impressive score of 5 points out of 6 games. In the following year the humans seemed eager to put Wchess back into its place. They succeeeded. The program was defeated four times and achieved only one win and one draw. Harvard University Campus, Cambridge (MA) 8th World Computer Chess Championship The first World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was held in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1974. The Russian program Kaissa scored a perfect 4-0 and clinched the title. It ran on an English ICL 4/70 computer, which enabled the program to evaluate about 200 (!) positions per second. Well, times were different then (In 1996, Deep Blue was able to evaluate more than 500 million positions per second). Runner-up was the American program Chess 4.0 written by Slate and Atkin. Three years later - the WCCC is held every three years - Slate and Atkin won the title with Chess 4.6. The 8th World Computer Chess Championship in 1995 was held at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. The event was a 5-round Swiss with the usual rate of play as in OTB-tournaments: 2 hours for the first 40 moves, then 1 hour for each additional 20 moves. It was a special event since six years earlier, in the 6th WCCC at Edmonton (Canada), Deep Thought had swept the opposition 5-0 and everybody was curious to see the new program. It seemed that history was about to repeat itself since after three rounds Deep Blue had won each of its games and was leading the field by one full point. In round four it was paired against Wchess, which it had defeated in a tournament the year before. However, the game between the giant and the underdog developed quite unexpectedly. After an unspectacular opening (okay, a boring opening) the programs opted for an endgame with unequal material (Diagram 1). Deep Blue's bishop together with the two connected passed pawns seem to be good compensation for the missing rook. On the other hand, Wchess's rooks are placed in textbook style to stop the advance of the pawns. One is placed in front of them, the other behind them. So, I think, the position is in dynamical balance. The following moves brought quite a surprise since Wchess did not only stand its ground but also managed to win the a-pawn (Diagram 2). The game may still be a draw objectively but, in my opinion, Deep Blue must play this endgame very accurately. I would prefer 50. Kxe4 over the played move 50. Kf2 and think that this would have given some practical winning chances. White: Wchess Black: Deep Blue (Prototype) Hong Kong, 05/28/1995 8th World Computer Chess Championship, Round 4 Sicilian Defense, Alapin Variation [B 22] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Be2 Nc6 7. 0-0 cxd4 8. cxd4 Be7 9. Nc3 Qd6 10. Nb5 Qd8 11. Bf4 Nd5 12. Bg3 a6 13. Nc3 0-0 14. Qb3 Nf6 15. Rfd1 b5 16. a3 Bb7 17. Qa2 Na5 18. b4 Rc8 19. Rac1 Nc6 20. Bf4 Re8 21. d5 exd5 22. Nxd5 Nxd5 23. Qxd5 Qxd5 24. Rxd5 Bxb4 25. axb4 Rxe2 26. Be3 Re8 27. Rd7 Ba8 28. Nd2 Nxb4 29. Kf1 R2xe3 30. fxe3 Nd5 31. Kf2 31... h6 32. Nf1 Nb4 33. Nd2 Bd5 34. Rb1 Be6 35. Ra7 Nd3+ 36. Ke2 Nc5 37. Rb4 Bd5 38. g3 Ra8 39. Rxa8+ Bxa8 40. Rd4 Kh7 41. Rd8 Bb7 42. Rb8 Bh1 43. Rc8 Ne6 44. e4 Bg2 45. Ke3 Bh3 46. Rc6 f5 47. Rxa6 Nc5 48. Rd6 Nxe4 49. Nxe4 fxe4 50. Kf2 Bg4 51. Rb6 Bf3 52. Rxb5 g5 53. Ke3 Kg7 54. Rb7+ Kg6 55. Rb6+ Kg7 56. Re6 h5 57. Rd6 h4 58. g4 Bxg4 59. Kxe4 Bh3 60. Rd3 Bg4 1/2-1/2 This draw and the round 5-loss to Fritz 3 proved costly for the Deep Blue team. The resulting 3,5 points proved not to be enough to get an entry in the winners list. (In World Computer Chess Championships usually only the winner and the runner-up is listed, making it effectively only two medals.) Fritz 3 went on to win the World Champion title after a tiebreak game with Star Sokrates. The Wchess program remained undefeated (one win, four draws) and came in 6th. It is quite remarkable that two programs running on an ordinary Pentium 90 Megahertz computer scored against the much more powerful IBM machine. The link to the download area at Frank Quisinsky's website is: http://www.in-trier.de/~quisinsky/schach/download/download-q.htm The names of the most relevant files are Turniere 70-89 and Turniere 90-2000. As the names indicate they contain computer games from tournaments held 1970-1989 and 1990-2000, respectively. There is a PGN (portable game notation) and CBH (new ChessBase format) version of each file. Note that these files are big and zipped (compressed). The first one has more than 700 games, the second more than 4,000. Note also that Wchess appears in the second file as WChess. Wchess 2000 For those readers who are more interested in what is going on at the moment I would like to point out that Wchess 2000 is competing (with many of today's top programs) under tournament conditions in a 7-round Swiss tournament organized by Jörn Gronemann. Internet coverage is provided in English and German at the address below. The site contains hardware specifications and other tournament details. The games of each round are available for online viewing and for download. Gronemann also provides round reports. One of the most exciting games so far is the game between Wchess 2000 and the reigning World Computer Chess Champion Shredder 4.0. White: Wchess 2000 Black: Shredder 4.0 Private computer chess tournament Ahrensburg (round 2), January 2000 Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation [B 92] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. 0-0 Be6 9. f4 Qc7 10. g4 0-0 11. f5 Bxb3 12. axb3 Qc5+ 13. Kh1 h6 14. Qd3 Nc6 15. Be3 Nb4 16. Qd2 Qc6 17. Ra4 d5 18. exd5 Nfxd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Rc4 Nxe3+ 21. Rxc6 Nxf1 22. Qd7 bxc6 23. Qxe7 Nd2 24. f6 Rfe8 25. Qd7 Red8 26. Qxc6 Rac8 27. Qb6 Re8 28. fxg7 Kxg7 29. c3 Re6 30. Qb7 Rcc6 31. g5 hxg5 32. Bh5 Rf6 33. Bxf7 Rcd6 34. Bd5+ Kg6 35. Qa8 g4 36. c4 Kg5 37. Qg8+ Kh4 38. Qh7+ Kg5 39. Qd3 Nf3 40. c5 Rd8 41. c6 Rh8 42. Qe3+ Kg6 43. Be4+ Kg7 44. Kg2 Rxh2+ 45. Kg3 Rh8 46. Bd5 Rhf8 47. c7 a5 48. Qc5 Nd4 49. c8Q Ne2+ 50. Kxg4 Rg6+ 51. Kh3 Nf4+ 52. Kh4 Rh6+ 53. Kg4 Rg6+ 54. Kf3 Rxc8 55. Qxc8 Nxd5 56. Qd7+ Kf6 57. Qd6+ Kf5 58. Qxd5 Re6 59. Qd7 1-0 Coverage of Jörn Gronemann's private 7-round Swiss computer tournament (in English and German): http://www.computerschach.de/tourn/joern00.htm The above material taken from: www.correspondencechess.com/marconi/volkerart.htm+Wchess+harvard+cup&hl=tl&client=firefox-a
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