Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Just what is a chess computer?

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 11:40:10 09/28/99

Go up one level in this thread


On September 28, 1999 at 14:23:35, Matt Agajanian wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Gotz a kwestyun fer ya.
>
>Just what is a chess computer?
Something that costs too much and does not work nearly as well as a chess
program on a general purpose computer.  On the other hand, if you like a real
board and are sick of getting your stuffings knocked out by top level PC
programs on fast hardware, they might be just the ticket.

>Is it just a machine that has a dabase of
>moves/countermoves (i.e. opening books) and you're just playing a 'match-em-up'
>game or is there some actual 'artificial intelligence' built into these items?
>What about machines such as Fidelity "Chess Challenger 7", Saitek "Kaspasrov
>GK2000", Novag "Emerald", Excalibur "Kasparov 2294"?  How do they get their
>"intelligence"?
They don't use artificial intelligence, no matter what they might claim.  In a
limited sense, I suppose you could say Alpha-Beta pruning is AI.  But certainly
not the sort of thing we normally associate with that concept.  All these
machines are is a computer that is dedicated to a single task -- playing chess.
Typically they have a standard CPU like a Motorola 68000 series or something of
that nature that could be plunked into an ordinary workstation.

>By the way, does anyone remember the old "CompuChess" chess machines?
>
>Thanks for your insights.
>
>Matt A.



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.