Author: William H Rogers
Date: 12:36:24 11/01/99
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When I first wrote my little chess program, I did not have the chess knowledge or the expertise on how to write anything other than a one ply program. I did not have even the slightest idea on how to implement a multi-ply game or even how to use alpha/beta, so I tried eveything I could to make the one ply as good as I could. For each move, I would first go see if the move put my piece in check, if so I would skip that move. Second, I would see if I had captured a oppenent's piece. Third, I would see if my piece was in danger of being recaptured by another of the opponent's men. Fourth, I would see if my piece was protected by my own men. All of those were performed by the incheck subroutine. I finally decided to see if I could make a capture on my next turn with the current pieces position, so I made a second move with the same man. I wrote this program in 1970, before I ever saw someone's elses source code. I could not find anything about chess at that time. So I started from scratch. Today, people are calling this proceedure the Null-Move. I don't know who invented it, but I had accidently discovered the principle on my own. I still have my original notes dating back to 1970, but I don't care for any credit. Alpha/Beta was discovered by two differnent groups of people at approximately the same time. To my knowledge, they are not fighting over who discovered it or who used it first. The main thing is for the advancement of chess. IT IS THE ONLY THING! At least in my humble opinion. Bill
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