New! This page will be soon reorganized to include my new engine, called Hamsters.In the meanwhile, please find all info in the Hamsters homepage!
Welcome to my computer chess page, which is mostly dedicated to Kiwi, a nice bird and also a Winboard/XBoardchess engine I'm developing.
Latest version is 0.6d. Here is the Windows executable and the sourcefiles (extract all files in a "src" subdirectory and it should compile without problems on Linuxand Mac). More binaries available: Mac.
Here are also some bitbase files (122K zipped, includes KPK, KPPK, KBPK andKBNK for both sides). More to come in the future.
Important notice: the book format has changed from version 0.6b, please download the new books from thelinks below if you have an older version!
Kiwi allows you can create your own books using games from PGN databases (see readme for instructions), butyou'll probably find it easier to use one of the precompiled books below. The book file must be placed in the directorywhere the engine runs (which is tipically the same as where the program file is, though not always).
Note: these books are compatible only with version 0.6b and later. For older versions, opening books must becreated from scratch.
KiwiBookMM_6.zip (263K) is made from various game collections, using Scidto eliminate duplicates and then taking the first 15 moves of games that are at least 30 moves long. The book containsonly positions that have been played at least 6 times. This book offers relatively solid play and should be usedin tournaments.
KiwiBookMM_3.zip (624K). Similar to the above, but includes positions thathave been played at least three times. This book offers more variety but is more risky (for the engine) becausethere is a greater chance of finding unsound lines.
A few logos for Kiwi...
| 130x65 | 100x50 | 100x50 by David Dahlem |
 |  |  |
Many thanks to David for his wonderful logo! You can find many others of his creations at the WBEC-Ridderkerksite (click Downloads then Logo's).
V0.6b (source code, binaries for Win32)is an important step up for Kiwi's strength, thanks to fixing a critical bug
V0.6a (source code, binaries for Win32)
V0.5d (Win32)
V0.4d (Win32) gets rid of some experimental stuff and replaces it with moretraditional methods. It's less original maybe, but plays better.
V0.3c (Win32) is the first relatively bug-free release.
V0.2b (Win32) adds support for opening books.
V0.1c (Win32) includes a bugfix for using the engine under Windows 95/98.
My source code for handling system-dependent stuff like reading input andkeeping time. It is a C++ class that compiles as-is for Windows, Linux and Solaris but should work on most otherUnix systems with little or no modifications. Note: because of repeatedly reported problems under some Windowssystems, by default the library now uses polling if standard input is a pipe.
I have added many new features to Winboard! Get more infoand download the modified version on the Winboard "X" page. Here's justa couple of examples:
Kiwi played in the 2005 Italian Championship (CIPS 2005) and finished 2nd behind Delphi.
It also played in the Computer Chess Cup 2005 and got the 3rdplace behind Delphi and Chiron.
If you like this nice bird and want to wish him luck, he's played up to the C class in the ChessWar online tournament... finished just one place above demotion, but it's still there!
Kiwi is playing in the D class of the Regensburg Winboard Circuittournament... not a good start but playing on!
Kiwi was promoted and now plays in the 3rd division of the WBEC-Ridderkerktournament! :-)
Everyone's favorite bird is playing in the Bishop class of the AEGT4tournament ideated by Heinz van Kempen, and is struggling to survive!
The Infinite Loop tournament by Igor Gorelikovwill give you an idea of the engine rating, although probably there will be a slighly older (and hopefully weaker)version there.
Besides playing in tournaments, I am also a tester in the CEGTgroup, which currently provides the best chess engine ratings at 40/40 and 40/4 time controls (normalized for a2 GHz machine).
I have converted Claude Shannon's seminal paper Programminga Computer for Playing Chess to PDF. Also, all the original examples have been translated to algebraic notation.
Here is a UML statechart diagram of the Winboard protocol that I found useful whiledeveloping Kiwi.
A quick table to correlate the winning probabilities and the Elo ratings of two players.
A table that shows the score percentage needed to conclude that one engine is betterthan another (in a direct match).
For programmers interested in computer chess, the Computer Chess Club forum, hosted by America's Largest Chess Store - chess sets and more, is a great place... do not forget to check the archives!
 | The Xadreco Chess Engine project is a free of charge, open source engine for Linux and Windows, with great potential for educationalpurposes. Make sure to check it out! |
Some test suites I found on the internet. All archives contain a single file in EPD format.
Endgame themes: misc, pawn, knight,bishop, rook, queen,underpromotion.
Copyright (c) 2004-2008 AlessandroScotti. All rights reserved.
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