ChessGenius
Encyclopedia
ChessGenius is the name given to a chess playing computer program written by Richard Lang who has in the past written programs that have won the Computer World Chess Championship on 10 occasions.
program) written by Richard Lang which won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993. ChessGenius was the first computer to beat a world champion (Garry Kasparov
) at a non-blitz time limit.
) formats and can analyse games assessing the moves played against its own evaluations. It is also possible to run other chess engines in the ChessGenius interface.
) rating list and it continued to slip down the list over the following decade. The programmer Richard Lang has suggested that this was because the program does not scale well to faster hardware. Portable versions (for example for Palm and the iPhone) perform well because ChessGenius is particularly strong in rather weak hardware environments. Unlike most other commercial vendors, Richard Lang explicitly forbids including ChessGenius in chess engine rating lists, so it is difficult to gauge its strength compared to modern programs.
History
ChessGenius is a continuation of a series of programs (which included various incarnations of the MephistoMephisto (chess computer)
Mephisto was a line of chess computers sold by Hegener & Glaser '. In addition to integrated travel and sensory computers, they also sold a line of modular electronic autosensory boards which could accept different program, processor, and display modules.Its strongest software was written by...
program) written by Richard Lang which won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993. ChessGenius was the first computer to beat a world champion (Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
) at a non-blitz time limit.
| Release Name | Year | OS |
| ChessGenius 1 | 1992 | MS-DOS |
| ChessGenius 2 | 1993 | MS-DOS |
| ChessGenius 3 | 1994 | MS-DOS |
| ChessGenius 4 | 1995 | Windows |
| ChessGenius 5 | 1996 | Windows |
| ChessGenius 6 | 1998 | Windows |
| ChessGenius Classic (7.2) | 2002 | Windows |
Features
As well as playing chess, ChessGenius can read games created in .cbf (Chess Base Format) and .pgn (Portable Game NotationPortable Game Notation
Portable Game Notation is a computer-processible format for recording chess games ; many chess programs recognize this extremely popular format due to its being stored in plain text.-History:...
) formats and can analyse games assessing the moves played against its own evaluations. It is also possible to run other chess engines in the ChessGenius interface.
Playing Strength
In the early 1990s ChessGenius was "one of the first master-strength programs". At the Intel World Chess Grand Prix in London in 1994 ChessGenius achieved a rating performance for the tournament of 2795 Elo. From 1994 until 1998 ChessGenius remained one of the top chess programs available. In 1999 ChessGenius dropped out of the top ten on the SSDF (Swedish Chess Computer AssociationSwedish Chess Computer Association
The Swedish Chess Computer Association is an organization that tests computer chess software by playing chess programs against one another and producing a rating list. On September 26, 2008, the list was released with Deep Rybka 3 leading with an estimated Elo rating of 3238. Rybka's listing in...
) rating list and it continued to slip down the list over the following decade. The programmer Richard Lang has suggested that this was because the program does not scale well to faster hardware. Portable versions (for example for Palm and the iPhone) perform well because ChessGenius is particularly strong in rather weak hardware environments. Unlike most other commercial vendors, Richard Lang explicitly forbids including ChessGenius in chess engine rating lists, so it is difficult to gauge its strength compared to modern programs.
Other Platforms
As well as PC versions of ChessGenius there are versions available for various mobile devices including mobile phones and personal organisers.See also
- Chess engine
- Computer chessComputer chessComputer chess is computer architecture encompassing hardware and software capable of playing chess autonomously without human guidance. Computer chess acts as solo entertainment , as aids to chess analysis, for computer chess competitions, and as research to provide insights into human...
- Human-computer chess matchesHuman-computer chess matchesThis article documents the progress of significant human-computer chess matches.Chess computers were first able to beat strong chess players in the late 1980s...
- List of chess software
- World Computer Chess ChampionshipWorld Computer Chess ChampionshipWorld Computer Chess Championship is an annual event where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association...