All About Chess And Computers

For some time now, I have felt that the time is right to write a book about Computer Chess. Ever since the first attempts at chess pro gramming were made, some twenty five years ago, interest in the subject ha"s grown from year to year. During the late 1950s the subject was first brought to the attention of the public by an article in Scient(fic American, and less than a decade later a chess program was competing in a tournament with humans. More recently, there have been tournaments in which the only participants were computer programs. and when the first World Computer Championship was held in Stockholm in 1974 the event was an outstanding success. Laymen often doubt the value of investing in a subject so esoteric as computer chess, but there is definitely considerable benefit to be gained from a study of the automisation of chess and other intellectual games. If it proves possible to play such games well by computer, then the techniques employed to analyse and assess future positions in these games will also be useful in other problems in long-range planning. I have tried to make this book both interesting and instructive. Those who understand anything at all about chess but who have no knowledge of computers, will be able to follow my description of how computers play chess. Those with a knowledge of both areas will still find much to interest them.

Learning how to start a game of chess is one of the most daunting tasks facing intermediate adult and young chess players. Award-winning chess teacher and championship scholastic coach Pete Tamburro offers practical guidance for avoiding common pitfalls at the chessboard, as well as effective strategies for meeting troublesome openings and a choice of openings reflecting his focus on ideas over memorization.

For many years I have been interested in computer chess and have collected almost every learned paper and article on the subject that I could find. My files are now quite large, and a considerable amount of time, effort and expense has been required to build up this collection. I have often thought how difficult it must be for many computer chess enthusiasts to acquire copies of articles that they see referenced in some other work. Unless one has access to a good reference library, the task is almost impossible. I therefore decided to try to make available, in one volume, as many as possible of the most interesting and important articles and papers ever written on the subject. Such a selection is naturally somewhat subjective, and I hope that I will not offend authors whose works have been excluded. In particular I have decided to exclude any material which has appeared in the Journal of the International Computer Chess Association (ICCA), or in its precursor, the ICCA Newsletter. The reason is simply that the ICCA itself is in the process of compiling a compendium containing the most important material published in those sources. For further information on ICCA membership and publications the reader is invited to contact: Professor H. 1. van den Herik, or Dr Jonathan Schaeffer University of Limburg, Computing Science Dcpaitment, Department of Computer Science University of Alberta, 6200 MD Maastricht Edmonton Netherlands Alberta, Canada T6G 2HI.

The New Chess Computer Book is a revised edition of The Chess Computer Book that contains more than 50 percent new material about chess-playing microcomputers. Since the first edition of the book was written there have been large numbers of machines launched, some of which the author has been able to test over a long period. Inevitably there are new chess-playing, microcomputers machines, and updated modules for older ones, coming out all the time, with launch dates for machines in different countries often being different, due to commercial considerations. However, an attempt has been made to discuss in detail every top-of-the-range machine available on the British market. The book begins with a brief survey of the origins of chess computing and the development of chess-playing machines. This is followed by separate chapters on topics such as the types of machines that play chess; modular chess computers; computer hardware and software; and developments in chess microcomputers in the latter half of 1984.

What Is Computer Chess Hardware and software that are both able to play the game of chess are required for computer chess. The game of chess played on a computer offers players the chance to develop their skills even when they do not have human opponents to compete against. It also offers options for analysis, amusement, and training. Applications for computer chess that can play at a level equivalent to or higher than that of a chess master are available for hardware ranging from supercomputers to smart phones. There are other chess-playing machines that are available on their own. Free and open-source software like Stockfish, GNU Chess, and Fruit are all downloadable for a variety of computer operating systems. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Computer Chess Chapter 2: Artificial Intelligence Projects Chapter 3: Deep Blue (Chess Computer) Chapter 4: Chess Engine Chapter 5: Evaluation Function Chapter 6: Endgame Tablebase Chapter 7: Human-Computer Chess Matches Chapter 8: Stockfish (Chess) Chapter 9: AlphaZero Chapter 10: Leela Chess Zero (II) Answering the public top questions about computer chess. (III) Real world examples for the usage of computer chess in many fields. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of computer chess. What is Artificial Intelligence Series The artificial intelligence book series provides comprehensive coverage in over 200 topics. Each ebook covers a specific Artificial Intelligence topic in depth, written by experts in the field. The series aims to give readers a thorough understanding of the concepts, techniques, history and applications of artificial intelligence. Topics covered include machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, computer vision, natural language processing, robotics, ethics and more. The ebooks are written for professionals, students, and anyone interested in learning about the latest developments in this rapidly advancing field. The artificial intelligence book series provides an in-depth yet accessible exploration, from the fundamental concepts to the state-of-the-art research. With over 200 volumes, readers gain a thorough grounding in all aspects of Artificial Intelligence. The ebooks are designed to build knowledge systematically, with later volumes building on the foundations laid by earlier ones. This comprehensive series is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to develop expertise in artificial intelligence.

Computer chess has had a large impact on chess in the last two decades. Players have access to databases containing millions of games, they can even look up games played by a potential opponent. The Internet allows players to play fast games against players all around the world. Games can be watched live as they are being played. Computer chess programs (or chess-engines) have become very strong. Not only can be used as practice, they can be used to analyse games or study openings. Books have been written on how a player can study with the assistance of a chess engine. In the 1970s there was a popular chess book called Think Like a Grandmaster by Soviet GM Alexander Kotov. He later wrote Play Like a Grandmaster and Train Like a Grandmaster. He wrote from his own experience and other grandmasters he rubbed shoulders with. He wrote on tree of analysis, candidate moves, avoiding blunders, when not to analyse, positional ideas, endgames etc. He gave ordinary chess players an insight into the mind of a grandmaster. To some extent this book helped them to think like a grandmaster. These days strong computer programs (called chess engines) are very strong indeed. The top engines currently have ELO ratings above3500.They can often analyse faster and more reliably than strong grandmaster. We have Think Like a Grandmaster so why not have Think Like a computer? There are many things we can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of chess engines. What can we learn from the way computers play? The author has been writing his own hobby chess engines since the 1990s. This book is designed to impart knowledge gained from this experience to chess players of all levels. Note that this book is not about using computers to practice with or study chess. Its about what chess-players can learn from how computers play chess. Its also for readers who may be curious to learn something about how computers play chess. You do not need to be computer programmer to learn from how computers play chess. You do not even need a chess set to read this book.