Another and interesting chess engine debut on Chessengeria.eu. What it tastes like... Rice 5.0.0 ? Preceding the facts, I'll say, deliciously! Very nice Rice chess engine logo. Source: GitHub Rice, by a programmer nicknamed rafid-dev, is a very young chess engine licensed from MIT. Its Creator very quickly skipped the stage (if one can write so) of creating an engine with hand craft eval. Rice uses a neural network which allows its latest fifth version to play with a strength above 3000 Elo! Source: MCERL The first version of this engine appeared just a month ago (yes!) in March 2023. You can see by the results that the author approaches the development of his chess engine with great dedication and knowledge of things (3073 Elo). I am very excited about the further progress of this very promising chess engine. The quality of the Rice engine code deserves high praise and recognition. The author of this engine has made his work available in such a way that it is easy to create binaries for different operating systems. Which I have hereby done, also making Rice available for Linux, Mac and Windows users. So let's see how the young Rice 5.0.0 plays :) White: Rice 5.0.0. Black: Hiarcs 14 WCSC, a well-known and respected chess engine, whose 14th version, although old, is able to put up a fight against many modern competitors. White's move. An equal position was created after the classic King's Indian. Rice can "bounce" the pawn on e4 in several ways. What will it choose ? 17. Ne6 A very interesting follow-up. Rice resigns for the time being to take the black pawn on e4 and without delay begins to penetrate its opponent's camp. 18...d5 Hiarcs removed Knight from the e6 square and strengthens the center with its last move. White Pawn on e6 seems to be at a loss. 19.Ba3! Strong and natural move. Bishop from the far square a3 will give black trouble. 19...e3 Hiarcs finds an interesting move that can disorganize the cooperation of the white pieces. 21.Rd1! Rice is not worried about "forks" on d4. Black's pawns center although looking threatening, poses no real threat. 23.Rf7! Here's what a "stranded" Pawn e6 can be useful for. 26.Rexe6 Hiarcs finally takes the inconvenient Pawn e6. 27.Qd5 Pawns are the soul of the game :) In exchange for one sacrificed Pawn, Rice has the initiative and good prospects. 28...Rec6 Hiarcs, is a demanding computer player. In his last move, it provokes the Rooks exchange, which is not favorable to white. 30.a3 Rice allowed himself to be provoked and the Rooks exchange took place. The position is again equal. Hiarcs is defending itself hard. 31.g4 White must play actively, which they do. Having the initiative, even with an equal position, Rice forces its opponent to play accurately. 31...Nh6 A weak move by the blacks. Hiarcs being under constant "fire" keeps the guard. Better was 31...Rd8 responding blow for blow. 34...Re8? Another “sluggish” move by Hiarcs. This time it's a mistake of the losing kind. Much stronger was 34...Rb8 with an attack on the white Queen. 37.a4 Rice eagerly agreed to Rooks' exchange. White Pawn on the A column is in practice unstoppable in its forward march, which will ensure Rice's victory in this game, 40.a7 The game is coming to an end. Rice allows 41...Qd1+. Is this an oversight ? 41.Be1! Nice. If white had chosen the King move, it would have led to a checkmate of their King. 42.Kg2 The Black Queen, after taking Bishop e1, has no access to the f3 square. The White King is safe. 44.Nf2 Now nothing can stop the promotion of Pawn a7 into Queen. Hiarcs still put up hopeless resistance, but this changed nothing. Rice wins. 63.Qxf8# Looking at the course of this game, I saw a lot of “confidence” and consistency in Rice's chess engine. Certainly, Rice tried, made efforts and put pressure on its experienced opponent. And as we saw – not without mistakes and inaccuracies – it ultimately resulted in victory. Feel free to download the Rice 5.0.0 chess engine. Linux arm64 & x64 – Compiled by Darius Mac Apple Silicon & Intel – Compiled by Darius Windows x64 – Compiled by Darius * Diagrams created in the ChessGenius Classic.

Anniversary Edition! I encourage you to read the latest issue of MCERL.

Chessengeria.eu welcomes another strong chess engine! Clover logo, source: GitHub Clover 4.0 by Mr. Luc Metehau, is an open source chess engine released under the GNU GPL 3 license. It was first released exactly 2 years ago - in 2021. Although it's a relatively young chess engine, it plays very well and is a viable competitor to other top ranked chess engines. Source: MCERL (ongoing) Here's what's new in the latest Clover 4.0: " After 2 months, new release is here. It comes with an improved search, but also improved neural network evaluation. Surprisingly, the arch is still the same, the major gain was switching from my trainer to CudAD. Many, many thanks to @Luecx for creating such an amazing tool and I really recommend using it, as it has a lot of functionalities upon being able to train a new network. Nevertheless, this should around 80-100-120 elo stronger than previous version (v3.3.1). I will continue using CudAD from now on, hence the version major change. " Source: GitHub Let's see how Clover 4.0 plays. We'll take a look at the game - a "thumbnail" performance of StockNemo 5.7.0 (white) and Clover 4.0 (black). StockNemo is not an easy engine to beat; according to MCERL, it plays with 3104 Elo. The game in question will end after only 26 moves. 11.a4 Classic King's Indian. How common a position type in this type of opening. White takes a lot of liberties on the Queen's wing, Black looks for his chance on the King's wing. 13.Bd2 Everything looks very good for both sides. The position is even. Clover countered in his 11th move by playing Pawn on a5; thus preventing StockNemo's initiative from developing quickly. 14.exf5 A good move by white, aiming to prevent the position from being closed by playing black Pawn to the f4 square. StockNemo tries to "unload" this little tension in the center of the chessboard. 14...Nxf5N Novelty! And in what style :) Clover provokes to play white Pawn on g4 assuming that in this way both his Knights will be attacked with a fork attack - which in prospect may lead to a loss of a piece. 15.g4 StockNemo accepts the challenge. 15...Nd4! The no-holds-barred ride in Clover's perforation is about to begin! Key factors for a successful attack on the white King will be the weakening of his position (no Pawn g2 and the removal of the white-square Bishop, who can act as an important defender. 16...Nxe2+! After accepting the Knight sacrifice from the h5 square, black eliminates Bishop e2 a vital defender. 17...Bg4 White's not the best 17th move is immediately exploited. Clover binds the ranks of the whites at the same time bringing a strong Bishop into play on g4. 18.Ne4 StockNemo tries to activate its pieces by pulling them close to his King. Slightly better was 18.h6 which, as intended, could then lead to the use of the g5 square to block black's Queen from invading on h4. 19.Qe3 Will the whites manage to occupy square g5 and stop the strongest black piece ? 19...Rf4 No. Clover blocks access to the g5 square with its Rook. 20...Qh4 Black achieves its stated goals. The idea is to create a real threat of a mate on the g2 square using Bishop f3 and the Queen. 21.Bxa5? A weak move in a situation where the game is getting out of hand for white. Taking away the black and irrelevant Rook is simply a waste of time in an already difficult position. 21...e4 Black doesn't even force himself to take the Bishop on a5. Clover reinforces his Bishop on f3, which is supposed to lead to the checkmate of the white King. 22...Qh3! There are only 22 moves behind us in a game of really strong opponents, and already nothing can stop Clover from checkmate the white King. 26...Qg2# I think Clover, is a chess engine with great potential. The talent of its Creator takes its power to a higher and higher level. Seeing his achievements in MCERL, I dare say that with this pace of development Clover will soon enter the top of the strongest chess engines. Feel free to visit the download area. Linux x64 – Compiled by Darius Mac Apple Silicon & Intel – Compiled by Darius Only in the Mac versions: sometimes Clover crashes during the game or exceeds the thinking time. Windows x64 – Compiled by Darius * Diagrams created in the ChessBase program.

Clear #5 on MCERL. This is not the official RubiChess logo RubiChess is an open source chess engine by Andreas Matthies, written in C++, licensed under the GPL v3.0. Source: MCERL (ongoing) +28 Elo more than previous version ! We are talking about the developer's version; it is to be assumed that the official release will be even stronger! A large increase in strength, which at this level should be received positively. It is gratifying to see the growth in capabilities of this chess engine, showing that even at such a high level an increase of several dozen Elo points is as possible. Thanks to author Mr. Andreas Matthies, RubiChess is a very friendly engine. Compiling a working version for different operating systems - is a pleasure - in such a thoughtful way this process was simplified by the author. In turn, the user, after running RubiChess on the command line, is informed by this chess engine whether he is using the best version. An example of running RubiChess in the modern version (popcnt) on a computer supporting additional capabilities in the form of avx2 / bmi2. The engine informs about running a suboptimal binaries and suggests using another version. On the same computer, after running RubiChess in the avx2 / bmi2 version, we see a message indicating that the selected binary is fully supported by the CPU of this computer. If you would like to learn more about how to choose chess engine versions for your computer, I invite you to the How-To section. *Here is a sample of the capabilities of latest RubiChess. White: RubiChess 20230407, Black: Caissa 1.7 26.Qf3 A position that does not herald such an imminent disaster for the blacks. Materially, the forces are aligned. Is it possible to checkmate in such a position in 10 moves having an opponent playing with a strength above 3400 Elo ? RubiChess can do it ! 26...Qxd4 Caissa takes Pawn d4, threatening to play Rc8 in the next move. 27.Ba3! RubiChess prevents Rook from playing to the c8 square, putting strong pressure on Bishop e7. 27...Kf8 Black decides to strengthen the bound Bishop e7 through the King himself. Unfortunately for Caissa, bringing the King directly into the center of events in a situation with such strong pressure from white figures was not the best move. Resistance could have been prolonged by 27...Bxa3 accepting to give up the Rook for the Bishop. 29.h4 Black has a pawn more and... paralyzed figures. 29...f5 Seemingly active Pawn play, which in addition reveals more of the black King's position. 31.Qc6 RubiChess literally rules the chessboard. There are 5 moves left to checkmate the black King. 32.Bb2 That's the power of chess bonding. If 32...Qxb2 had occurred then in repose white takes the Rook with a 33.Qxd7. 33.Rf6+ 33...Kg7 Will the black King's escape help him ? 34.Rxg6+ No. Double check and only 2 moves to checkmate. 36.Qe6# Feel free to download RubiChess - true ruby gem among chess engines. Linux ARM & Intel – Compiled by Darius Mac Apple Silicon & Intel – Compiled by Darius Windows – Compiled by Darius Source Code – by Andreas Matthies * Diagrams created in the ChessBase program.

One of the best computer chess Opening Books has been published. Perfect - as the Opening Book was named - is the work of well-known computer chess aficionado Mr. Sedat Canbaz. The Perfect opening books are freeware. The origins of Perfect Opening Books date back to the early 2000s, when its first version was published. Today, Perfect is an extremely polished chess opening book that has been developed and optimized over more than 20 years based on more than 1 million (1 000 000) games! Fans of the struggle of chess engines appreciated the author's work, which resulted in the publication of many more Perfect... over the years. Perfect 2023 books are available in 4 (four) formats: Arena (ABK) ChessBase (CTG) Polyglot (BIN) ShredderClassic (BKT) Which makes it possible to use it in different chess programs and on different operating systems. Fritz GUI & Perfect 2023 What certainly sets Perfect's Opening Books apart is, that you don't need to play tens of thousands of games to know with certainty which engine is stronger, as far as Elo is stronger/weaker, and this works well even against chess engines of a very even level. Computer Perfect's Opening Books have been held in high regard by users for years, of which I am one. I encourage you to download Perfect 2023 and use it. Perfect 2023 Opening Book – Created by Sedat Canbaz

Are you tired of boring commentaries that fail to capture the beauty of the chess game ? Do you feel embarrassed when listening to YouTubers or reading online comments on games that leave you with a sense of inadequacy ? If the answer is yes, then you have come to the right place ! This month on Chessengeria.com debuts a new series "Games of the Month". In this series, we highlight the most exquisite games played by chess engines in the MCERL series of games. Of the 10 games selected, one will be analyzed and shown in detail. "Games of the Month" will provide games - chess gems that are true works of art that take your breath away. MadChess vs Galjoen Without further introduction, I invite lovers who appreciate the true beauty of the game of chess to read. Game of the month - March 2023 In March, well over 20 000 games were played in the MCERL cycle. It took me a long time to choose the most worthy of interest, and it took me even longer to choose the one - the most beautiful one, which is worth highlighting with analysis and presentation to readers. Among these 10 games are those played by the strongest engines such as Stockfish, Berserk, Lc0 or Wasp, but there are also those in which lesser-known chess engines took part. And it is such a game that I would like to highlight. The game between MadChess 3.2b (white) and Galjoen 0.41.2 (black. Let's get started! The following position was created in the French defense, after white chose the aggressive continuation 7.Qg4. 11...dxc3! Materially, the forces are aligned. White will look for its chance on the King's wing, black on the Queen's wing. The resulting hand is unbalanced and full of many different possibilities for both computer players. 13...d4N Novelty by Galjoen. Usually Bishop's move 13.Bd7 is chosen, which provides an opportunity for a quick long castling and further mobilization of forces. As you can see, black already at the beginning of this game wants to put pressure and hinder further development of his opponent. 14.Bf2? This seemingly natural move is not a good choice. In this dynamic position, one should not give way to the field. A better choice would have been to play an equally aggressive white Knight to the h5 square. 15.Ne4 A good move activating Knight, who heads for the excellent d6 field. 17.Rb1 MadChess occupied the d6 field with his Knight and launches his Rook. Taking black's Pawn f7 is not the best idea, which white rightly abandons. 17...Qxa3 Gajloen has no intention of avoiding an exchange of blows through 17...b6. The position is fairly even. 18...Qa2! Black quietly moves the Queen near the undefended white Rook while limiting the white Bishop's movement to the c4 square. Black's King, despite losing his defender on the b7, can feel safe. 20...Rdf8 Not the best move by black, as did white earlier by moving his Bishop to the f2 field. A worthy consideration was 20...Kc7! offering white to take black's Rook in exchange for white's very strong Knight. 22.Qe4! MadChess taking advantage of the blacks' not so good previous move. 23.g3? Why MadChess did not get rid of the white Bishop by playing 23.Bxd4 will remain a secret to me. Pawn's move on g3 further restricts the freedom of movement of the Bishop standing on the f2 field. Probably the idea behind this move is to bring the white Bishop to the g2 field in the future. But... will MadChess make it? 23...f5! An excellent counter to the blacks. The position evens out again. 25...e5 Galjoen is the first to activate all his forces, black Bishop can finally reach further. 26.Nxd7 Strategic mistake. Too bad MadChess didn't activate Bishop by putting him on the g2 field. That would have been a perfect balance moment. 26....e4-+ White probably did not anticipate this "interjected" move. Instead of taking Knight from the d7 field, Galjoen blows the wind even more into the sails of it's initiative. The black Pawns begin to pose big threats. 27...d3! Black doesn't stop, smelled the scent of victory and regardless of losses stormed the position of the white King and.... Queen. 29.Ke2 The white figures stand as if by magic on their starting fields. Their King begins his trek and they can only watch. Here's how passive moves that give away the initiative end. 30...Nd5+! Galjoen without hesitation offers the black Pawn inviting the white King closer and closer to his camp. The stranded King... 32.Kxd5 And the King went to war. An unusual sight. 34...Rxe5+! Black sacrifices everything just to get to the wandering white King. 36...Qd7+ MadChess has one Rook and two Bishops more, but that doesn't save it from losing this game anymore. 41...Qf7# That's the brilliant style Tal played, that's how naturally Morphy played. And although the play of both computer players was not flawless, it was undoubtedly very interesting, full of twists and turns and providing opportunities for both sides to win. I hope you enjoyed this game, dear reader. I invite you to review the other selected games of the month of March 2023. The download file is below. * Diagrams generated in the ChessBase program.

A new computer chess player, Altair, joins the struggle on Chessengeria.eu. Altair - a first-magnitude star in the constellation Aquila. Altair by a programmer nicknamed Alex2262 is an open-source chess engine. It is a relatively "young" project that saw the light of day in late 2022. The latest version of Altair 2.0.0 was released a dozen hours earlier and, looking at its specifications, is an engine that uses proven programming techniques. " Search Iterative Deepening Aspiration Windows Negamax (Minimax) Alpha-Beta Pruning Reverse Futility Pruning Null Move Pruning Idea similar to Internal Iterative Deepening Principal Variation Search Late Move Reductions Transposition Tables Quiescence Search Delta Pruning Transposition Tables ..., " Source: GitHub After playing 600 games, the debutant has reached 2642 Elo, the playing level of a strong human grandmaster. Source: MCERL (ongoing) Let's take a look at what Altair 2.0.0 can do. White: Phalanx 25, Black: Altair 2.0.0 16...Ng6 The following position was created after the two Knights opened in a rare engine choice. The position has some similarities to the Italian opening - that is, a rather balanced and calm game from both sides, characterized by maneuvers aimed at long-term strategies. The Altair is concentrating its forces on the King's wing. 17.b6 Phalanx seeks breakthrough on Queen's wing. 19...Nhf4 Black occupies good squares closer to the white King's position. White, on the other hand, despite the activation of its figures, has not made significant gains on the Queen's wing. 21.a5?! Could it be that Phalanx has no idea how to continue playing ? 21...Nxg2! Yes, it looks like it. Altair wastes no time and hits one of the white King's defenders. Phalanx does not accept the sacrifice of the Black Knight. As he calculated correctly, this would lead to his swift defeat. White begins a painstaking defense. 22.Ncd2 At the cost of two pawns, Phalanx has regained control, but the prospects for any chance of Phalanx taking the initiative are not likely to be seen. Altair is pushing harder. 33...h5 36...Nxf3! Black removes one of the key defenders of the white King. 37.Re3 And this time the whites do not accept the sacrifice. Phalanx, is a chess engine that is very rarely put in such a situation and in most cases, it (Phalanx) does to its opponents what Altair is now doing to it. 57...Rf1! Altair slowly but relentlessly "finishes" its opponent. 63...Qf5!! Altair plays one of the last chords of the game. It offers the black Queen in a beautiful way. If Phalanx accepts the sacrifice, then the game is over immediately (64.Qxf5 Rxg1#) 65.Qxf3 Phalanx is desperate to give up its Queen. The game will not last much longer. 71...Qg2# The end. The game shown above, is the beauty of chess shown on the example of a duel of engines from the not top shelf. It proves that not only, for example, Stockfish or any other super-powerful engine is needed to enjoy the beauty of chess & computer chess. Congratulations to the author of the Altair chess engine for such a successful debut in the MCERL competition! Feel free to download Altair 2.0.0 Linux arm64 & x64 – Compiled by Darius Mac Apple Silicon & Intel – Compiled by Darius Windows x64 – Compiled by Darius * Diagrams generated in the ChessMaster GM Edition program.

Dear Chessengeria.eu readers, I would like to share with you the exciting news about the changes I have made to Chessengeria.eu based on the results of the survey we conducted. We are pleased to announce that, in accordance with your wishes, the Files section is being vigorously developed, with new chess engines being added almost daily. A number of chess programs have also appeared, as many of you suggested this idea in the survey, and I am happy to introduce it to our blog. As of April 1, 2023, there are more than 15 GB of chess software in the Files section! In fact, there are many more chess engines in the Files section than you can see in the Forum entries. And virtually every one of them comes in versions for multiple operating systems, such as Linux, Mac and Windows, and in versions for different CPU's. I would venture to say that... There is probably no other place on the Internet so comprehensively providing legal access to the latest and those classic chess engines and software. We are also enriching our other sections such as Oldie - Goldie and Reviews with new entries, following our existing formula of providing reliable, accurate and comprehensive content. Today, a comprehensive review of the latest version of the Scid 5 program for handling and managing chess game databases and engines will be published. Based on the survey results, I am introducing a consultation service for a more personalized approach. Many of you have expressed interest in this service, and I am happy to accommodate. A Group has also been established for supportive readers to exchange ideas, files, experiences, etc. We have received a positive response from the majority of respondents, and we believe this will be a good addition to the site. The entrance to the Group is on the navigation bar at the top of the page. Most readers are willing to accept ads. Therefore, they have appeared, but not in all only on selected sections of the blog; I hope they are not intrusive and will not negatively affect the reading experience. I have introduced an all-inclusive subscription offer that will provide access to all content and files on the site. To meet the needs of readers who would like to take advantage of a significantly reduced subscription price, will appear annual subscription options with prices per month as much as tens of percent lower. What else? In the meantime, there have been additional requests to make the courses available as PDF files, allowing convenient reading on various devices and also when there is no internet access. This request has been accepted; I am currently working on the electronic composition of the courses into PDF files. In addition to PDF files, the courses will also be made available in EPUB format files, which will allow reading on an even wider range of different devices, such as e-book readers. The courses in PDF and EPUB are likely to be made available this month, April 2023. A great deal of different content is available on Chessengeria.eu for free, e.g. News, Oldie-Goldie, MCERL, Reviews, etc. including chess engine downloads from posts (News section) and selected content from articles, how-to, courses and reviews sections. This is intended, among other things, to allow new readers to familiarize themselves with our blog. Perhaps I will create a list of all chess engines and programs that are in the Files section. Currently, you can go to the Forum to the chess engines section to find out which are for prepared downloads. Some of the changes described above will not take effect until May 1, 2023 at the earliest. Why only from May 1, 2023 ? As a heartfelt thank you for your support, starting today, i.e. April 1, 2023, I am making available a Premium Plan giving access to all Chessengeria.eu resources and the Files section with chess engines and programs for a promotional price. $0.99 for the first month of subscription - this is the lowest possible promotional price. The $0.99 package will only be available until the end of April 2023. I firmly believe that these measures will provide readers with the best possible experience of using our blog. Chessengeria.eu is a place created together with readers. If there is a need for changes in the future, they will be implemented. However, I will always, and I emphasize always, consult with you dear readers on key issues through surveys; every voice is important and readers are most important to me. Once again, I would like to sincerely thank all of you for filling out the survey and for your help, support and involvement in the development of Chessengeria.eu. Darius, founder of Chessengeria.eu.

The latest version of Viridithas 8 is about 100 Elo stronger than Viridithas 7. According to MCERL, Viridithas 8 plays with a strength of 3372 Elo. Source: GitHub I love such surprises :) Viridithas is a free and open source chess engine written in the Rust language. Published under the MIT License. The author, Cosmo Bobak, who (as I wrote in a previous post about Viridithas) is obsessed with treesearch, has successfully used his "obsession" and is passionately developing his chess engine. According to the latest results (MCERL ongoing), the strongest chess engine written in Rust is Velvet 5.1.0 with a ranking of 3377 Elo. Viridithas, after playing 738 games, reached 3372 Elo, only 5 Elo less. Source: MCERL (ongoing) To decide which of these chess engines is stronger, I decided to play a match between them. With 10, 50 or maybe 100 games? Nothing of the sort! In the end, I wanted to determine the undisputed Champion – the strongest chess engine written in the Rust language participating in the MCERL competition. Viridithas faced Velvet in the Championship match consisting of 300 games. Time: the same as in the MCERL competitions. Here are the results: Velvet won by 1 point. Only one :) Well... with this dynamic growth of both these engines, the next match between this worthy rivals may end in a different result. Games to download. To be sure, the next versions of Viridithas and Velvet will be paired by me in what I hope will be a no less interesting match. Ok, take a look at how Viridithas can play*. White: Viridithas-8.0.0 Black: Bit-Genie-9, a robust chess engine that plays thickly above 3000 Elo. Below we see an aligned position full of opportunities for both sides, created by playing the Spanish Opening. White's Bishop seems to be somewhat stuck on the c2 field, while the black Knight has no freedom standing on the b7 field. In this type of position, it is not uncommon for one side to prepare and realize a breakthrough by playing Pawn to the f4 field (white) or the f5 field (black). 19.f4 Is it too fast? After all, white, if the exchange takes place, will expose itself to a "fork" attack by playing the black pawn on g5. 21...g5 And indeed, Bit-Genie does not hesitate to attack Viridithas two figures. So was white Pawn's previous move on f4 a mistake ? 23.Bd4 At first glance, it's easy to come to a hasty conclusion. Viridithas, at the price of Knight, opened the F line for Rook, placed Bishop on the excellent d4 field and, in prospect, enabled the activation of his other figures. 25.Rc1 Blacks are trying to create any chance of a constructive game for themselves. White calmly gives up the "brawl" on the Queen's wing. 27.e5! The punch line of Viridithas' idea from a few moves ago is starting to become apparent. The exposed position of the black King does not bode well for Bit-Genie. 28. Qe4 In a little while, the King of the Blacks will have to evacuate. 29.Qh7 The Black King's defenders can only look on. 30.Ne4! Another sacrifice! How beautiful :) Viridithas brings his Knight into the center of events, offering black another of its figures, this time a white Bishop. 30...exd4?? Black makes the only fat mistake of the game, taking the white Bishop off the d4 field. Bit-Genie desperately tries to do everything - reduces the material on the chessboard just to turn the game around. What can white do in this position? Dear reader, before you scroll down this page, think about white's next move. Already ? If so, let's see what Viridithas played in his 31st move. 31.Rxf6! What an impact! Another sacrifice made by white to get the black King on the chessboard. 33.d6+ Viridithas already has less material on Rook and Knight, but it still devotes its forces - this time attacking using Pawn. 34...d3 Blacks with the last strength try to achieve anything, blocking the white Bishop. Will this help anything? 37.Ne8+! The last beautiful notes of this game resound. Double check to the black King. 38.Bd1 The power of Viridithas calmness almost pulls me out of my shoes ;) What a computer player, it moves its Bishop without haste to finally plunge Bit-Genie-9. 45.Qxe6# After a few moves, white gives the mat. Viridithas wins in such style that I wonder if this game will be among the other contenders for game of the year :) The new one - Viridithas 8.0.0 - and the style in which it plays impressed me. This is another engine created with the Rust language, whose style and level of play can evoke so many positive emotions and pleasant impressions when watching it in action. I encourage you to download Viridithas 8.1.0. " (...) This release adds WLD probability-adjusted reporting to Viridithas. No strength difference exists compared to 8.0.0, but Viridithas's score cp output is now normalised such that 100 centipawns == 50% chance of winning, and Viri now outputs WDL probabilities per mill. " Source: GitHub Android – Compiled by Archimedes Linux arm64 & x64 – Compiled by Darius Mac Apple Silicon & Intel – Compiled by Darius Windows x64 – Compiled by Darius * Diagrams generated in Aquarium program.

If I were to name one of the oldest and most famous and respected chess engines with terminology straight out of Howard Phillips Lovecraft's prose, I would write that Arasan is the one of the Great Old Ones. Although Arasan is not as old as Cthulhu (one of the heroes of the books of the above-mentioned writer), it takes his rightful and deserved place in the history of chess engines. Arasan means "king" in Tamil, a language spoken in South India and Sri Lanka. One of the first published versions was the 16-bit Arasan from 1994, which ran on Windows 3.1. At the time, there was not so readily available extensive knowledge of chess engine programming. One had to really make an effort to find anything about it on the Internet; assuming there was Internet access at all (in most parts of the world there just wasn't it yet). What could be sourced were a few mostly academic publications and articles, most of which lacked practical details. Plus there were sources for Crafty, GNU Chess and a few other engines, most of them not very powerful. And it was in such times that Arasan was created; at a time when the author of the chess engine was literally blazing a programming trail and through his imagination, creativity and determination developed his engine. Arasan was and is the engine that set the way forward showed how powerful a free, open-source chess engine can be. It was the availability of Arasan, which I was able to run on a variety of systems and computers (Windows, Linux and Mac) that caused that to this day, Arasan is the chess engine I use frequently. The author, Mr. Jon Dart, has accomplished a remarkable feat over several decades. Arasan has changed, evolved, used better and better techniques and algorithms. Whenever another version of it came out, I was sure that I would get an even more powerful and offering more capabilities Arasan. And this was indeed the case. Arasan is a chess engine that has repeatedly held high positions in various competitions. Among its many successes, it is worth mentioning: The winning of the 2012 Americas Computer Chess Championship tournament. Source: CPW The winning the World Computer Rapid Chess Championship in 2013. Source: CPW Nowadays, Arasan is a very powerful and sophisticated chess engine, using a neural network and rating among the top chess engines. It is gratifying to see that Mr. Jon Dart is still working on the Arasan chess engine, which is being developed and participating in various competitions, e.g. TCEC, CCRL, MCERL as well as on chess servers, with new versions appearing every year. Source: CCRL Below are two examples showing Arasan playing. #1* White: Deep Shredder 13, an award-winning, multiple-time chess engine world champion. Shredder is a computer player who for years when he participated in any competition, it was said jokingly and affectionately that no matter what happened in the tournament, Shredder would most likely win. Black: Arasan 23.4-dev. A position of sorts: secure the white king and move forward on the Queen's wing. 24.f3 Shredder intends to drive away the intrusive Knight. 24...Nxg2! Arasan will be so close to the white King is not going to let go. 25...Nh2! Shredder accepted the sacrifice of a black Knight. Attacked, the black Knight does not intend to make a retreat, on the contrary, it boldly breaks into the ranks of the white King. 28.Be1 White is trying to do everything to protect his King. After this move by White Bishop, can Arasan exert even more pressure ? 28...Rxg2+!! A monstrously powerful black Rook strike! Shredder must accept this sacrifice. 32...f3 Resolute black pawn approaches white monarch position. 35.Kg1 The White King has finally found protection behind... black's pawn. Is this the end of the Arasan assault? 35...Bf2+! Boom!! Black sacrifices another figure in order to fly out the white King to tip the balance of victory to their side. 41...Qxc3 Shredder, to avoid immediate defeat, gave away the Queen and Knight, as a result of which he prolonged the game but finally lost. #2* White: Arasan 23.4-dev Black: BlackCore 6.0, it is a neural network based chess engine developed from scratch. Strength oscillating around 3200 Elo. Observing BlackCore's play in other games, I noticed that this engine likes to outplay its opponents as a result of skillful mobilization of forces to launch a strong frontal attack. In this game it also tries to win in this very way. And, it seems to have a good chance of doing so. Black's position is dreamed up to launch an assault on the white King. 25...h5 BlackCore is consistently preparing a breakthrough on the g4 square. Arasan, with calmness, prepares forces for defense. 26.Be2. 26...g4! This looks threatening and indeed Arasan must play very accurately. In this type of position, the defending side faces quite a challenge; the defense then is more difficult than the attack, as one has to play with maximum accuracy. 28.Bd3 Arasan ties the black Knight. 29.Bxe4! At the cost of the white Rook, Arasan intends to take the initiative in a position that just a few moves earlier seemed doomed to be arduously defended. BlackCore carelessly took the white Rook which Arasan takes advantage of. 31.d6! Bishops Arasan previously "dormant" regain vigor. More and more lines and diagonals are available to whites. 33...Bf8 Blacks, although having a material advantage, lost the initiative and went on the defensive. 34.Bh7+! White Bishop on a battle rampage! 38.Qd5 The combined Arasan figures are unstoppable. The game is coming to an end. 41.Bf4# End. The Black Queen, just as she took the white Rook, has not moved since. An instructive and inspiring game! How does an engine developed over decades play chess? Exactly as in the examples above! And this is just a sample of its skills. Arasan is not the strongest chess engine in the world. But it doesn't have to be one in order to play delightful chess, delight users with its style and be a great computer companion for chess training and learning. Arasan is one of those "Great Old Ones" - Oldie Goldie - which, thanks to the author's openness and sharing of the source code, have been and continue to be an inspiration to so many chess enthusiasts. Feel free to visit the download area. Linux arm64 & x64 – Compiled by Darius Mac Apple Silicon & Intel – Compiled by Darius Windows x64 – Compiled by Darius Source Code – created by Jon Dart In the Files area you will find free chess engines for download. * Diagrams generated in Aquarium program.

This month brought us one of the most interesting rating lists in the history of MCERL. ChessMaster GM Edition GUI, Hiarcs 15,1 vs Wasp 6.50 (0 - 1) Many new and updated chess engines appeared in the list, as well as such established brands as spectacularly playing Wasp, solid SlowChess Blitz, demanding Demolito. The free Komodo 14.1 also appeared on the list achieving a pretty good rating. The most powerful engine on the MCERL list - Stockfish is ahead of Dragon by Komodo Chess by as much as 92 Elo! Take a peek at the latest MCERL and discover what's new on our rating list! In the Files area you will find free chess engines for download.

Thank you to a reader nicknamed Anthuk for all the games between the free and commercial versions of the Ethereal chess engines. After the release of the commercial Ethereal 14.00, I received inquiries as to whether it was worth it to use the free version of this chess engine, when there are many other alternative engines that have great strength. Before answering this question, let's look a little into the past and recall what Ethereal's engine was before its commercial version appeared. The author, Mr. Andrew Grant, has spent years developing his engine, which has become increasingly powerful, while making its source code available under the GNU GPL 3 license. Ethereal has developed a very good reputation as a free chess engine that plays at a similar level to its commercial counterparts. Undoubtedly, the open-source Ethereal has contributed to the spread of knowledge about chess engine development. Many authors have used and continue to use the ideas and are inspired by the way Ethereal is written. Over the years, Mr. Andrew Grant has implemented the so-called Hand Craft Eval (HCE) in his engine with great dedication and knowledge of the matter, which has been one of the most important factors influencing the strength of the Ethereal plays. The free Ethereal, which does not use a neural network, is in my opinion one of the few chess engines with peak HCE capabilities. #1* In that example, Ethereal 13.50 (without a neural network) plays white against Lc0 0.29.0 (black), the latest incarnation of the super-powerful chess engine. A fascinating, dynamic and unbalanced position. Both sides have their chances for success. White's king, deprived of cover, is exposed to attacks, although his pawns are already very advanced and near the promotion line. Black can turn on his heavy figures at any time with the Queen and rooks in the lead. 24.Ke1! Ethereal accepts the challenge. 25.h7! Whites do not lack courage backed by a good position evaluation (HCE). The White King has no protection? Ok, then let's create it. 26.Bd2! 27. Qc3! Ethereal is consolidating its forces. 28.Be3! An impressive move in a very complicated position. 28...Ne4 Lc0 correctly calculating does not accept the sacrifice of the white Bishop. What follows is a series of moves - maneuvers. 34.Bxa7+! White's bishop is relentless. Another sacrifice that black should not accept this time either. 45.Bb6+ This one only Bishop, will probably "dream at night" Lco ;) Ethereal takes total control of the game. 46.Qxf8+!! A beautiful sacrifice of the white Queen. In the next move, she will be reborn. The game ends with the black King's mate. Ethereal wins in magnificent style against a very strong opponent. #2 Then came the era of neural networks, which are increasingly used today, especially by advanced chess engines. Ethereal is one of them. Looking at the performance of the commercial Ethereal 14, it is clear that the author of this engine cares about the latest and commercial version with the same attention to detail and strength. Latest Ethereal tops many ranking lists alongside Stockfish, Dragon by Komodo Chess, Berserk, Lc0 and Koivisto. Source: CCRL, 2023-031-21 Thanks to a collaboration with a reader nicknamed Anthuk, we can see what the difference is in the strength of free vs commercial Ethereal -> about 156 Elo. Both engines played a match consisting of 100 games at a rate of 1 minute / game + 0.6 seconds / move (MCERL game rate). 100 games may not be a big number, but it already gives some picture. The result speaks for itself. An overwhelming victory for Ethereal 14.00 having a neural network. As many as 80 wins and only two losses. Sincere congratulations to the author, Mr. Andrew Grant. Fantastic job! So, is it worth using the free Ethereal chess engine ? The answer is yes! Free Ethereal without a neural network plays fantastic chess. It is a refined chess engine in every respect and a product of the human mind over the formation of position evaluation (Hand Craft Eval). Ethereal even without a neural network wins over most chess engines, precisely because of those qualities I mentioned earlier. If you don't feel the need for an extremely powerful commercial version, go for the free Ethereal, you certainly won't be disappointed. It will provide you with a good user experience, high quality analysis and show you how to play beautiful chess. You are invited to download the free Ethereal chess engine (without neural network). Android – Compiled by Archimedes Linux x64 – Compiled by Darius Windows x64 – Compiled by Darius In the Files area you will find free chess engines for download. * Diagrams generated in the ChessBase 14 program.