World Computer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) is an annual event where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association. It is often held in conjunction with the Computer Olympiad, a collection of computer tournaments for other board games.
Contents
Championship results
The WCCC is open to all types of computers including microprocessors, supercomputers, clusters, and dedicated chess hardware.
In 2007, the reigning champion Junior declined to defend its title.
For the 2009 edition, the rules were changed to limit platforms to commodity hardware supporting at most eight cores,[1] thereby excluding supercomputers and large clusters. Thereafter, a parallel Software Championship was held instead, and unlimited hardware is still allowed in the championship proper.
Event # | Year | Location | Participants | Winner |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1974 | Stockholm | 13 | Kaissa |
2 | 1977 | Toronto | 16 | Chess 4.6[2] |
3 | 1980 | Linz | 18 | Belle |
4 | 1983 | New York | 22 | Cray Blitz |
5 | 1986 | Cologne | 22 | Cray Blitz |
6 | 1989 | Edmonton | 24 | Deep Thought |
7 | 1992 | Madrid | 22 | ChessMachine (Gideon) |
8 | 1995 | Hong Kong | 24 | Fritz |
9 | 1999 | Paderborn | 30 | Shredder |
10 | 2002 | Maastricht | 18 | Deep Junior |
11 | 2003 | Graz | 16 | Shredder |
12 | 2004 | Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan | 14 | Deep Junior |
13 | 2005 | Reykjavík | 12 | Zappa |
14 | 2006 | Torino | 18 | Junior |
15 | 2007 | Amsterdam | 12 | Zappa[wccc 1] |
16 | 2008 | Beijing | 10 | HIARCS[wccc 1] |
17 | 2009 | Pamplona | 10 | Junior, Shredder, Sjeng[wccc 1] |
18 | 2010 | Kanazawa | 10 | Rondo, Thinker[wccc 1] |
19 | 2011 | Tilburg | 9 | Junior |
20 | 2013 | Yokohama | 6 | Junior |
21 | 2015 | Leiden | 9 | Jonny |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Although Rybka placed first at the WCCC from 2007 to 2010, the ICGA disqualified Rybka in a controversial decision.
World Chess Software Championship
From 2010 a new tournament was introduced and held at the same location and during the same period as the World Computer Chess Championship. The rules for the World Chess Software Championship state that competing programs must run on machines with identical hardware specifications. Time control is game in 45 minutes with 15 second increment.[3][4]
Event # | Year | Location | Participants | Winner | Hardware |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2010 | Kanazawa | 9 | Shredder[5] | Intel quad core Xeon 2.66 GHz, 8MB Hash |
2 | 2011 | Tilburg | 5 | HIARCS | Intel Core2 Duo, 1.7 GHz, 2MB Hash |
3 | 2013 | Yokohama | 6 | HIARCS | Intel quad core i7, 2.7 GHz, 16MB Hash |
4 | 2015 | Leiden | 8 | Shredder [1] | Intel quad core i7 |
Due to the requirement to be present on-site, and strict rules of originality, many strong programs refrain from participating in the ICGA events. As the conditions of the software championship can easily be emulated by anyone with a high-end PC, there are now privately conducted tournaments, such as Thoresen Chess Engines Competition, that have much broader attendance, as well as a larger number of games to reduce the influence of chance.
World Microcomputer Chess Championship
From 1980 to 2001, there was a separate cycle of championships limited to programs running on microprocessors. Up until 1991, the winners were dedicated units. Thereafter, winners were running on state-of-the-art personal computers. The event was also run by the ICGA.
At the 14th WMCCC in Jakarta, the Israeli team Junior was denied entry to Indonesia and some other teams dropped out in protest.
The 16th WMCCC was the same as the 9th WCCC above.
Event # | Year | Location | Participants | Winner |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1980 | London | 12 | Fidelity Chess Challenger |
2 | 1981 | Travemünde | 8 | Fidelity X |
3 | 1983 | Budapest | 15 | Fidelity Elite A/S |
4 | 1984 | Glasgow | 12 | Fidelity Elite X, Mephisto, Princhess X, Psion |
5 | 1985 | Amsterdam | 6 / 5 | Mephisto / Nona |
6 | 1986 | Dallas | 6 | Mephisto |
7 | 1987 | Rome | 2 / 7 | Mephisto / Psion |
8 | 1988 | Almería | 2 / 7 | Mephisto |
9 | 1989 | Portorož | 9 | Mephisto |
10 | 1990 | Lyon | 12 | Mephisto |
11 | 1991 | Vancouver, Canada | 15 | ChessMachine (Gideon) |
12 | 1993 | Munich | 28 | HIARCS |
13 | 1995 | Paderborn, Germany | 33 | MChess Pro 5.0 |
14 | 1996 | Jakarta | 27 | Shredder |
15 | 1997 | Paris | 34 | Junior |
16 | 1999 | Paderborn, Germany | 30 | Shredder |
17 | 2000 | London | 14 | Shredder |
18 | 2001 | Maastricht | 18 | Deep Junior |
See also
- Chess engine
- Computer chess
- Computer Olympiad
- World Computer Speed Chess Championship
- North American Computer Chess Championship
- Dutch open computer chess championship
- TCEC Computer Chess Championship
References
- ↑ Clarification of the 8-cores rule for the WCCC
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Article on the World Chess Software Championship
- ↑ HIARCS announcement of new tournament
- ↑ ChessCentral report on 2010 World Chess Software Championship