Advanced Chess
Encyclopedia
Advanced Chess is a relatively new form of chess
, wherein each human player uses a computer chess program to help him explore the possible results of candidate moves. The human players, despite this computer assistance, are still fully in control of what moves their "team" (of one human and one computer) make.
Garry Kasparov
, with the objective of a human
player
and a computer chess program
playing as a team against other such pairs.
Many Advanced Chess proponents have stressed that Advanced Chess has merits in:
A variation or superset of Advanced Chess is freestyle chess, where consultation teams are also allowed. It is common for "regular" Advanced Chess single man/machine teams (also called "centaur play", to differentiate between pure-man or pure-machine play) to take part in freestyle tournaments. Freestyle tournaments are frequently more informal than regular chess tournaments, even though the level of play can be significantly higher.
The concept of computer-assisted chess tournaments originated in science fiction
, notably in The Peace War
written by Vernor Vinge
in 1984.
The former world champion grandmaster
Garry Kasparov
, who retired from competitive chess in 2005, has a long history in playing "Man vs. Machine" events. Among the most important are his matches against IBM
's research computer
Deep Blue, which Kasparov defeated in February 1996, scoring 4-2 in a 6-game match, and lost to, 3.5-2.5, in a May 1997 rematch. The first game
of the 1996 match remained famous though, as it was the first game in the history of chess in which a world champion
had been defeated by a computer. The Deep Blue computer is now defunct but IBM
still maintains the website
for it and the associated famous match at www.research.ibm.com/deepblue. After this spectacular match, and many other matches against computers, Garry Kasparov had the idea to invent a new form of chess in which humans and computers co-operate, instead of contending
with each other. Kasparov named this form of chess "Advanced Chess".
The first Advanced Chess event was held in June 1998 in León, Spain
. It was played between Garry Kasparov
, who was using Fritz
5, and Veselin Topalov
, who was using ChessBase
7.0. The analytical engines used, such as Fritz
, HIARCS
and Junior
, were integrated into these two programs, and could have been called at a click of the mouse. It was a 6-game match, and it was arranged in advance that the players would consult the built-in million games database
s only for the 3rd and 4th game, and would only use analytical engines without consulting the databases for the remaining games. The time available to each player during the games was 60 minutes. The match ended in a 3-3 tie
. After the match, Kasparov said:
Regular Advanced Chess events have been held since in León each year, with a little inconsistency after 2002. The Indian grandmaster
Viswanathan Anand
is considered the world's best Advanced Chess player, winning the three consecutive Advanced Chess tournament
s in Leon in 1999, 2000 and 2001, before losing the title to Vladimir Kramnik
in 2002. After the loss to Kramnik, Anand said:
-playing room, equipped with fast PCs of equal hardware
strength. It is the duty of the tournament
organizers to make sure that the players are familiar with the pertinent hardware
and software. Unlike the traditional face-to-face chess
, the players usually face their respective computer
s. Each player is typically allotted one hour of thinking time (as was the time control
used in all Advanced Chess events in León), though the particular tournament
regulations may vary regarding this matter.
During the match, the players will typically form strategic plans in their minds, then enter the candidate sequences of moves into the computer to analyze and make sure there are no blunder
s and other possible holes. The human player will compare the merits of each candidate sequence after having seen the computer's analysis, and may even introduce a new variation if time permits. The player will typically play out the move which he has established (with computer help) to be strongest. If there are two or more moves which the computer considers to be of equal strength (such situations are frequent), the human player will use his own strategic skill
s and experience
and analytical judgment capabilities to decide which move to play. The humans are in charge during the whole match, and are formally free to play any moves they consider the best, at their own discretion. During the opening
, the players may consult a large database
of opening moves and variations, containing information
about who played a particular variation, when it was played, and with what success, though a particular tournament
's rules may prohibit using databases in such manner.
During the whole game, the players' computer monitors are projected onto large screens, making it possible for the viewing audience to watch how the strongest players decide about their moves and make their plans. Typically there will be a commentator in a separate room, equipped with the identical hardware
as players, which he will use to help him provide a commentary to the audience - this way the audience is given the real insight into the thought
processes of the strongest players.
Although Advanced Chess play is at the highest level when performed by the top grandmaster
s, it is not limited to them. Anyone can play Advanced Chess, sometimes with the same success as the strongest grandmasters. Occasionally, average players have been able to achieve a performance rating
higher than the one of the computer programs they were using, and on rare occasions higher than the ratings of top grandmasters.
-computer
team, whether the human should be considered the Advanced Chess player, or rather the team itself should be considered the Advanced Chess player. It is the prevailing view that, because the human
subordinates the computer
in a meaningful intent to win a chess
game
, and that the human is the one who makes the final decision about the move to be played, the human should be considered the Advanced Chess player. Some have also argued that the term "computer-assisted player" should not be used for an Advanced Chess player, as the key element is cooperation
, not assistance.
and a high number of commercial and free Internet chess server
s has made it possible for anyone to play Advanced Chess over the Internet. There has not been organized Internet Advanced Chess play in quite a while, though, and few Internet chess systems have regulated rated Advanced Chess play.
The world's largest organization
for Advanced Chess on the Internet is the Advanced Chess Organization - CCO (this organization used to be known as Computer Chess Organization, and therefore kept the acronym CCO for historical reasons). CCO organizes regular Advanced Chess events, most of which take place on The Free Internet Chess Server
(FICS) or the correspondence website http://www.cowplay.com. One need not be a CCO member to participate in its tournaments, though the organization stresses that membership is highly desirable. CCO Advanced Chess events on the Internet
usually employ unrated play, because rated Advanced Chess play is still unregulated by most Internet chess systems, and use of computer
s in rated games is considered cheating and ruled out. CCO proposes that Internet chess server
s introduce a third category of player - the "Advanced Chess player", among the existing human and computer players, latter of which usually labeled by "(C)", and that Advanced Chess players should be associated with a special Advanced Chess rating
category. CCO points out that most Internet chess server
s already have software-driven mechanisms which allow players to choose the types of the opponents they wish to play, therefore making it possible for a particular player to exclude all Advanced Chess players, should he/she not wish to play them.
The trend might be changing as Advanced Chess is offered on the correspondence chess server at http://www.ficgs.com/ as the default mode of play, with special, unrated, "no engines" tournaments being the exception, rather than the rule.
The most important were the PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament, sponsored by the PAL Group in Abu Dhabi
(UAE), which had a high level of play and the winners, in chronological order, were: Zacks (Stephen Zackery, USA), Zorchamp (Zorchamp, UAE), Rajlich (Vasik Rajlich
, Hungary), Xakru (Jiri Dufek, Czech Rep.), Flying Saucers (Dagh Nielsen, Denmark), Rajlich (Vasik Rajlich, Hungary ) Ibermax (Anson Williams, England) and Ultima (Eros Riccio
, Italy).
Similar tournaments were organized by the FICGS and Infinity Chess, the server operated by the CCGM Arno Nickel.
in online chess games is a problem, and should not be confused with Advanced Chess play.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, wherein each human player uses a computer chess program to help him explore the possible results of candidate moves. The human players, despite this computer assistance, are still fully in control of what moves their "team" (of one human and one computer) make.
Introduction
Advanced Chess (sometimes called cyborg chess or centaur chess) was first introduced by grandmasterInternational Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
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....
, with the objective of a human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
player
Player (game)
A player of a game is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory and in ordinary recreational games....
and a computer chess program
Computer chess
Computer 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...
playing as a team against other such pairs.
Many Advanced Chess proponents have stressed that Advanced Chess has merits in:
- increasing the level of play to heights never before seen in chess;
- producing blunderBlunder (chess)In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...
-free games with the qualities and the beauty of both perfect tactical play and highly meaningful strategic plans; - giving the viewing audience a remarkable insight into the thoughtThought"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...
processes of strong human chess players and strong chess computers, and the combination thereof.
A variation or superset of Advanced Chess is freestyle chess, where consultation teams are also allowed. It is common for "regular" Advanced Chess single man/machine teams (also called "centaur play", to differentiate between pure-man or pure-machine play) to take part in freestyle tournaments. Freestyle tournaments are frequently more informal than regular chess tournaments, even though the level of play can be significantly higher.
History
The concept was already common in the 1970s: "An interesting possibility which arises from the 'brute force' capabilities of contemporary chess programs is the introduction of a new brand of 'consultation chess' where the partnership is between man and machine."http://books.google.com/books?id=c-Pp2pmz328C&lpg=PA330&dq=new%20scientist%20chess&hl=es&pg=PA332#v=onepage&q&f=falseThe concept of computer-assisted chess tournaments originated in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, notably in The Peace War
The Peace War
The Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
written by Vernor Vinge
Vernor Vinge
Vernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep , A Deepness in the Sky , Rainbows End , Fast Times at Fairmont High ...
in 1984.
The former world champion grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
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....
, who retired from competitive chess in 2005, has a long history in playing "Man vs. Machine" events. Among the most important are his matches against IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's research computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
Deep Blue, which Kasparov defeated in February 1996, scoring 4-2 in a 6-game match, and lost to, 3.5-2.5, in a May 1997 rematch. The first game
Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1
Deep Blue–Kasparov, 1996, Game 1 is a famous chess game in which a computer played against a human being. It was the first game played in the 1996 Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov match, and the first time that a chess-playing computer defeated a reigning world champion under normal chess tournament...
of the 1996 match remained famous though, as it was the first game in the history of chess in which a world champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
had been defeated by a computer. The Deep Blue computer is now defunct but IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
still maintains the website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
for it and the associated famous match at www.research.ibm.com/deepblue. After this spectacular match, and many other matches against computers, Garry Kasparov had the idea to invent a new form of chess in which humans and computers co-operate, instead of contending
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
with each other. Kasparov named this form of chess "Advanced Chess".
The first Advanced Chess event was held in June 1998 in León, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It was played between 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....
, who was using Fritz
Fritz (chess)
Fritz is a German chess program developed by Frans Morsch and Mathias Feist and published by ChessBase. There is also a version called Deep Fritz that is designed for multiprocessing....
5, and Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
, who was using ChessBase
ChessBase
ChessBase GmbH is a German company that markets chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates a server for online chess. Set up in 1998, it maintains and sells massive databases, containing most historic games, that permit analysis that had not been possible prior to computing...
7.0. The analytical engines used, such as Fritz
Fritz (chess)
Fritz is a German chess program developed by Frans Morsch and Mathias Feist and published by ChessBase. There is also a version called Deep Fritz that is designed for multiprocessing....
, HIARCS
HIARCS
HIARCS is a commercial computer chess program developed by Mark Uniacke. Its name is an acronym stands for higher intelligence auto response chess system.-Overview:...
and Junior
Junior (chess)
Junior is a computer chess program authored by the Israeli programmers Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky. Grandmaster Boris Alterman assisted, in particular with the opening book...
, were integrated into these two programs, and could have been called at a click of the mouse. It was a 6-game match, and it was arranged in advance that the players would consult the built-in million games database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s only for the 3rd and 4th game, and would only use analytical engines without consulting the databases for the remaining games. The time available to each player during the games was 60 minutes. The match ended in a 3-3 tie
Tie (draw)
To tie or draw is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results. The word "tie" is usually used in North America for sports such as American football. "Draw" is usually used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations and it is usually used for sports such as...
. After the match, Kasparov said:
- "My prediction seems to be true that in Advanced Chess it's all over once someone gets a won position. This experiment was exciting and helped spectators understand what's going on. It was quite enjoyable and will take a very big and prestigious place in the history of chess."
Regular Advanced Chess events have been held since in León each year, with a little inconsistency after 2002. The Indian grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
is considered the world's best Advanced Chess player, winning the three consecutive Advanced Chess tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
s in Leon in 1999, 2000 and 2001, before losing the title to Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
in 2002. After the loss to Kramnik, Anand said:
- "I think in general people tend to overestimate the importance of the computer in the competitions. You can do a lot of things with the computer but you still have to play good chess. I more or less managed to do so except for this third game. In such a short match, against a very solid and hard to beat opponent, this turned out to be too much but I don’t really feel like that the computer alone can change the objective true to the position."
How it is played
Both players sit in a typical chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
-playing room, equipped with fast PCs of equal hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
strength. It is the duty of the tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
organizers to make sure that the players are familiar with the pertinent hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
and software. Unlike the traditional face-to-face chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, the players usually face their respective computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s. Each player is typically allotted one hour of thinking time (as was the time control
Time control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...
used in all Advanced Chess events in León), though the particular tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
regulations may vary regarding this matter.
During the match, the players will typically form strategic plans in their minds, then enter the candidate sequences of moves into the computer to analyze and make sure there are no blunder
Blunder
A blunder is a particularly bad mistake. Specific instances include:* Blunder , a very poor move in chess* Hopetoun Blunder, an event in Australian history.* Brand blunder, in marketing.* Draft blunder, in American sports....
s and other possible holes. The human player will compare the merits of each candidate sequence after having seen the computer's analysis, and may even introduce a new variation if time permits. The player will typically play out the move which he has established (with computer help) to be strongest. If there are two or more moves which the computer considers to be of equal strength (such situations are frequent), the human player will use his own strategic skill
Skill
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
s and experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
and analytical judgment capabilities to decide which move to play. The humans are in charge during the whole match, and are formally free to play any moves they consider the best, at their own discretion. During the opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
, the players may consult a large database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
of opening moves and variations, containing information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
about who played a particular variation, when it was played, and with what success, though a particular tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
's rules may prohibit using databases in such manner.
During the whole game, the players' computer monitors are projected onto large screens, making it possible for the viewing audience to watch how the strongest players decide about their moves and make their plans. Typically there will be a commentator in a separate room, equipped with the identical hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
as players, which he will use to help him provide a commentary to the audience - this way the audience is given the real insight into the thought
Thought
"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...
processes of the strongest players.
Although Advanced Chess play is at the highest level when performed by the top grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
s, it is not limited to them. Anyone can play Advanced Chess, sometimes with the same success as the strongest grandmasters. Occasionally, average players have been able to achieve a performance rating
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
higher than the one of the computer programs they were using, and on rare occasions higher than the ratings of top grandmasters.
Advanced Chess teams?
It has been debated, due to the peculiarities of the humanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
-computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
team, whether the human should be considered the Advanced Chess player, or rather the team itself should be considered the Advanced Chess player. It is the prevailing view that, because the human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
subordinates the computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
in a meaningful intent to win a chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
, and that the human is the one who makes the final decision about the move to be played, the human should be considered the Advanced Chess player. Some have also argued that the term "computer-assisted player" should not be used for an Advanced Chess player, as the key element is cooperation
Cooperation
Cooperation or co-operation is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a...
, not assistance.
Advanced Chess on the Internet
The ubiquity of the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and a high number of commercial and free Internet chess server
Internet chess server
An Internet chess server is an external server that provides the facility to play, discuss, and view the board game of chess over the Internet...
s has made it possible for anyone to play Advanced Chess over the Internet. There has not been organized Internet Advanced Chess play in quite a while, though, and few Internet chess systems have regulated rated Advanced Chess play.
The world's largest organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
for Advanced Chess on the Internet is the Advanced Chess Organization - CCO (this organization used to be known as Computer Chess Organization, and therefore kept the acronym CCO for historical reasons). CCO organizes regular Advanced Chess events, most of which take place on The Free Internet Chess Server
Free Internet Chess Server
The Free Internet Chess Server is a volunteer-run Internet chess server. It was organised as a free alternative to the Internet Chess Club , after that site began charging for membership.-History:...
(FICS) or the correspondence website http://www.cowplay.com. One need not be a CCO member to participate in its tournaments, though the organization stresses that membership is highly desirable. CCO Advanced Chess events on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
usually employ unrated play, because rated Advanced Chess play is still unregulated by most Internet chess systems, and use of computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s in rated games is considered cheating and ruled out. CCO proposes that Internet chess server
Internet chess server
An Internet chess server is an external server that provides the facility to play, discuss, and view the board game of chess over the Internet...
s introduce a third category of player - the "Advanced Chess player", among the existing human and computer players, latter of which usually labeled by "(C)", and that Advanced Chess players should be associated with a special Advanced Chess rating
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
category. CCO points out that most Internet chess server
Internet chess server
An Internet chess server is an external server that provides the facility to play, discuss, and view the board game of chess over the Internet...
s already have software-driven mechanisms which allow players to choose the types of the opponents they wish to play, therefore making it possible for a particular player to exclude all Advanced Chess players, should he/she not wish to play them.
The trend might be changing as Advanced Chess is offered on the correspondence chess server at http://www.ficgs.com/ as the default mode of play, with special, unrated, "no engines" tournaments being the exception, rather than the rule.
Advanced chess tournaments online
In recent years there have been, worldwide, a number of advanced chess tournaments online, defined Freestyle Chess Tournaments by Centaur (Centaur = human player + computer).The most important were the PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament, sponsored by the PAL Group in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
(UAE), which had a high level of play and the winners, in chronological order, were: Zacks (Stephen Zackery, USA), Zorchamp (Zorchamp, UAE), Rajlich (Vasik Rajlich
Vasik Rajlich
Vasik Rajlich is an International Master in chess and the author of Rybka, one of the strongest chess playing programs in the world. Rajlich is a dual Czechoslovakian-American citizen by birth; he was born in the United States of America to Czech parents, at that time graduate students, but grew...
, Hungary), Xakru (Jiri Dufek, Czech Rep.), Flying Saucers (Dagh Nielsen, Denmark), Rajlich (Vasik Rajlich, Hungary ) Ibermax (Anson Williams, England) and Ultima (Eros Riccio
Eros Riccio
Eros Riccio is an Italian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, Freestyle Chess Champion and opening book author . He is FICGS World Champion and ICCF vice-European Champion with the Italian national team....
, Italy).
Similar tournaments were organized by the FICGS and Infinity Chess, the server operated by the CCGM Arno Nickel.
Cheating
Computer-assisted cheatingCheating in chess
Cheating in chess refers to a deliberate violation of the rules of chess or other unethical behaviour that is intended to give an unfair advantage to a player or team. Cheating can occur in many forms and can take place before, during, or possibly even after a game...
in online chess games is a problem, and should not be confused with Advanced Chess play.
External links
- The Advanced Chess Organization website
- ChessBase - description of the Advanced Chess
- first Advanced Chess event in Leon
- Advanced Chess News
- Advanced Chess in Maastricht
- http://www.chess-mate.com/actls01.htm
- http://www.freestylechess.com/
- http://www.computerschach.de/
- http://www.ficgs.com/