World Computer-Chess Championship Research Articles

The 2022 World Computer Chess Championships

After two years of pandemic-related cancellations, the World Computer Chess Championship returned in July 2022. The title of World Computer Chess Champion, first contested in 1974, was successfully defended by Komodo. The World Chess Software Championship was won by Ginkgo. The World Computer Speed Chess Championship title was shared by Leela Chess Zero and Ginkgo.

WCCC 2019: The 25th World Computer Chess Championship

WCCC 2019, the 25th World Computer Chess Championship, continued the ICGA's longitudinal computer chess experiment begun in 1974. This event was held in Macau, featured six chess engines and was won by KOMODO which thereby retained its title of World Champion. CHIRON and SHREDDER were respectively second and third.

On Solving the Problem of 7-Piece Chess Endgames

This paper discusses the brightest achievements in the field of chess informatics. We would especially like to note that, during the work of Mikhail Romanovich Shura-Bura at the Moscow State University (MSU), researchers from the MSU were leading this field: in 1973, the Kaissa program won the world computer chess championship. Later, the leadership was lost. It was regained in 2012, when scientists from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics (CMC) of the MSU generated a complete tablebase of 7-piece chess endgames on a Lomonosov supercomputer and found the longest known checkmate in 549 moves.

WCCC 2018: The 24th World Computer Chess Championship

WCCC 2018, the 24th World Computer Chess Championship, continued the ICGA's longitudinal computer chess experiment begun in 1974. This event was held in Stockholm, featured eight chess engines and was won by KOMODO after a play-off against GRIDGINKGO.

WCCC 2017: The 23rd World Computer Chess Championship

The ICGA's 23rd World Computer Chess Championship started on July 3rd. 2017. The competitors in this select field were CHIRON, JONNY, KOMODO and SHREDDER. The contest was close and set new standards for the event: all podium places required play-offs. Ultimately, KOMODO retained its title, beating JONNY and SHREDDER. The analysis of the games and the pgn file of games are provided here.

WCCC 2016: The 22nd World Computer Chess Championship

In the ICGA's 22nd World Computer Chess Championship in Leiden, six contestants together gave the latest demonstration of the state of the art in chess-playing programs. This article highlights the advances and subtleties exemplified by their play. The new World Champion was KOMODO with JONNY, edged out in the play-off, second and SHREDDER third. GRIDGINKGO, HIARCS and RAPTOR took the remaining places.

Rules for the 22nd World Computer-Chess Championship

Rules for the 22nd World Computer-Chess Championship

WCCC 2015: The 21st World Computer Chess Championship

Nine chess programs competed in July 2015 in the ICGA's World Computer Chess Championship at the Computer Science department of Leiden University. This is the official report of the event.

Rules for the 21st World Computer-Chess Championship

Rules for the 21st World Computer-Chess Championship

Genetic Algorithms for Evolving Computer Chess Programs

This paper demonstrates the use of genetic algorithms for evolving: 1) a grandmaster-level evaluation function, and 2) a search mechanism for a chess program, the parameter values of which are initialized randomly. The evaluation function of the program is evolved by learning from databases of (human) grandmaster games. At first, the organisms are evolved to mimic the behavior of human grandmasters, and then these organisms are further improved upon by means of coevolution. The search mechanism is evolved by learning from tactical test suites. Our results show that the evolved program outperforms a two-time world computer chess champion and is at par with the other leading computer chess programs.

The 20th World Computer Chess Championship

The 20th World Computer Chess Championship

Rules for the 20th World Computer-Chess Championship (The Board of ICGA)

Rules for the 20th World Computer-Chess Championship (The Board of ICGA)

The 19th World Computer-Chess Championship

The 19th World Computer-Chess Championship

Rules for the 19th World Computer-Chess Championship

Rules for the 19th World Computer-Chess Championship

The 18th World Computer-Chess Championship

The 18th World Computer-Chess Championship

Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship

Rules for the 18th World Computer-Chess Championship

Expert-driven genetic algorithms for simulating evaluation functions

In this paper we demonstrate how genetic algorithms can be used to reverse engineer an evaluation function’s parameters for computer chess. Our results show that using an appropriate expert (or mentor), we can evolve a program that is on par with top tournament-playing chess programs, outperforming a two-time World Computer Chess Champion. This performance gain is achieved by evolving a program that mimics the behavior of a superior expert. The resulting evaluation function of the evolved program consists of a much smaller number of parameters than the expert’s. The extended experimental results provided in this paper include a report on our successful participation in the 2008 World Computer Chess Championship. In principle, our expert-driven approach could be used in a wide range of problems for which appropriate experts are available.

The 17th World Computer-Chess Championship

The 17th World Computer-Chess Championship

Statistical analysis of the relative strength of chess positions

The statistical value of a piece on its occupied square of origin is extended to those squares controlled by the piece. A cumulative strength metric applies to each square controlled by a piece. The computer model, Relative Strength (RS), predicts the next move in an opening example from the world computer chess championship. A predictive rate is significant. RS is a teaching aid for recognition of tactical chess patterns based on positional patterns. From implementation of RS, recent advances in external computer storage of chess positions include invention of the radix hash sort.

THE 15th WORLD COMPUTER-CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

THE 15th WORLD COMPUTER-CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP