2017 Year in Review
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The 12Th Top Chess Engine Championship
TCEC12: the 12th Top Chess Engine Championship Article Accepted Version Haworth, G. and Hernandez, N. (2019) TCEC12: the 12th Top Chess Engine Championship. ICGA Journal, 41 (1). pp. 24-30. ISSN 1389-6911 doi: https://doi.org/10.3233/ICG-190090 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/76985/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/ICG-190090 Publisher: The International Computer Games Association All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online TCEC12: the 12th Top Chess Engine Championship Guy Haworth and Nelson Hernandez1 Reading, UK and Maryland, USA After the successes of TCEC Season 11 (Haworth and Hernandez, 2018a; TCEC, 2018), the Top Chess Engine Championship moved straight on to Season 12, starting April 18th 2018 with the same divisional structure if somewhat evolved. Five divisions, each of eight engines, played two or more ‘DRR’ double round robin phases each, with promotions and relegations following. Classic tempi gradually lengthened and the Premier division’s top two engines played a 100-game match to determine the Grand Champion. The strategy for the selection of mandated openings was finessed from division to division. -
2009 U.S. Tournament.Our.Beginnings
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis Presents the 2009 U.S. Championship Saint Louis, Missouri May 7-17, 2009 History of U.S. Championship “pride and soul of chess,” Paul It has also been a truly national Morphy, was only the fourth true championship. For many years No series of tournaments or chess tournament ever held in the the title tournament was identi- matches enjoys the same rich, world. fied with New York. But it has turbulent history as that of the also been held in towns as small United States Chess Championship. In its first century and a half plus, as South Fallsburg, New York, It is in many ways unique – and, up the United States Championship Mentor, Ohio, and Greenville, to recently, unappreciated. has provided all kinds of entertain- Pennsylvania. ment. It has introduced new In Europe and elsewhere, the idea heroes exactly one hundred years Fans have witnessed of choosing a national champion apart in Paul Morphy (1857) and championship play in Boston, and came slowly. The first Russian Bobby Fischer (1957) and honored Las Vegas, Baltimore and Los championship tournament, for remarkable veterans such as Angeles, Lexington, Kentucky, example, was held in 1889. The Sammy Reshevsky in his late 60s. and El Paso, Texas. The title has Germans did not get around to There have been stunning upsets been decided in sites as varied naming a champion until 1879. (Arnold Denker in 1944 and John as the Sazerac Coffee House in The first official Hungarian champi- Grefe in 1973) and marvelous 1845 to the Cincinnati Literary onship occurred in 1906, and the achievements (Fischer’s winning Club, the Automobile Club of first Dutch, three years later. -
Mind-Bending Analysis and Instructive Comment from a Man Who Has Participated in World Chess at the Very Highest Levels
Mind-bending analysis and instructive comment from a man who has participated in world chess at the very highest levels World championship candidate and three-times British Champion Jon Speelman annotates the best of his games. He is renowned as a great fighter and analyst, and a highly original player. This book provides entertainment and instruction in abundance. Games and stories from his: • World Championship campaigns • Chess Olympiads • Toi>level grandmaster tournaments, including the World Cup Jon Speelman is one of only two British players this century to gain a place in the world's top five. He has reached the sem>finals of the world championship and is one of the stars of the English national team, which has won the silver medals three times in the chess Olympiads. Jon Speelman's Best Games Jon Speelman B. T. Batsford Ltd, London First published 1997 © Jon Speelman 1997 ISBN 0 7134 6477 I British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. Contents A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without prior permission of the publisher. Introduction 5 Typeset and edited by First Rank Publishing, Brighton and printed in Great Britain by Redwood Books, Trowbridge, Wilts Part I Growing up as a Chess player for the publishers, B. T. Batsford Ltd, Juvenilia 7 583 Fulham Road, I JS-J.Fletcher, British U-14 Ch., Rhyl1969 9 London SW6 5BY 2 JS-E.Warren, Thames Valley Open 1970 11 3 A.Miles-JS, Islington Open 1970 14 4 JS-Hanau, Nice 1971 -
Chess Engine Using Deep Reinforcement Learning Kamil Klosowski
Chess Engine Using Deep Reinforcement Learning Kamil Klosowski 916847 May 2019 Abstract Reinforcement learning is one of the most rapidly developing areas of Artificial Intelligence. The goal of this project is to analyse, implement and try to improve on AlphaZero architecture presented by Google DeepMind team. To achieve this I explore different architectures and methods of training neural networks as well as techniques used for development of chess engines. Project Dissertation submitted to Swansea University in Partial Fulfilment for the Degree of Bachelor of Science Department of Computer Science Swansea University Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being currently submitted for any degree. May 13, 2019 Signed: Statement 1 This dissertation is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a BSc in Computer Science. May 13, 2019 Signed: Statement 2 This dissertation is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are specifically acknowledged by clear cross referencing to author, work, and pages using the bibliography/references. I understand that fail- ure to do this amounts to plagiarism and will be considered grounds for failure of this dissertation and the degree examination as a whole. May 13, 2019 Signed: Statement 3 I hereby give consent for my dissertation to be available for photocopying and for inter- library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. May 13, 2019 Signed: 1 Acknowledgment I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Benjamin Mora for supervising this project and his respect and understanding of my preference for largely unsupervised work. -
Elo World, a Framework for Benchmarking Weak Chess Engines
Elo World, a framework for with a rating of 2000). If the true outcome (of e.g. a benchmarking weak chess tournament) doesn’t match the expected outcome, then both player’s scores are adjusted towards values engines that would have produced the expected result. Over time, scores thus become a more accurate reflection DR. TOM MURPHY VII PH.D. of players’ skill, while also allowing for players to change skill level. This system is carefully described CCS Concepts: • Evaluation methodologies → Tour- elsewhere, so we can just leave it at that. naments; • Chess → Being bad at it; The players need not be human, and in fact this can facilitate running many games and thereby getting Additional Key Words and Phrases: pawn, horse, bishop, arbitrarily accurate ratings. castle, queen, king The problem this paper addresses is that basically ACH Reference Format: all chess tournaments (whether with humans or com- Dr. Tom Murphy VII Ph.D.. 2019. Elo World, a framework puters or both) are between players who know how for benchmarking weak chess engines. 1, 1 (March 2019), to play chess, are interested in winning their games, 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/nnnnnnn.nnnnnnn and have some reasonable level of skill. This makes 1 INTRODUCTION it hard to give a rating to weak players: They just lose every single game and so tend towards a rating Fiddly bits aside, it is a solved problem to maintain of −∞.1 Even if other comparatively weak players a numeric skill rating of players for some game (for existed to participate in the tournament and occasion- example chess, but also sports, e-sports, probably ally lose to the player under study, it may still be dif- also z-sports if that’s a thing). -
Keep Politics out Of
WCffTVX! COPf STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE WEDNESDAY, 25th JANUARY, 1984 No. 701 Price 10p Student poll reveals startling facts . Hall catering under attack KEEP POLITICS at meeting One might assume from the low turnout to the General Meeting on accommodation that everyone is happy with both university and private accommodation facilities. OUT OF IT! However, the comments from the 56 people who did turn up were far from complimentary. A poll of students at Newcastle University shows that a large majority believe that General MeetAlthough the meeting was inquorate there was no problem ings should concentrate on “ purely student issues” and that membership of the National making the discussion last the full hour, with complaints being Union of Students should be a decision taken by the individual and not by Student Unions. centred on the Halls of Residence and Castle Leazes in particular. This information comes When asked: “Should member that their grant is “adequate”. voters, but this might explain the Out of a debate which centred ship of N.U.S. be voluntary?”, This may reflect the fact that the extraordinary difference between around the price of living in Hall from the results of a poll 78% said yes and 20% said it respondents were mainly First this poll and the national average and the facilities provided came a carried out by Conserva should be compulsory. If this is Years and have not yet run out of for the Labour ‘vote’. practically unanimous agreement looked at in conjunction with the money, or that the answer comes that meal vouchers should be tive students (F.C.S.). -
PNWCC FIDE Open – Olympiad Gold
https://www.pnwchesscenter.org [email protected] Pacific Northwest Chess Center 12020 113th Ave NE #C-200, Kirkland, WA 98034 PNWCC FIDE Open – Olympiad Gold Jan 18-21, 2019 Description A 3-section, USCF and FIDE rated 7-round Swiss tournament with time control of 40/90, SD 30 with 30-second increment from move one, featuring two Chess Olympiad Champion team players from two generations and countries. Featured Players GM Bu, Xiangzhi • World’s currently 27th ranked chess player with FIDE Elo 2726 (“Super GM”) • 2018 43rd Chess Olympia Champion (Team China, Batumi, Georgia) • 2017 Chess World Cup Round 4 (Eliminated World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen in Round 3. Watch video here) • 2015 World Team Chess Champion (Team China, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia) • 6th Youngest Chess Grand Master in human history (13 years, 10 months, 13 days) GM Tarjan, James • 2017 Beat former World Champion GM Vladimir Kramnik in Isle of Man Chess Tournament Round 3. Watch video here • Played for the Team USA at five straight Chess Olympiads from 1974-1982 • 1976 22nd Chess Olympiad Champion (Team USA, Haifa, Israel) • Competed in several US Championships during the 1970s and 1980s with the best results of clear second in 1978 GM Bu, Xiangzhi Bio – Bu was born in Qingdao, a famous seaside city of China in 1985 and started chess training since age 6, inspired by his compatriot GM Xie Jun’s Women’s World Champion victory over GM Maya Chiburdanidze in 1991. A few years later Bu easily won in the Chinese junior championship and went on to achieve success in the international arena: he won 3rd place in the U12 World Youth Championship in 1997 and 1st place in the U14 World Youth Championship in 1998. -
YEARBOOK the Information in This Yearbook Is Substantially Correct and Current As of December 31, 2020
OUR HERITAGE 2020 US CHESS YEARBOOK The information in this yearbook is substantially correct and current as of December 31, 2020. For further information check the US Chess website www.uschess.org. To notify US Chess of corrections or updates, please e-mail [email protected]. U.S. CHAMPIONS 2002 Larry Christiansen • 2003 Alexander Shabalov • 2005 Hakaru WESTERN OPEN BECAME THE U.S. OPEN Nakamura • 2006 Alexander Onischuk • 2007 Alexander Shabalov • 1845-57 Charles Stanley • 1857-71 Paul Morphy • 1871-90 George H. 1939 Reuben Fine • 1940 Reuben Fine • 1941 Reuben Fine • 1942 2008 Yury Shulman • 2009 Hikaru Nakamura • 2010 Gata Kamsky • Mackenzie • 1890-91 Jackson Showalter • 1891-94 Samuel Lipchutz • Herman Steiner, Dan Yanofsky • 1943 I.A. Horowitz • 1944 Samuel 2011 Gata Kamsky • 2012 Hikaru Nakamura • 2013 Gata Kamsky • 2014 1894 Jackson Showalter • 1894-95 Albert Hodges • 1895-97 Jackson Reshevsky • 1945 Anthony Santasiere • 1946 Herman Steiner • 1947 Gata Kamsky • 2015 Hikaru Nakamura • 2016 Fabiano Caruana • 2017 Showalter • 1897-06 Harry Nelson Pillsbury • 1906-09 Jackson Isaac Kashdan • 1948 Weaver W. Adams • 1949 Albert Sandrin Jr. • 1950 Wesley So • 2018 Samuel Shankland • 2019 Hikaru Nakamura Showalter • 1909-36 Frank J. Marshall • 1936 Samuel Reshevsky • Arthur Bisguier • 1951 Larry Evans • 1952 Larry Evans • 1953 Donald 1938 Samuel Reshevsky • 1940 Samuel Reshevsky • 1942 Samuel 2020 Wesley So Byrne • 1954 Larry Evans, Arturo Pomar • 1955 Nicolas Rossolimo • Reshevsky • 1944 Arnold Denker • 1946 Samuel Reshevsky • 1948 ONLINE: COVID-19 • OCTOBER 2020 1956 Arthur Bisguier, James Sherwin • 1957 • Robert Fischer, Arthur Herman Steiner • 1951 Larry Evans • 1952 Larry Evans • 1954 Arthur Bisguier • 1958 E. -
Virginia Chess Federation 2008 - #6
VIRGINIA CHESS Newsletter The bimonthly publication of the Virginia Chess Federation 2008 - #6 Grandmaster Larry Kaufman See page 1 VIRGINIA CHESS Newsletter 2008 - Issue #6 Editor: Circulation: Macon Shibut Ernie Schlich 8234 Citadel Place 1370 South Braden Crescent Vienna VA 22180 Norfolk VA 23502 [email protected] [email protected] k w r Virginia Chess is published six times per year by the Virginia Chess Federation. Membership benefits (dues: $10/yr adult; $5/yr junior under 18) include a subscription to Virginia Chess. Send material for publication to the editor. Send dues, address changes, etc to Circulation. The Virginia Chess Federation (VCF) is a non-profit organization for the use of its members. Dues for regular adult membership are $10/yr. Junior memberships are $5/yr. President: Mike Hoffpauir, 405 Hounds Chase, Yorktown VA 23693, mhoffpauir@ aol.com Treasurer: Ernie Schlich, 1370 South Braden Crescent, Norfolk VA 23502, [email protected] Secretary: Helen Hinshaw, 3430 Musket Dr, Midlothian VA 23113, jallenhinshaw@comcast. net Scholastics Coordinator: Mike Hoffpauir, 405 Hounds Chase, Yorktown VA 23693, [email protected] VCF Inc. Directors: Helen Hinshaw (Chairman), Rob Getty, John Farrell, Mike Hoffpauir, Ernie Schlich. otjnwlkqbhrp 2008 - #6 1 otjnwlkqbhrp Larry Kaufman, of Maryland, is a familiar face at Virginia tournaments. Among others he won the Virginia Open in 1969, 1998, 2000, 2006 and 2007! Recently Larry achieved a lifelong goal by attaining the title of International Grandmaster, and agreed to tell VIRGINIA CHESS readers how it happened. -ed World Senior Chess Championship by Larry Kaufman URING THE LAST FIVE YEARS OR SO, whenever someone asked me Dif I still hoped to become a GM, I would reply something like this: “I’m too old now to try to do it the normal way, but perhaps when I reach 60 I will try to win the World Senior, which carries an automatic GM title. -
Marchapril2012.Pdf
Junior Four Nations League - a report by Mike Truran This season’s competition was bigger and better than ever, with teams of all ages competing over three weekends in two separate divisions. Like its senior equivalent, the Junior Four Nations Chess League (J4NCL) has the advantage of taking place in excellent qual- ity playing conditions in premier hotels across the UK. This season’s competition took place at Barcelo UK’s flagship Hinckley Island Hotel, so parents could also have a relaxing week- end away at a top four-star hotel while their children locked horns over the chess board. And with bedrooms and meals at the usual discounted 4NCL rates it meant that a family weekend away wasn’t going to break the bank either. 1 As well as the high quality playing conditions, the J4NCL and winning team members being presented with medals differentiates itself from most other junior events in and a trophy. So everyone got something to take home as offering free structured coaching between rounds for all a memento. the children, and the coaches also go through games on a one-to-one basis with any juniors who finish their games The standard of the chess was generally excellent, and early. This season’s coaches (GM Nick Pert, IM Andrew various parents commented on how much better many of Martin and WFM Sabrina Chevannes) did a fine job; on the juniors were playing by the third weekend compared occasion the job seemed (to this observer at least) to be as with the first. Children do of course improve fast at this much an exercise in riot control as anything else, but the age, but we like to think that the J4NCL coaching had coaches all came through in grand style and we had lots of something to do with it as well! Nonetheless, in any event compliments from parents about the quality of the coach- with a range of chess playing ability some memorable ing. -
Contents Chess Mag - 21 6 10 21/06/2020 13:57 Page 3
01-01 Cover - July 2020_Layout 1 21/06/2020 14:21 Page 1 02-02 New in Chess advert_Layout 1 21/06/2020 14:03 Page 1 03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 21/06/2020 13:57 Page 3 Chess Contents Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc † Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein Editorial....................................................................................................................4 Editors: Richard Palliser, Matt Read Malcolm Pein on the latest developments in the game Associate Editor: John Saunders Subscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington 60 Seconds with...Maria Emelianova..........................................................7 Twitter: @CHESS_Magazine We catch up with the leading chess photographer and streamer Twitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm Pein Enter the Dragon .................................................................................................8 Website: www.chess.co.uk Top seeds China proved too strong in FIDE’s Nations Cup Subscription Rates: How Good is Your Chess?..............................................................................12 United Kingdom Daniel King examines Yu Yangyi’s key win for China 1 year (12 issues) £49.95 2 year (24 issues) £89.95 Dubov Delivers...................................................................................................16 3 year (36 issues) £125 Lindores went online, with rapid experts Carlsen, Nakamura & Dubov Europe 1 year (12 issues) £60 It’s All in the Timing.........................................................................................22 2 year -
Qualifiers for the British Championship 2020 (Last Updated 14Th November 2019)
Qualifiers for the British Championship 2020 (last updated 14th November 2019) Section A: Qualification from the British Championship A1. British Champions Jacob Aagaard (B1), Michael Adams (A3, B1, C), Leonard Barden (B3), Robert Bellin (B3), George Botterill (B3), Stuart Conquest (B1), Joseph Gallagher (B1), William Hartston (B3), Jonathan Hawkins (A3, B1), Michael Hennigan (B3), Julian Hodgson (B1), David Howell (A3, B1), Gawain Jones (A3, B1), Raymond Keene (B1), Peter Lee, Paul Littlewood (B3), Jonathan Mestel (B1), John Nunn (B1), Jonathan Penrose (B1), James Plaskett (B1), Jonathan Rowson (B1), Matthew Sadler (B1), Nigel Short (B1), Jon Speelman (B1), Chris Ward (A3, B1), William Watson (B1), A2. British Women’s Champions Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (B1, B2), Jana Bellin (B2), Melanie Buckley, Margaret Clarke, Joan Doulton, Amy Hoare, Jovanka Houska (A3, B2, B3), Harriet Hunt (B2, B3), Sheila Jackson (B2), Akshaya Kalaiyalahan, Susan Lalic (B2, B3), Sarah Longson, Helen Milligan, Gillian Moore, Dinah Norman, Jane Richmond (B6), Cathy Forbes (B4), A3. Top 20 players and ties in the 2018 British Championship Luke McShane (C), Nicholas Pert (B1), Daniel Gormally (B1), Daniel Fernandez (B1), Keith Arkell (A8, B1), David Eggleston (B3), Tamas Fodor (B1), Justin Hy Tan (A5), Peter K Wells (B1), Richard JD Palliser (B3), Lawrence Trent (B3), Joseph McPhillips (A5, B3), Peter T Roberson (B3), James R Adair (B3), Mark L Hebden (B1), Paul Macklin (B5), David Zakarian (B5), Koby Kalavannan (A6), Craig Pritchett (B5) A4. Top 10 players and ties in the 2018 Major Open Thomas Villiers, Viktor Stoyanov, Andrew P Smith, Jonah B Willow, Ben Ogunshola, John G Cooper, Federico Rocco (A7), Robert Stanley, Callum D Brewer, Jacob D Yoon, Jagdish Modi Shyam, Aron Teh Eu Wen, Maciej Janiszewski A5.