I got the permission by Steen Surrballe (Gandalf) ...

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi there,

I got the permission from Steen Suurballe (mail from today by Steen itself) to release his older Gandalf versions. I have here a large collection by him. In the past I release Gandalf in cooperation with Gambit-Soft. Gandalf was a very important program in times commercials have no interest to support free protocols. Millennium 2000 have a bad own "MCS" protocol and Winboard aren't very populare for commercials. In combination with the new UCI protocol Stefan is working with Dieter Bürssner and Rudolf Huber (powered at first by Millennium, Gambit-Soft and myself over Frank's Chess Page ...) I try to power UCI with Capture, LambChop, Gandalf and much others. Send Freeware programmers the important Millennium 2000 paket for free (200 EUR software I pay by myself and so one). Same as I do for Winboard in the past before I gave my site to Leo Dijksman.

Again, with Gandalf I had a programmer on "our" site which gave UCI a great support and more and more other commercials follow in the years after. Gandalf itself is a very interesting program with a speculative attacking style. After the older information I have in my brain Steen is working with two eval search options. One of them very speculative and able to find attacking moves in the middlegame with full pieces on board. The reason that Gandalf is one of the strongest in the time version 4.32f-h released by Gambit-Soft ans Winboard / UCI engine.

Unfortunatley, to complicated for much others to find the right configuration. So I produced thousands of games on very strong hardware Gandalf was the number 2 in World here ... not in other rating systems, because the configuration seems to be a problem or the others have problems with it that the engine from Denmark is so strong. Means a bigger problem for commercials that a Winboard engine is to high and different people like to support the commercials only. In official tourneys people give not the right settings we have seen after the tourneys. Much of the tournament Directory sent an sorry after the tounreys ... Note: They have the right configuration before the tourneys started.

A long and bad topic, a lot of such topics again and again at this time with people try to make all to block winboard and UCI ... same with Arena GUI in the beginning. I will not thinking an all the mails by Computer chess Reporters, working for newspaper or other troublemakers. People like to used today Arena made some troubles and me a lot of work. Sorry, but this one is computer chess history too. Not all was nice in the past. And I have written over 200.000 winboard Support mails in these years.

Today not longer important ... UCI is standard and the topic is over, after a hard fight.

But Steen Suurballe is one of the persons we all have to say thanks because Steen gave his support from the first hour ... to Winboard and to UCI. The reason that the older development is very important and I am happy that Steen gave his permission for an release for all of his older versions.

---

I asked Steen for Gandalf 7. Only a hand full testers have it and I made a chess break at this time. My latest versions are Gandalf 6 versions. At the moment I am waiting for an answere. Today in the afternoon I will public the Gandalf versions on my site in download area. Maybe Gandalf 7 will be follow later.

Have fun with it and thanks Steen!
Steen ... one of commercial supporters for Winboard and UCI since the beginning.

Best
Frank

PS: I have no problems with it if others added Gandalf on his own site. Same for the older Zarkov versions I public on my site.

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi there,

what I have from Gandalf is now available in my download area.

A lot of Winboard versions, dev. UCI versions and Version 6 of Gandalf, MSDOS v2.1 & v3.0 ... the readme files in different languages from the Gambit-Soft CD with configuration examples!

Note 1:
Gandalf 3 DOS and the first Winboard versions used older tablebases. The file to the older 4-pieces database I added too.

Note 2:
My personal favorite all the time was Gandalf 4.32d (most speculative). I am using the older versions today for games I am playing. This version is most speculative in my opinion. The latest 4.32g and 4.32h versions of Gandalf are stronger as 4.32f and my favorite 4.32d but most interesting playing style will have 4.32f. Newer Gandalf 5 versions are weaker in my opinion and lost a lot of the powerful style. Gandalf 6 was stronger as Gandalf 4.32f, more powerful in playing style as 5er versions but for self playing games ... please used 4.32f or 4.32d for a nice day on your chess board. Maybe with the last version of Winboard GUI?

Download around 112Mb.

Again ...
If Steen send me Gandalf 7 I will added it in a new *.zip file to my download area. So you haven't download again the bigger 112Mb file.

Best
Frank

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi there,

now 114Mb ... sorry!

Not easy with the older *.arj on modern PC to work (Gandalf 2 DOS files).
Now unpacked in download file / Gandalf MSDOS directory too.

Best
Frank

[Frank Quisinsky]

Note: I had forgotten ...

I have much other versions, I bought from Lokasoft later.
This versions are not included in my download file.

Only the versions I got from Steen.

Between Gambit-Soft and Lokasoft ... Ed Schröder released version 5. During Gambit-Soft and myself are working with Steen on it. So different versions 5 are available in the my download file (not the version Ed Schröder released). But I believe the versions 5 aren't very important, more the version 4.32d and 4.32f I wrote before.

Hope all is right, because today it's not easy to find out ... what I got from Steen, what is from Ed, what from Lokasoft. But I believe I am right with the information I have in my brain.

Enough ...

Best
Frank

[BrendanJNorman]

Note: I had forgotten ...

I have much other versions, I bought from Lokasoft later.
This versions are not included in my download file.

Only the versions I got from Steen.

Between Gambit-Soft and Lokasoft ... Ed Schröder released version 5. During Gambit-Soft and myself are working with Steen on it. So different versions 5 are available in the my download file (not the version Ed Schröder released). But I believe the versions 5 aren't very important, more the version 4.32d and 4.32f I wrote before.

Hope all is right, because today it's not easy to find out ... what I got from Steen, what is from Ed, what from Lokasoft. But I believe I am right with the information I have in my brain.

Enough ...

Best
Frank

Amazing news, Frank.

The old masters like Ed, John and Steen are very generous to give away what is essentially their life's work upon retirement.

I'll be happy to host the files as a backup to guarantee that these great programs never fade away.

Rebel+Zarkov+Gandalf...all within a year or so.

Thanks guys.

It's now time for a "nostalgia" tournament with Rebel Century (2000), Zarkov 4.5x and Gandalf 4.2d hahaha!

[MikeB]

Note: I had forgotten ...

I have much other versions, I bought from Lokasoft later.
This versions are not included in my download file.

Only the versions I got from Steen.

Between Gambit-Soft and Lokasoft ... Ed Schröder released version 5. During Gambit-Soft and myself are working with Steen on it. So different versions 5 are available in the my download file (not the version Ed Schröder released). But I believe the versions 5 aren't very important, more the version 4.32d and 4.32f I wrote before.

Hope all is right, because today it's not easy to find out ... what I got from Steen, what is from Ed, what from Lokasoft. But I believe I am right with the information I have in my brain.

Enough ...

Best
Frank

Amazing news, Frank.

The old masters like Ed, John and Steen are very generous to give away what is essentially their life's work upon retirement.

I'll be happy to host the files as a backup to guarantee that these great programs never fade away.

Rebel+Zarkov+Gandalf...all within a year or so.

Thanks guys.

It's now time for a "nostalgia" tournament with Rebel Century (2000), Zarkov 4.5x and Gandalf 4.2d hahaha!

+1
I echo your sentiments.

[Graham Banks]

Well done Frank and a huge thanks to Steen too.

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi,

I do nothing here ... workers for the official release are others. I gave my collection free only.

Thanks to Raimund on first position and others in helping to contact Steen. But I am happy today to read a bit from Steen after a very long time.

I wrote him, that computer chess need him and all the ideas the men have. Maybe later if he have again time for chess programming.

One time computer chess ... computer chess for ever!

Best
Frank

PS: Again, Steen was a very important person to give Winboard a push. The big Group of French chess programmers and much others, like John, Tim, Djordje, Leo later, so many others ... all in all ... Computer chess have a nice history ... often not easy but all in all ... I am happy!

[AdminX]

Thanks Frank & Steen,

Nice to see it can still bite on occasion!

[pgn]
[Event "5 Minutes/Game"]
[Site "Engine Match"]
[Date "2017.04.25"]
[Round "39"]
[White "Gandalf 6.0"]
[Black "Wasp 2.00"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[PlyCount "161"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

1. e4 {book 0s} c5 {book 0s} 2. c3 {book 0s} d5 {book 0s} 3. exd5 {book 0s}
Qxd5 {book 0s} 4. d4 {book 0s} Nc6 {book 0s} 5. Nf3 {book 0s} Bg4 {book 0s} 6.
dxc5 {book 0s} Qxd1+ {[%eval -3,17] [%emt 0:00:09]} 7. Kxd1 {book 0s} O-O-O+ {
[%eval 5,18] [%emt 0:00:09]} 8. Nbd2 {[%eval -54,12] [%emt 0:00:11]} Nf6 {
[%eval 39,18] [%emt 0:00:00] (e6)} 9. Ke1 {[%eval -35,11] [%emt 0:00:04]} Nd5 {
[%eval 42,18] [%emt 0:00:05]} 10. Bb5 {[%eval -25,11] [%emt 0:00:00] (h3)} e5 {
[%eval 0,19] [%emt 0:00:11] (Nf4)} 11. Ne4 {[%eval -19,11] [%emt 0:00:03]
(Bxc6)} f6 {[%eval -6,17] [%emt 0:00:09]} 12. Bd2 {[%eval -22,12] [%emt 0:00:
00] (Rg1)} a6 {[%eval -20,18] [%emt 0:00:09] (Bf5)} 13. Bxc6 {[%eval -28,11]
[%emt 0:00:06] (Bf1)} bxc6 {[%eval -12,19] [%emt 0:00:09]} 14. Nh4 {[%eval -35,
12] [%emt 0:00:00] (b4)} Be6 {[%eval -21,19] [%emt 0:00:09]} 15. Rd1 {[%eval
-38,12] [%emt 0:00:00]} Be7 {[%eval -15,19] [%emt 0:00:11] (g5)} 16. c4 {
[%eval -32,10] [%emt 0:00:05]} Nf4 {[%eval -20,20] [%emt 0:00:03]} 17. Bxf4 {
[%eval -41,13] [%emt 0:00:03]} exf4 {[%eval -17,20] [%emt 0:00:05]} 18. Rxd8+ {
[%eval -51,13] [%emt 0:00:02] (b3)} Kxd8 {[%eval -59,21] [%emt 0:00:08]} 19.
Nf3 {[%eval -67,14] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bxc4 {[%eval -66,21] [%emt 0:00:08]} 20.
Kd2 {[%eval -76,14] [%emt 0:00:01]} Kd7 {[%eval -65,21] [%emt 0:00:07]} 21. b3
{[%eval -89,13] [%emt 0:00:02]} Bd5 {[%eval -72,22] [%emt 0:00:05]} 22. Re1 {
[%eval -86,14] [%emt 0:00:00]} Re8 {[%eval -70,21] [%emt 0:00:07] (Rd8)} 23.
Nd4 {[%eval -86,12] [%emt 0:00:04]} g6 {[%eval -70,22] [%emt 0:00:02]} 24. f3 {
[%eval -80,14] [%emt 0:00:01] (Nc3)} f5 {[%eval -49,21] [%emt 0:00:07]} 25. Nc3
{[%eval -64,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bxc5 {[%eval -30,22] [%emt 0:00:06]} 26. Rxe8 {
[%eval -64,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Kxe8 {[%eval -35,23] [%emt 0:00:05]} 27. Nde2 {
[%eval -67,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bf7 {[%eval -37,23] [%emt 0:00:05] (Bd6)} 28.
Nxf4 {[%eval -54,15] [%emt 0:00:08]} Bd6 {[%eval -36,23] [%emt 0:00:00]} 29.
Nfe2 {[%eval -60,14] [%emt 0:00:04] (g3)} Bxh2 {[%eval -45,20] [%emt 0:00:08]}
30. f4 {[%eval -57,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Be6 {[%eval -44,21] [%emt 0:00:05] (g5)}
31. g3 {[%eval 22,15] [%emt 0:00:04] (Nd1)} c5 {[%eval -4,23] [%emt 0:00:05]
(Bd7)} 32. Ke1 {[%eval 12,17] [%emt 0:00:08] (Ke3)} Bd7 {[%eval 18,24] [%emt 0:
00:05]} 33. Kf2 {[%eval 25,17] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bc6 {[%eval 23,24] [%emt 0:00:
04]} 34. Nd1 {[%eval 25,18] [%emt 0:00:00] (Na4)} h5 {[%eval 72,21] [%emt 0:00:
04]} 35. Ne3 {[%eval 54,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bb5 {[%eval 104,21] [%emt 0:00:04]}
36. Nc4 {[%eval 54,17] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bc6 {[%eval 106,22] [%emt 0:00:04]} 37.
a4 {[%eval 54,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bd5 {[%eval 141,21] [%emt 0:00:03]} 38. Nd2 {
[%eval 92,17] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bc6 {[%eval 153,21] [%emt 0:00:03] (Ke7)} 39. Nf3
{[%eval 128,16] [%emt 0:00:03] (Nf1)} Bd5 {[%eval 176,24] [%emt 0:00:03] (Bxf3)
} 40. Nxh2 {[%eval 169,18] [%emt 0:00:02]} Bxb3 {[%eval 172,23] [%emt 0:00:00]}
41. Nc3 {[%eval 163,17] [%emt 0:00:04] (a5)} Kd7 {[%eval 174,23] [%emt 0:00:03]
} 42. Nf3 {[%eval 163,16] [%emt 0:00:00]} Kd6 {[%eval 176,21] [%emt 0:00:03]}
43. Ke3 {[%eval 160,15] [%emt 0:00:00]} Bf7 {[%eval 187,22] [%emt 0:00:02]
(Be6)} 44. Ne5 {[%eval 172,15] [%emt 0:00:03] (a5)} Be8 {[%eval 228,23] [%emt
0:00:03]} 45. a5 {[%eval 166,15] [%emt 0:00:00]} Ke6 {[%eval 208,21] [%emt 0:
00:02]} 46. Nb1 {[%eval 182,15] [%emt 0:00:00] (Nd1)} Kd5 {[%eval 237,20]
[%emt 0:00:02] (Kd6)} 47. Nd2 {[%eval 214,16] [%emt 0:00:03]} Ke6 {[%eval 254,
21] [%emt 0:00:00] (Kd6)} 48. Ndf3 {[%eval 204,15] [%emt 0:00:04]} Kd5 {
[%eval 280,21] [%emt 0:00:00]} 49. Kd2 {[%eval 208,15] [%emt 0:00:02] (Nh4)}
Ke6 {[%eval 291,20] [%emt 0:00:02]} 50. Ng5+ {[%eval 243,16] [%emt 0:00:00]}
Kd6 {[%eval 295,21] [%emt 0:00:02]} 51. Nh7 {[%eval 256,16] [%emt 0:00:01]
(Kd3)} Ke7 {[%eval 306,20] [%emt 0:00:02]} 52. Kc3 {[%eval 265,17] [%emt 0:00:
00] (Kc2)} Kd6 {[%eval 328,20] [%emt 0:00:02]} 53. Nf6 {[%eval 284,16] [%emt 0:
00:01]} Bb5 {[%eval 350,21] [%emt 0:00:01]} 54. Nxg6 {[%eval 300,16] [%emt 0:
00:02]} Be2 {[%eval 362,21] [%emt 0:00:00] (Ke6)} 55. Kd2 {[%eval 355,15]
[%emt 0:00:03] (Ne8+)} Bb5 {[%eval 382,20] [%emt 0:00:02]} 56. Ne5 {[%eval 390,
16] [%emt 0:00:01]} Ke6 {[%eval 398,21] [%emt 0:00:00]} 57. Nxh5 {[%eval 400,
16] [%emt 0:00:03]} Bf1 {[%eval 406,21] [%emt 0:00:00] (Ba4)} 58. g4 {[%eval
438,15] [%emt 0:00:04]} fxg4 {[%eval 431,20] [%emt 0:00:00]} 59. Nxg4 {[%eval
438,15] [%emt 0:00:04]} Bh3 {[%eval 456,21] [%emt 0:00:00]} 60. Nh6 {[%eval
553,16] [%emt 0:00:02] (Ne3)} Kd6 {[%eval 394,18] [%emt 0:00:02]} 61. f5 {
[%eval 640,16] [%emt 0:00:00] (Nf6)} Bxf5 {[%eval 460,19] [%emt 0:00:02] (Kc6)}
62. Nxf5+ {[%eval 822,14] [%emt 0:00:03]} Kc6 {[%eval 533,20] [%emt 0:00:00]
(Kd5)} 63. Nf6 {[%eval 928,15] [%emt 0:00:06] (Nd6)} Kb5 {[%eval 32,16] [%emt
0:00:01]} 64. Kc3 {[%eval 1001,14] [%emt 0:00:00] (Nd6+)} Kxa5 {[%eval 31,16]
[%emt 0:00:01] (c4)} 65. Kc4 {[%eval 32638,16] [%emt 0:00:06]} Kb6 {[%eval 30,
18] [%emt 0:00:00]} 66. Ne7 {[%eval 32640,14] [%emt 0:00:00] (Ne3)} Kc7 {
[%eval 30,17] [%emt 0:00:01] (a5)} 67. Kxc5 {[%eval 32702,5] [%emt 0:00:00]
(Ned5+)} a5 {[%eval 26,16] [%emt 0:00:01]} 68. Ned5+ {[%eval 32704,64] [%emt 0:
00:00]} Kd8 {[%eval 26,19] [%emt 0:00:01] (Kc8)} 69. Kd6 {[%eval 32708,5]
[%emt 0:00:00] (Nc3)} a4 {[%eval 26,20] [%emt 0:00:01]} 70. Nb4 {[%eval 32710,
64] [%emt 0:00:00] (Nc3)} a3 {[%eval 26,19] [%emt 0:00:01] (Kc8)} 71. Na2 {
[%eval 32712,4] [%emt 0:00:00]} Kc8 {[%eval 26,19] [%emt 0:00:01]} 72. Nd5 {
[%eval 32714,64] [%emt 0:00:00]} Kb7 {[%eval 26,19] [%emt 0:00:01] (Kb8)} 73.
Kd7 {[%eval 32732,5] [%emt 0:00:00]} Kb8 {[%eval 25,19] [%emt 0:00:01]} 74. Ne7
{[%eval 32734,64] [%emt 0:00:00] (Kc6)} Kb7 {[%eval 27,20] [%emt 0:00:01]} 75.
Nc8 {[%eval 32736,64] [%emt 0:00:00]} Ka6 {[%eval 25,21] [%emt 0:00:01]} 76.
Kc6 {[%eval 32738,64] [%emt 0:00:00]} Ka5 {[%eval 25,22] [%emt 0:00:01]} 77.
Nb6 {[%eval 32740,64] [%emt 0:00:00]} Ka6 {[%eval 25,21] [%emt 0:00:00]} 78.
Nd5 {[%eval 32742,64] [%emt 0:00:00] (Nc4)} Ka7 {[%eval 26,21] [%emt 0:00:01]}
79. Kc7 {[%eval 32744,64] [%emt 0:00:00] (Ndc3)} Ka6 {[%eval 9977,20] [%emt 0:
00:01]} 80. Ndc3 {[%eval 32746,64] [%emt 0:00:00]} Ka5 {[%eval 9979,21] [%emt
0:00:00]} 81. Kc6 {[%eval 32748,64] [%emt 0:00:00]} 1-0

[/pgn]

[carldaman]

Many thanks to you Frank for hosting Zarkov/Wasp and now Gandalf on your site, but also a big thanks to Steen for graciously allowing its free release. I had bought Gandalf years ago. I believe the last available update was v6.01, not counting v7, of course, which we hope will soon see the light of day.

Cheers,
CL