What got you into computer chess?
Moderators: hgm, Dann Corbit, Harvey Williamson
Forum rules
This textbox is used to restore diagrams posted with the [d] tag before the upgrade.
This textbox is used to restore diagrams posted with the [d] tag before the upgrade.
What got you into computer chess?
What got you into computer chess? Battle Chess, a love of programming, and no chess set.
-
- Posts: 4078
- Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:23 am
- Location: http://www.arasanchess.org
Re: What got you into computer chess?
My dad taught me to play chess when I was 10. I was a pretty active player up until I finished high school. I won the high school championship, although I was never very high rated.
Fast forward to the 1980s. I was in grad school and was doing some software consulting work and independent software development on the side. I was aware of some of the early computer chess work and had played around with Gnuchess, Borland's Turbo Chess and a few other programs. I did some research on the topic of chess programming (back in those days, that meant visiting a university library and reading some articles), and wrote a really crappy program of my own in Modula-2 (the UI was pretty decent for that era but the engine was bad). A little later I was starting to teach myself programming for Microsoft Windows, then a very new technology. I got the idea of writing a chess program in C++, mostly to practice my Microsoft coding skills. So that became the first version of Arasan (UI + engine in one package, like its Modula-2 predecessor, although it had no code in common with that).
--Jon
Fast forward to the 1980s. I was in grad school and was doing some software consulting work and independent software development on the side. I was aware of some of the early computer chess work and had played around with Gnuchess, Borland's Turbo Chess and a few other programs. I did some research on the topic of chess programming (back in those days, that meant visiting a university library and reading some articles), and wrote a really crappy program of my own in Modula-2 (the UI was pretty decent for that era but the engine was bad). A little later I was starting to teach myself programming for Microsoft Windows, then a very new technology. I got the idea of writing a chess program in C++, mostly to practice my Microsoft coding skills. So that became the first version of Arasan (UI + engine in one package, like its Modula-2 predecessor, although it had no code in common with that).
--Jon
-
- Posts: 2357
- Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2016 11:43 pm
- Full name: Brendan J Norman
- WinPooh
- Posts: 250
- Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 7:01 am
- Location: Russia
- Full name: Vladimir Medvedev
- Contact:
Re: What got you into computer chess?
Psion Chess, Chessmaster 2100 and Mephisto-Europe computer. And those strange program for PDP-11 in my school - with text interface and cryptic old English notation...
- Graham Banks
- Posts: 34868
- Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:52 am
- Location: Auckland, NZ
Re: What got you into computer chess?
The store where my father was sales manager started selling a couple of types of dedicated chess computers.
gbanksnz at gmail.com
Re: What got you into computer chess?
I got a Commodore VIC 20 and this http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/ ... -II-Chess/ game cartridge when I was 13 years.
I learned some chess basics at the same age from a book.
Later I wrote some "four in a row" program on a C64 at age of 16 and had some lessons about gaming theory in university at age of 22.
Then I lost contact for half of my life before someone at work pointed me to TCEC and chessprogramming scene when I asked him about a post he made at facebooks TCEC page.
Andreas
I learned some chess basics at the same age from a book.
Later I wrote some "four in a row" program on a C64 at age of 16 and had some lessons about gaming theory in university at age of 22.
Then I lost contact for half of my life before someone at work pointed me to TCEC and chessprogramming scene when I asked him about a post he made at facebooks TCEC page.
Andreas
Re: What got you into computer chess?
I used to think it was the closest to human thing you could get in machine form.
I have never yet come across another person who felt the same way as me.
I was also crazy over being able to know what a grandmaster would suggest in some positions.
Again, no one EVER felt like me. As far as i know.
Also, i was longing to see world famous combinations that made history, come out of my own bed room (ie my own private room).
- reflectionofpower
- Posts: 1465
- Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 4:28 pm
- Location: USA
Re: What got you into computer chess?
Chess Challenger 1,3, Novag 1.6, Mach III, then the software.
"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." (Dune - 1984)
Lonnie
Lonnie
Re: What got you into computer chess?
The ability of computers to outperform humans!
The road to chaos is filled with political correctness.
― Tadros
― Tadros
- mclane
- Posts: 18369
- Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:40 pm
- Location: US of Europe, germany
- Full name: Thorsten Czub
- Contact:
Re: What got you into computer chess?
MK1, mkv, Mephisto 1
What seems like a fairy tale today may be reality tomorrow.
Here we have a fairy tale of the day after tomorrow....
Here we have a fairy tale of the day after tomorrow....