GNU Chess 5.60

[Michel]

Here is GNU Chess 5.60.

http://hardy.uhasselt.be/Toga/gnuchess-release/

The main point is the inclusion of a .eng file to support HGM's idea for seamless GUI/engines integration on Linux. To the other engine and GUI authors: please support this! Even if you believe the standard isn't perfect yet. The wrinkles can be sorted out later.

I stopped working on GNU Chess. However digging through my old testing results (which are now a mess) I think this is about 50 Elo stronger that 5.50.

Here is a battle between GNU Chess 5 and GNU Chess 6 (the official version).

[pgn]
[Event "Battle of GNU Chess"]
[Site "pl"]
[Date "2014.11.22"]
[Round "-"]
[White "GNU Chess 5.60-64"]
[Black "GNU Chess"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "40/300"]
[Annotator "1. +0.17 1... -0.12"]

1. Nf3 {+0.17/18} Nf6 {-0.12/13 12} 2. d4 {+0.16/17 5} e6 {-0.12/12 6} 3.
Nc3 {+0.35/18 9} d5 {-0.13/12 9} 4. e3 {+0.14/17 7} Bd6 {-0.12/12 9} 5. Bd3
{+0.32/17 5} O-O {-0.15/12 8} 6. e4 {+0.29/16 5} Nxe4 {-0.14/12 11} 7. Nxe4
{+0.31/18 6} dxe4 {-0.01/12 8} 8. Bxe4 {+0.18/18 4} f5 {-0.11/13 7} 9. Bd3
{+0.15/18 6} c5 {-0.05/12 7} 10. dxc5 {+0.23/17 6} Bxc5 {-0.24/12 7} 11.
O-O {+0.34/15 8} Nc6 {-0.24/11 7} 12. Bf4 {+0.53/14 7} Qb6 {-0.20/11 7} 13.
b3 {+0.64/15 5} Ne7 {-0.11/10 7} 14. Qe2 {+0.80/15 7} Nd5 {-0.12/11 6} 15.
Be5 {+0.76/16 8} Bd7 {-0.13/11 5} 16. Bc4 {+0.83/16 9} Rad8 {-0.19/10 7}
17. a4 {+0.70/14 7} Be8 {-0.13/10 6} 18. a5 {+0.89/15 6} Qc6 {-0.31/11 7}
19. Bb2 {+0.80/13 4} Rf7 {-0.23/10 11} 20. Bc1 {+0.85/13 5} Rf8
{-0.18/10 6} 21. Re1 {+0.85/15 5} Rd6 {-0.37/11 12} 22. Bb2 {+1.24/15 6} a6
{-0.51/10 6} 23. Ne5 {+1.68/16 5} Nf4 {-1.30/12 7} 24. Nxc6 {+1.22/18 12}
Nxe2+ {-1.38/11 1.9} 25. Rxe2 {+1.45/18 4} Bxc6 {-1.21/13 5} 26. Rxe6
{+1.39/18 6} Kh8 {-1.23/13 4} 27. Re5 {+1.59/18 6} Bd4 {-1.22/13 7} 28.
Bxd4 {+1.50/17 6} Rxd4 {-1.22/12 5} 29. Rae1 {+1.50/17 6} g6 {-1.21/13 10}
30. f3 {+1.58/17 5} Rfd8 {-1.22/13 9} 31. Re6 {+1.53/17 7} Rd2 {-1.18/13 7}
32. R1e2 {+1.40/17 6} Rxe2 {-1.11/13 5} 33. Rxe2 {+1.42/18 8} Rd6
{-1.14/13 8} 34. Kf1 {+1.56/17 5} Rd7 {-1.14/14 10} 35. Re8+ {+1.58/18 5}
Kg7 {-1.20/4 0.3} 36. Ke2 {+1.68/16 6} f4 {-1.21/14 10} 37. Rc8
{+1.86/18 5} Re7+ {-1.14/13 6} 38. Kd2 {+1.67/17 6} Rd7+ {-1.26/14 13} 39.
Kc3 {+2.23/17 5} Re7 {-1.25/14 6} 40. Kd4 {+1.89/17 7} g5 {-1.40/13 10} 41.
Bxa6 {+2.10/17 8} Bxf3 {-1.36/15 8} 42. gxf3 {+2.08/19 7} bxa6 {-1.55/16 9}
43. Rc5 {+2.11/18 10} h6 {-1.55/15 10} 44. b4 {+2.36/17 6} Rb7 {-1.55/14 6}
45. c3 {+2.86/20 7} Rf7 {-2.05/15 11} 46. h3 {+2.82/20 7} Re7 {-2.14/16 6}
47. b5 {+3.09/19 5} axb5 {-2.08/14 6} 48. Rxb5 {+3.16/20 5} Ra7
{-2.17/16 6} 49. Kc5 {+3.79/20 7} Ra8 {-2.19/16 10} 50. c4 {+3.27/21 7} h5
{-2.41/16 6} 51. Kc6 {+3.98/20 5} Kg6 {-3.03/16 9} 52. Kb7 {+6.56/21 7} Re8
{-3.33/16 7} 53. a6 {+6.83/22 8} Re7+ {-4.26/15 7} 54. Kb6 {+8.06/22 14}
Re6+ {-4.79/15 4} 55. Ka5 {+8.94/22 14} Re7 {-4.90/15 7} 56. Rb6+
{+9.11/23 6} Kf5 {-4.98/16 5} 57. Rb7 {+9.33/21 5} Re1 {-5.12/15 7} 58.
Rb5+ {+9.94/21 8} Kg6 {-5.32/15 4} 59. a7 {+9.88/21 7} g4 {-5.32/14 7} 60.
hxg4 {+10.86/20 7} hxg4 {-6.95/16 10}
{Black resigns} 1-0
[/pgn]

[Werner]

Thanks Michael,
Your versions are indeed stronger.
I hope you continue some times.
Best wishes
Werner

[Evert]

The main point is the inclusion of a .eng file to support HGM's idea for seamless GUI/engines integration on Linux. To the other engine and GUI authors: please support this! Even if you believe the standard isn't perfect yet. The wrinkles can be sorted out later.

I've added it to Jazz as well, so the next release will get this feature too. Not sure when that will be though.

[Michel]

I've added it to Jazz as well, so the next release will get this feature too. Not sure when that will be though.

Great!

[Graham Banks]

Thanks Michael.

[Werner]

Hi,
I ask you to provide 32bit and 64bit compiles for Windows please!
Or did I miss a download link ?

best wishes

[Michel]

I ask you to provide 32bit and 64bit compiles for Windows please!
Or did I miss a download link ?

Oops. They should have been in the .zip file. It seems something went wrong. I will fix it now.

[Michel]

Ok it should be fixed now. Since I renamed the binary from gnuchess to gnuchess5 in order to be a good citizen, I broke all my build/install scripts!

[Adam Hair]

I was able to build and install the Linux source with no problems, and GNUChess 5.6 automatically appeared in my XBoard engine list.

Thanks, Michel!

[ydebilloez]

I see that in the CCRL rating lists, GNU chess 5.60 is the only one present. Meanwhile, in 2026, the latest version is 6.3.0. In the official download page, (https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/chess/), 5.60 is not present.

The main point is the inclusion of a .eng file

My question is, what is the relation in between the latest 5.x release from the official download list (5.08) and 5.60. Is 5.60 still referential to GNU chess? Secondly, what is the difference in strength in between the different versions: 5.08, 5.60 and 6.3.0?

For the 6.x series, I found more information here https://grokipedia.com/page/GNU_Chess