I toast to LeelaqueenOdds and its creators. I raise my wine glass high and shout: Long live the queen. We have a queen!!

[Father]

[pgn][Event "Blitz 3min"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2026.07.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pablo Ignacio"]
[Black "Partida evaluada"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "1920"]
[BlackElo "2530"]
[WhiteFideId "-1"]
[BlackFideId "-1"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[GameId "2327936839229865"]
[TimeControl "180"]

1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. f4 {1} d5 {0} 3. e3 {1} c5 {0} 4. c3 {2} Nc6 {0} 5. Nf3 {1} Bg4 {0} 6. Be2 {2} Qb6 {2} 7. Ne5 {2} Bxe2 {1} 8. Qxe2 {2} Qc7 {2} 9. Nxc6 {3} Qxc6 {1} 10. Nd2 {2} a5 {4} 11. O-O {1} g6 {4} 12. Nb3 {1} c4 {2} 13. Nd2 {1} a4 {4} 14. a3 {1} Bg7 {1} 15. g3 {1} Qe6 {3} 16. Rf2 {5} h5 {2} 17. Rg2 {1} Qf5 {2} 18. Nf3 {3} Ra5 {2} 19. Nh4 {1} Qe4 {4} 20. Qf3 {1} Rb5 {1} 21. Qxe4 {1} Nxe4 {1} 22. Nf3 {4} f5 {2} 23. h4 {3} Rb3 {2} 24. Kh2 {2} Kd7 {2} 25. Nd2 {3} Nxd2 {1} 26. Rxd2 {2} e6 {1} 27. Kg2 {3} Ra8 {0} 28. Kf3 {1} Ra6 {0} 29. Ra2 {1} Rab6 {1} 30. Rc2 {1} Bf8 {1} 31. Ke2 {1} Bd6 {2} 32. Kf3 {1} Ke8 {1} 33. Ke2 {1} Kf7 {2} 34. Kf3 {1} Ra6 {1} 35. Ke2 {1} Ra7 {1} 36. Kf3 {1} Ke7 {3} 37. Ke2 {1} Kf8 {1} 38. Kf3 {1} Ra6 {2} 39. Ke2 {1} Ra8 {3} 40. Kf3 {1} Kf7 {1} 41. Ke2 {1} Be7 {3} 42. Kf3 {1} Ra6 {1} 43. Ke2 {1} Bf6 {2} 44. Kf3 {1} Bg7 {2} 45. Ke2 {1} Ke7 {2} 46. Kf3 {1} Bh8 {1} 47. Ke2 {1} Ra8 {1} 48. Kf3 {1} Bg7 {1} 49. Ke2 {1} Bf8 {1} 50. Kf3 {1} Bg7 {1} 51. Ke2 {1} Bf8 {1} 52. Kf3 {1} Bg7 {1} 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

“Los sueños de “Catecan”.
Father: “ Sabes algo Catecan ?”
Catecan: “Dime Father ?”
Father.” Cuando en 1915 mi Padre montaba sobre su caballo de madera llamado “Catecan”, mi Padre tomaba un palo de escoba y elevándolo a lo alto gritaba con su voz de un niño de tres años de edad: “ Catecan!! Tú y yo juntos conquistaremos el mundo .”
Father. “ Para entonces, escasamente la luz eléctrica estaba en su pueblo natal, no había llegado el teléfono, ni la aviación, quizá el primer carro andaba por las polvorientas calles de Medellín. Hoy, mi amado Catecan, se ha cumplido el
sueño de Papá “
Father. Su hijo menor, evocando y rescatando su memoria sus recuerdos, ha sido escuchado y visto por distintas personas del mundo electrónico y computacional.
Father. “ Aveces somos una semilla que germinará mucho más allá de nuestros cortos días de existencia, más allá de nuestro control de tiempo u aún así, ganarnos la partida.
Catecan. “ Father . Yo también tengo un sueño que quisas si o quizás no alcancemos tú y yo a conocer”
Father. “ Háblame de tus sueños Catecan”.
Catecan.” La creación de parte de los sabios de la computación de una máquina de ajedrez que simule nuestro pensamiento cuyo nombre quizás podría ser:
1. Leela Father o LeelaFatherNet.
2. ⁠Catecan-Net
3. ⁠Leela Antichess
4. ⁠".The Fortress (La Fortaleza)”
Father.” Has enloquecido mi
Amigo Catecan ?”
Catecan.” No Father lo que sucede es que nuestro tiempo de juego se está agotando y nuestro programador quizás reclame para si y para llevarnos a algún lugar lejano del universo, a una mula 🫏 y a su ginete.”
Father.” Larga vida Catecan !!”
Catecan.” Larga vida Father.”

[lkaufman]

...With all due respect, I want you to consider the following: When I've beaten the machines on time, or when the games I've played have ended in a draw, who caused the time win or the draw? Me. Machines with a super grandmaster level lost on time against an outsider, or declared a draw against a street fighter, or succumbed to a draw; aren't all these results victorious for me? Of course they are. Now, the odds are another wonderful world. I invite all humans to play against the odds to improve their minds and strengthen the existential tripod that helps us stand firm in the face of life's difficulties, a tripod composed of: 1. Body, 2. Mind, and 3. Soul. For me, the odds are something like fighting against "Rambo," "John Wick," "Commando," "Taken," "The Equalizer," or "I Will Find You" (David Burroughs). In a word: Prodigious.

When you make a draw with a strong bot in an even game, that is an accomplishment, and shows a flaw in the bot. But when you make a draw with a bot in an odds game, it just shows that the bot has been told that a draw is an acceptable outcome if you haven't lost material yet. We could fairly easy make odds bots that would avoid the draws you make by blocking the position, but we have no reason to do so because almost no one besides you aims for draws in odds games. Players are expected to play at "fair" odds where a draw is just a neutral result, as if the game didn't happen at all. But it is true that most players don't do this, they mostly play at odds that are too small to be fair, for example taking rook odds when they need queen odds for a balanced battle. So probably making an anti-draw bot would indeed help overall results, but results vs proper-level opposition would be worse. Perhaps if we eventually start to use the opponent's LiChess rating as an input, we might make two versions for each handicap, one "anti-draw" and the other like now. But that's a lot of work, and no one capable of doing this has volunteered. Maybe now that AI has such capabilities or will soon have them, we will be able to do things like this; at the very least expect further bot improvements. Already the current LeelaQueenOdds has achieved equal results in 3'2" blitz (playing White) against a "current" grandmaster (one still above the 2500 FIDE threshold and active), GM Vadim Zvjaginsev, the inventor of the opening 1.e4 c5 2.Na3!?.

Good morning Mr. Larry Kaufman, I hope you are doing well and always continue to be well. I would like to have the menu of machines that I could access, machines from around 1980, and test them chronologically, 10 games in bullet could work or 10 games in 3-0 blitz, 5 with white and 5 with black, against world champion machines and others, whichever the programmers find interesting and tell me to test. Machines from Chess Master onward, or even earlier ones that ran on DOS. Perhaps it could be historically useful and interesting to have this historical testing and have it published to be known through TalkChess as a reference source. I would also like to have the current machines installed on my PC and from, say, 2017 onward, and if possible all the main ones since 1980. If you are interested, Dr. Larry Kaufman, I want to tell the scientific community that it would be an honor for me to achieve my dream.

... about the backdoors of computers, about the impregnable castles of computing:

RANK PLAYER ELO W-D-L MEDIAN TC LAST GAME
1 wateenellende 3130 167-90-257 1+0 2026-05-30
2 FeegLood 3127 201-79-192 1+0 2026-06-27
3 Zamzalabim 3022 331-8-26 3+2 2026-06-20
4 catask 3021 51-21-48 1+0 2026-02-12
5 dauANHbac 2915 67-4-47 1+1 2026-02-08
6 ScaryIndianJunior 2902 85-3-84 1+1 2026-05-12
7 blindcrocodile 2848 577-101-665 1+1 2026-06-19
8 pozvonochek 2829 62-37-107 1+0 2026-04-06
9 JoanFluvia 2808 468-58-342 3+1 2026-01-18
10 butokey 2799 55-15-100 1+1 2026-02-05
11 Harry_Rakel 2798 139-19-283 1+1 2026-04-24
12 warmstanbolt 2777 184-20-183 3+0 2026-06-03
13 warmstangantver 2775 78-10-15 3+2 2026-06-03
14 AdmiralHabibi 2774 106-8-72 3+2 2026-05-22
15 Kacparov 2758 42-4-26 2+0 2026-04-03
16 Orichess88 2747 150-7-94 2+3 2026-06-21
17 old74 2740 427-214-4336 1+1 2026-01-27
18 A27and27 2723 272-25-130 3+2 2026-06-17
19 krakukra 2703 47-2-11 3+2 2026-04-09
20 SilverMitt 2685 212-28-51 5+3 2026-07-01
21 Mikulas 2681 163-83-344 2+0 2026-01-14
22 Phara0h1 2650 503-93-482 5+0 2026-03-17
23 OnePysy 2643 48-12-86 1+2 2026-01-04
24 purple_parrot 2643 42-3-12 3+2 2026-06-30
25 slowpoke28 2641 199-142-502 2+0 2026-06-27
26 wannabe2700 2627 33-4-52 1+0 2026-06-27
27 eelke 2623 51-12-131 1+1 2026-04-29
28 chessforfun26 2617 293-120-892 2+1 2026-07-01
29 Strykler 2606 85-13-131 3+0 2026-07-01
30 Vagizovich 2599 189-27-133 3+2 2026-07-01
31 Zugzwang70 2598 81-13-79 3+2 2026-03-21
32 solomon88 2594 88-23-164 3+0 2026-04-21
33 JindrichPavelka 2583 1366-414-2604 3+2 2026-06-27
34 Kungstornet 2583 557-113-471 5+2 2026-07-01
35 Robbero 2578 138-9-50 10+0 2026-06-30
36 xx777Tonop777xx 2572 64-56-343 2+0 2026-04-25
37 Chepakh 2554 158-55-482 3+0 2026-05-01
38 Whynot72 2551 148-40-300 3+0 2026-04-16
39 Iron_jack 2550 243-28-198 5+3 2026-06-24
40 stoxt 2545 75-20-212 3+0 2026-03-25
41 WASSERFLASCHENWERFER 2538 26-16-59 1+1 2026-06-30
42 LaughingCoffin57 2534 176-49-429 5+0 2026-06-05
43 FideCircus 2529 51-6-16 5+3 2026-06-06
44 cancerlord 2527 123-13-158 3+2 2026-06-28
45 gotschi 2521 2549-339-2494 3+5 2026-06-28
46 windking999 2521 47-16-155 1+1 2026-01-09
47 easychill 2521 26-3-9 5+0 2026-06-12
48 onmobile 2520 771-160-3008 2+3 2026-06-30
49 l1ght4 2520 25-5-22 3+2 2026-03-23
50 jtcoach 2517 84-19-105 3+2 2026-04-14
51 parfumer1 2517 40-4-44 3+2 2026-06-22
52 dontwanther 2506 110-43-412 3+0 2026-06-16
53 Dranuano 2494 39-3-17 5+3 2026-04-04
54 Aassaassaa 2493 260-189-995 3+0 2026-03-17
55 justinwhalin 2488 29-2-23 3+2 2026-04-06
56 LeelaEnjoyer12 2486 300-270-1660 1+1 2026-04-29
57 Cistatecni 2485 53-9-81 3+2 2026-06-28
58 Carobee 2480 25-9-18 3+1 2026-03-23
59 xmyy080909 2479 56-23-242 1+1 2026-02-11
60 Tigerberry 2476 19-2-12 3+0 2026-03-18
61 trenirovka221 2472 543-61-563 5+2 2026-06-29
62 Ljucifer 2472 25-1-18 3+2 2026-03-26
63 quaint0 2467 49-12-87 3+2 2026-05-01
64 LaEnJ 2466 131-194-533 1+2 2026-06-30
65 chesscoachIM 2465 18-10-48 1+0 2026-03-26
66 Sockwater 2464 49-20-242 1+1 2026-03-20
67 BlindKungFuMaster 2461 35-9-30 5+3 2026-05-04
68 lephudien 2460 3528-443-2868 5+3 2026-07-01
69 Hissha 2459 170-40-143 1+10 2026-07-01
70 BT_CHESS42 2459 197-81-465 3+2 2026-04-07
71 ThePhoenix7 2449 22-3-4 5+3 2026-02-20
72 elsiekay 2442 36-8-74 3+2 2026-06-19
73 sansherbina 2441 69-17-134 3+2 2026-06-28
74 proddingprawn 2438 161-56-619 3+2 2026-07-01
75 Rook-AndRoll 2437 61-24-187 1+2 2026-05-30
76 fryingdog 2425 498-226-1582 3+3 2026-02-09
77 mi2497 2424 46-10-77 3+2 2026-04-30
78 raredesk 2418 144-27-418 5+0 2026-06-11
79 LeafTree 2417 1550-634-3598 10+0 2026-07-01
80 cmdbreivik 2412 516-49-738 10+1 2026-07-01
81 ChessEducation 2411 87-18-128 3+2 2026-04-21
82 Krzysieq445 2410 37-3-15 5+5 2026-01-18
83 mraquariyaz67 2407 15-1-5 1+0 2026-02-11
84 serg4001 2405 206-37-235 5+3 2026-06-24
85 biff4317 2396 17-5-11 3+2 2026-01-16
86 Watneg 2380 17-20-42 1+0 2026-04-14
87 ShahMasons 2377 24-4-43 3+2 2026-04-16
88 CoolerMove 2374 121-8-38 10+10 2026-02-26
89 chessdeamon 2373 1006-115-992 10+5 2026-06-25
90 FeliksR 2368 35-8-173 1+1 2026-03-14
91 sharkspb 2367 63-21-134 4+2 2026-07-01
92 Atomrod 2366 84-30-91 7+5 2026-03-12
93 MegaDes 2365 41-9-88 3+2 2026-06-29
94 Solar_Lion 2364 16-3-12 3+2 2026-05-27
95 Vikki2011 2363 93-41-186 3+2 2026-06-05
96 maratgron 2363 53-23-174 3+2 2026-06-22
97 DrahacikFM 2361 676-41-240 5+12 2026-07-01
98 cruc1o 2360 25-6-37 3+2 2026-04-20
99 vespillo77 2355 15-3-12 3+2 2026-04-13
100 Catecan 2354 66-5980-6090 1+0 2026-07-01
[/quote]

... I’ve come up with another idea that could be interesting: If some "good Samaritan" who loves computing and the development of the human mind wants to organize a 'Historical and Retrospective Tournament of Humans vs. Machines,' where we take it year by year and the results, for example 6 humans and 6 machines since or from 1980, and so on up to the present day, I would be happy to participate if they agree to organize such a competition. Again, Dr. Larry Kaufman, I sincerely want to thank you and the lichess and talkchess communities for allowing the voices of Catecan and Father to be heard over the years. I do all of this in memory of my dad, my mom, my family, my ancestors, truly, everyone on this planet Earth with no boundaries for me.
[/quote]

There are software emulations of classic dedicated chess computers from the distant path available, so you can play against such machines yourself for free if you know how to do so. I have no connection with this project so I can't help you on that. I would just point out that time management wasn't very good back then so if you play 3' or 1' sudden death games you may win on time just because they weren't programmed to play 200 move games back then. Just like winning on time against level 8 of Stockfish on LiChess is just due to an arbitrary 150 move limit they adopted on LiChess for the bots. Also since they were relatively weak back then, getting draws would not be any sort of achievement, especially since they had no concept of blocked positions being drawish in those days. So your style of play wouldn't tell us anything useful about those old programs that we don't already know. At least against Leela, your way of playing tests whether it has learned that severely blocked positions are very drawish. Aside from playing the odds bots, you might try playing even games against any Leela nets that play just "policy" (meaning they only look at 1 node, playing the first move they consider plausible); that would be a real test of their understanding of blocked positions.

[Father]

...With all due respect, I want you to consider the following: When I've beaten the machines on time, or when the games I've played have ended in a draw, who caused the time win or the draw? Me. Machines with a super grandmaster level lost on time against an outsider, or declared a draw against a street fighter, or succumbed to a draw; aren't all these results victorious for me? Of course they are. Now, the odds are another wonderful world. I invite all humans to play against the odds to improve their minds and strengthen the existential tripod that helps us stand firm in the face of life's difficulties, a tripod composed of: 1. Body, 2. Mind, and 3. Soul. For me, the odds are something like fighting against "Rambo," "John Wick," "Commando," "Taken," "The Equalizer," or "I Will Find You" (David Burroughs). In a word: Prodigious.

When you make a draw with a strong bot in an even game, that is an accomplishment, and shows a flaw in the bot. But when you make a draw with a bot in an odds game, it just shows that the bot has been told that a draw is an acceptable outcome if you haven't lost material yet. We could fairly easy make odds bots that would avoid the draws you make by blocking the position, but we have no reason to do so because almost no one besides you aims for draws in odds games. Players are expected to play at "fair" odds where a draw is just a neutral result, as if the game didn't happen at all. But it is true that most players don't do this, they mostly play at odds that are too small to be fair, for example taking rook odds when they need queen odds for a balanced battle. So probably making an anti-draw bot would indeed help overall results, but results vs proper-level opposition would be worse. Perhaps if we eventually start to use the opponent's LiChess rating as an input, we might make two versions for each handicap, one "anti-draw" and the other like now. But that's a lot of work, and no one capable of doing this has volunteered. Maybe now that AI has such capabilities or will soon have them, we will be able to do things like this; at the very least expect further bot improvements. Already the current LeelaQueenOdds has achieved equal results in 3'2" blitz (playing White) against a "current" grandmaster (one still above the 2500 FIDE threshold and active), GM Vadim Zvjaginsev, the inventor of the opening 1.e4 c5 2.Na3!?.

Good morning Mr. Larry Kaufman, I hope you are doing well and always continue to be well. I would like to have the menu of machines that I could access, machines from around 1980, and test them chronologically, 10 games in bullet could work or 10 games in 3-0 blitz, 5 with white and 5 with black, against world champion machines and others, whichever the programmers find interesting and tell me to test. Machines from Chess Master onward, or even earlier ones that ran on DOS. Perhaps it could be historically useful and interesting to have this historical testing and have it published to be known through TalkChess as a reference source. I would also like to have the current machines installed on my PC and from, say, 2017 onward, and if possible all the main ones since 1980. If you are interested, Dr. Larry Kaufman, I want to tell the scientific community that it would be an honor for me to achieve my dream.

... about the backdoors of computers, about the impregnable castles of computing:

RANK PLAYER ELO W-D-L MEDIAN TC LAST GAME
1 wateenellende 3130 167-90-257 1+0 2026-05-30
2 FeegLood 3127 201-79-192 1+0 2026-06-27
3 Zamzalabim 3022 331-8-26 3+2 2026-06-20
4 catask 3021 51-21-48 1+0 2026-02-12
5 dauANHbac 2915 67-4-47 1+1 2026-02-08
6 ScaryIndianJunior 2902 85-3-84 1+1 2026-05-12
7 blindcrocodile 2848 577-101-665 1+1 2026-06-19
8 pozvonochek 2829 62-37-107 1+0 2026-04-06
9 JoanFluvia 2808 468-58-342 3+1 2026-01-18
10 butokey 2799 55-15-100 1+1 2026-02-05
11 Harry_Rakel 2798 139-19-283 1+1 2026-04-24
12 warmstanbolt 2777 184-20-183 3+0 2026-06-03
13 warmstangantver 2775 78-10-15 3+2 2026-06-03
14 AdmiralHabibi 2774 106-8-72 3+2 2026-05-22
15 Kacparov 2758 42-4-26 2+0 2026-04-03
16 Orichess88 2747 150-7-94 2+3 2026-06-21
17 old74 2740 427-214-4336 1+1 2026-01-27
18 A27and27 2723 272-25-130 3+2 2026-06-17
19 krakukra 2703 47-2-11 3+2 2026-04-09
20 SilverMitt 2685 212-28-51 5+3 2026-07-01
21 Mikulas 2681 163-83-344 2+0 2026-01-14
22 Phara0h1 2650 503-93-482 5+0 2026-03-17
23 OnePysy 2643 48-12-86 1+2 2026-01-04
24 purple_parrot 2643 42-3-12 3+2 2026-06-30
25 slowpoke28 2641 199-142-502 2+0 2026-06-27
26 wannabe2700 2627 33-4-52 1+0 2026-06-27
27 eelke 2623 51-12-131 1+1 2026-04-29
28 chessforfun26 2617 293-120-892 2+1 2026-07-01
29 Strykler 2606 85-13-131 3+0 2026-07-01
30 Vagizovich 2599 189-27-133 3+2 2026-07-01
31 Zugzwang70 2598 81-13-79 3+2 2026-03-21
32 solomon88 2594 88-23-164 3+0 2026-04-21
33 JindrichPavelka 2583 1366-414-2604 3+2 2026-06-27
34 Kungstornet 2583 557-113-471 5+2 2026-07-01
35 Robbero 2578 138-9-50 10+0 2026-06-30
36 xx777Tonop777xx 2572 64-56-343 2+0 2026-04-25
37 Chepakh 2554 158-55-482 3+0 2026-05-01
38 Whynot72 2551 148-40-300 3+0 2026-04-16
39 Iron_jack 2550 243-28-198 5+3 2026-06-24
40 stoxt 2545 75-20-212 3+0 2026-03-25
41 WASSERFLASCHENWERFER 2538 26-16-59 1+1 2026-06-30
42 LaughingCoffin57 2534 176-49-429 5+0 2026-06-05
43 FideCircus 2529 51-6-16 5+3 2026-06-06
44 cancerlord 2527 123-13-158 3+2 2026-06-28
45 gotschi 2521 2549-339-2494 3+5 2026-06-28
46 windking999 2521 47-16-155 1+1 2026-01-09
47 easychill 2521 26-3-9 5+0 2026-06-12
48 onmobile 2520 771-160-3008 2+3 2026-06-30
49 l1ght4 2520 25-5-22 3+2 2026-03-23
50 jtcoach 2517 84-19-105 3+2 2026-04-14
51 parfumer1 2517 40-4-44 3+2 2026-06-22
52 dontwanther 2506 110-43-412 3+0 2026-06-16
53 Dranuano 2494 39-3-17 5+3 2026-04-04
54 Aassaassaa 2493 260-189-995 3+0 2026-03-17
55 justinwhalin 2488 29-2-23 3+2 2026-04-06
56 LeelaEnjoyer12 2486 300-270-1660 1+1 2026-04-29
57 Cistatecni 2485 53-9-81 3+2 2026-06-28
58 Carobee 2480 25-9-18 3+1 2026-03-23
59 xmyy080909 2479 56-23-242 1+1 2026-02-11
60 Tigerberry 2476 19-2-12 3+0 2026-03-18
61 trenirovka221 2472 543-61-563 5+2 2026-06-29
62 Ljucifer 2472 25-1-18 3+2 2026-03-26
63 quaint0 2467 49-12-87 3+2 2026-05-01
64 LaEnJ 2466 131-194-533 1+2 2026-06-30
65 chesscoachIM 2465 18-10-48 1+0 2026-03-26
66 Sockwater 2464 49-20-242 1+1 2026-03-20
67 BlindKungFuMaster 2461 35-9-30 5+3 2026-05-04
68 lephudien 2460 3528-443-2868 5+3 2026-07-01
69 Hissha 2459 170-40-143 1+10 2026-07-01
70 BT_CHESS42 2459 197-81-465 3+2 2026-04-07
71 ThePhoenix7 2449 22-3-4 5+3 2026-02-20
72 elsiekay 2442 36-8-74 3+2 2026-06-19
73 sansherbina 2441 69-17-134 3+2 2026-06-28
74 proddingprawn 2438 161-56-619 3+2 2026-07-01
75 Rook-AndRoll 2437 61-24-187 1+2 2026-05-30
76 fryingdog 2425 498-226-1582 3+3 2026-02-09
77 mi2497 2424 46-10-77 3+2 2026-04-30
78 raredesk 2418 144-27-418 5+0 2026-06-11
79 LeafTree 2417 1550-634-3598 10+0 2026-07-01
80 cmdbreivik 2412 516-49-738 10+1 2026-07-01
81 ChessEducation 2411 87-18-128 3+2 2026-04-21
82 Krzysieq445 2410 37-3-15 5+5 2026-01-18
83 mraquariyaz67 2407 15-1-5 1+0 2026-02-11
84 serg4001 2405 206-37-235 5+3 2026-06-24
85 biff4317 2396 17-5-11 3+2 2026-01-16
86 Watneg 2380 17-20-42 1+0 2026-04-14
87 ShahMasons 2377 24-4-43 3+2 2026-04-16
88 CoolerMove 2374 121-8-38 10+10 2026-02-26
89 chessdeamon 2373 1006-115-992 10+5 2026-06-25
90 FeliksR 2368 35-8-173 1+1 2026-03-14
91 sharkspb 2367 63-21-134 4+2 2026-07-01
92 Atomrod 2366 84-30-91 7+5 2026-03-12
93 MegaDes 2365 41-9-88 3+2 2026-06-29
94 Solar_Lion 2364 16-3-12 3+2 2026-05-27
95 Vikki2011 2363 93-41-186 3+2 2026-06-05
96 maratgron 2363 53-23-174 3+2 2026-06-22
97 DrahacikFM 2361 676-41-240 5+12 2026-07-01
98 cruc1o 2360 25-6-37 3+2 2026-04-20
99 vespillo77 2355 15-3-12 3+2 2026-04-13
100 Catecan 2354 66-5980-6090 1+0 2026-07-01

... I’ve come up with another idea that could be interesting: If some "good Samaritan" who loves computing and the development of the human mind wants to organize a 'Historical and Retrospective Tournament of Humans vs. Machines,' where we take it year by year and the results, for example 6 humans and 6 machines since or from 1980, and so on up to the present day, I would be happy to participate if they agree to organize such a competition. Again, Dr. Larry Kaufman, I sincerely want to thank you and the lichess and talkchess communities for allowing the voices of Catecan and Father to be heard over the years. I do all of this in memory of my dad, my mom, my family, my ancestors, truly, everyone on this planet Earth with no boundaries for me.
[/quote]

There are software emulations of classic dedicated chess computers from the distant path available, so you can play against such machines yourself for free if you know how to do so. I have no connection with this project so I can't help you on that. I would just point out that time management wasn't very good back then so if you play 3' or 1' sudden death games you may win on time just because they weren't programmed to play 200 move games back then. Just like winning on time against level 8 of Stockfish on LiChess is just due to an arbitrary 150 move limit they adopted on LiChess for the bots. Also since they were relatively weak back then, getting draws would not be any sort of achievement, especially since they had no concept of blocked positions being drawish in those days. So your style of play wouldn't tell us anything useful about those old programs that we don't already know. At least against Leela, your way of playing tests whether it has learned that severely blocked positions are very drawish. Aside from playing the odds bots, you might try playing even games against any Leela nets that play just "policy" (meaning they only look at 1 node, playing the first move they consider plausible); that would be a real test of their understanding of blocked positions.
[/quote]

Thank you very much, Mr. Larry Kaufman, for your information. If at any point you wish, on behalf of the Leela team, for me to test machines, I would gladly do so, God willing. My skills in managing operating systems are almost nonexistent; my ability is limited only to somehow sensing the nature of algorithms, a product of my own life experiences and my innate capacity for deep analysis with which I have been blessed on this earth. Thank you again."

[Father]

...With all due respect, I want you to consider the following: When I've beaten the machines on time, or when the games I've played have ended in a draw, who caused the time win or the draw? Me. Machines with a super grandmaster level lost on time against an outsider, or declared a draw against a street fighter, or succumbed to a draw; aren't all these results victorious for me? Of course they are. Now, the odds are another wonderful world. I invite all humans to play against the odds to improve their minds and strengthen the existential tripod that helps us stand firm in the face of life's difficulties, a tripod composed of: 1. Body, 2. Mind, and 3. Soul. For me, the odds are something like fighting against "Rambo," "John Wick," "Commando," "Taken," "The Equalizer," or "I Will Find You" (David Burroughs). In a word: Prodigious.

When you make a draw with a strong bot in an even game, that is an accomplishment, and shows a flaw in the bot. But when you make a draw with a bot in an odds game, it just shows that the bot has been told that a draw is an acceptable outcome if you haven't lost material yet. We could fairly easy make odds bots that would avoid the draws you make by blocking the position, but we have no reason to do so because almost no one besides you aims for draws in odds games. Players are expected to play at "fair" odds where a draw is just a neutral result, as if the game didn't happen at all. But it is true that most players don't do this, they mostly play at odds that are too small to be fair, for example taking rook odds when they need queen odds for a balanced battle. So probably making an anti-draw bot would indeed help overall results, but results vs proper-level opposition would be worse. Perhaps if we eventually start to use the opponent's LiChess rating as an input, we might make two versions for each handicap, one "anti-draw" and the other like now. But that's a lot of work, and no one capable of doing this has volunteered. Maybe now that AI has such capabilities or will soon have them, we will be able to do things like this; at the very least expect further bot improvements. Already the current LeelaQueenOdds has achieved equal results in 3'2" blitz (playing White) against a "current" grandmaster (one still above the 2500 FIDE threshold and active), GM Vadim Zvjaginsev, the inventor of the opening 1.e4 c5 2.Na3!?.

Good morning Mr. Larry Kaufman, I hope you are doing well and always continue to be well. I would like to have the menu of machines that I could access, machines from around 1980, and test them chronologically, 10 games in bullet could work or 10 games in 3-0 blitz, 5 with white and 5 with black, against world champion machines and others, whichever the programmers find interesting and tell me to test. Machines from Chess Master onward, or even earlier ones that ran on DOS. Perhaps it could be historically useful and interesting to have this historical testing and have it published to be known through TalkChess as a reference source. I would also like to have the current machines installed on my PC and from, say, 2017 onward, and if possible all the main ones since 1980. If you are interested, Dr. Larry Kaufman, I want to tell the scientific community that it would be an honor for me to achieve my dream.

... about the backdoors of computers, about the impregnable castles of computing:

RANK PLAYER ELO W-D-L MEDIAN TC LAST GAME
1 wateenellende 3130 167-90-257 1+0 2026-05-30
2 FeegLood 3127 201-79-192 1+0 2026-06-27
3 Zamzalabim 3022 331-8-26 3+2 2026-06-20
4 catask 3021 51-21-48 1+0 2026-02-12
5 dauANHbac 2915 67-4-47 1+1 2026-02-08
6 ScaryIndianJunior 2902 85-3-84 1+1 2026-05-12
7 blindcrocodile 2848 577-101-665 1+1 2026-06-19
8 pozvonochek 2829 62-37-107 1+0 2026-04-06
9 JoanFluvia 2808 468-58-342 3+1 2026-01-18
10 butokey 2799 55-15-100 1+1 2026-02-05
11 Harry_Rakel 2798 139-19-283 1+1 2026-04-24
12 warmstanbolt 2777 184-20-183 3+0 2026-06-03
13 warmstangantver 2775 78-10-15 3+2 2026-06-03
14 AdmiralHabibi 2774 106-8-72 3+2 2026-05-22
15 Kacparov 2758 42-4-26 2+0 2026-04-03
16 Orichess88 2747 150-7-94 2+3 2026-06-21
17 old74 2740 427-214-4336 1+1 2026-01-27
18 A27and27 2723 272-25-130 3+2 2026-06-17
19 krakukra 2703 47-2-11 3+2 2026-04-09
20 SilverMitt 2685 212-28-51 5+3 2026-07-01
21 Mikulas 2681 163-83-344 2+0 2026-01-14
22 Phara0h1 2650 503-93-482 5+0 2026-03-17
23 OnePysy 2643 48-12-86 1+2 2026-01-04
24 purple_parrot 2643 42-3-12 3+2 2026-06-30
25 slowpoke28 2641 199-142-502 2+0 2026-06-27
26 wannabe2700 2627 33-4-52 1+0 2026-06-27
27 eelke 2623 51-12-131 1+1 2026-04-29
28 chessforfun26 2617 293-120-892 2+1 2026-07-01
29 Strykler 2606 85-13-131 3+0 2026-07-01
30 Vagizovich 2599 189-27-133 3+2 2026-07-01
31 Zugzwang70 2598 81-13-79 3+2 2026-03-21
32 solomon88 2594 88-23-164 3+0 2026-04-21
33 JindrichPavelka 2583 1366-414-2604 3+2 2026-06-27
34 Kungstornet 2583 557-113-471 5+2 2026-07-01
35 Robbero 2578 138-9-50 10+0 2026-06-30
36 xx777Tonop777xx 2572 64-56-343 2+0 2026-04-25
37 Chepakh 2554 158-55-482 3+0 2026-05-01
38 Whynot72 2551 148-40-300 3+0 2026-04-16
39 Iron_jack 2550 243-28-198 5+3 2026-06-24
40 stoxt 2545 75-20-212 3+0 2026-03-25
41 WASSERFLASCHENWERFER 2538 26-16-59 1+1 2026-06-30
42 LaughingCoffin57 2534 176-49-429 5+0 2026-06-05
43 FideCircus 2529 51-6-16 5+3 2026-06-06
44 cancerlord 2527 123-13-158 3+2 2026-06-28
45 gotschi 2521 2549-339-2494 3+5 2026-06-28
46 windking999 2521 47-16-155 1+1 2026-01-09
47 easychill 2521 26-3-9 5+0 2026-06-12
48 onmobile 2520 771-160-3008 2+3 2026-06-30
49 l1ght4 2520 25-5-22 3+2 2026-03-23
50 jtcoach 2517 84-19-105 3+2 2026-04-14
51 parfumer1 2517 40-4-44 3+2 2026-06-22
52 dontwanther 2506 110-43-412 3+0 2026-06-16
53 Dranuano 2494 39-3-17 5+3 2026-04-04
54 Aassaassaa 2493 260-189-995 3+0 2026-03-17
55 justinwhalin 2488 29-2-23 3+2 2026-04-06
56 LeelaEnjoyer12 2486 300-270-1660 1+1 2026-04-29
57 Cistatecni 2485 53-9-81 3+2 2026-06-28
58 Carobee 2480 25-9-18 3+1 2026-03-23
59 xmyy080909 2479 56-23-242 1+1 2026-02-11
60 Tigerberry 2476 19-2-12 3+0 2026-03-18
61 trenirovka221 2472 543-61-563 5+2 2026-06-29
62 Ljucifer 2472 25-1-18 3+2 2026-03-26
63 quaint0 2467 49-12-87 3+2 2026-05-01
64 LaEnJ 2466 131-194-533 1+2 2026-06-30
65 chesscoachIM 2465 18-10-48 1+0 2026-03-26
66 Sockwater 2464 49-20-242 1+1 2026-03-20
67 BlindKungFuMaster 2461 35-9-30 5+3 2026-05-04
68 lephudien 2460 3528-443-2868 5+3 2026-07-01
69 Hissha 2459 170-40-143 1+10 2026-07-01
70 BT_CHESS42 2459 197-81-465 3+2 2026-04-07
71 ThePhoenix7 2449 22-3-4 5+3 2026-02-20
72 elsiekay 2442 36-8-74 3+2 2026-06-19
73 sansherbina 2441 69-17-134 3+2 2026-06-28
74 proddingprawn 2438 161-56-619 3+2 2026-07-01
75 Rook-AndRoll 2437 61-24-187 1+2 2026-05-30
76 fryingdog 2425 498-226-1582 3+3 2026-02-09
77 mi2497 2424 46-10-77 3+2 2026-04-30
78 raredesk 2418 144-27-418 5+0 2026-06-11
79 LeafTree 2417 1550-634-3598 10+0 2026-07-01
80 cmdbreivik 2412 516-49-738 10+1 2026-07-01
81 ChessEducation 2411 87-18-128 3+2 2026-04-21
82 Krzysieq445 2410 37-3-15 5+5 2026-01-18
83 mraquariyaz67 2407 15-1-5 1+0 2026-02-11
84 serg4001 2405 206-37-235 5+3 2026-06-24
85 biff4317 2396 17-5-11 3+2 2026-01-16
86 Watneg 2380 17-20-42 1+0 2026-04-14
87 ShahMasons 2377 24-4-43 3+2 2026-04-16
88 CoolerMove 2374 121-8-38 10+10 2026-02-26
89 chessdeamon 2373 1006-115-992 10+5 2026-06-25
90 FeliksR 2368 35-8-173 1+1 2026-03-14
91 sharkspb 2367 63-21-134 4+2 2026-07-01
92 Atomrod 2366 84-30-91 7+5 2026-03-12
93 MegaDes 2365 41-9-88 3+2 2026-06-29
94 Solar_Lion 2364 16-3-12 3+2 2026-05-27
95 Vikki2011 2363 93-41-186 3+2 2026-06-05
96 maratgron 2363 53-23-174 3+2 2026-06-22
97 DrahacikFM 2361 676-41-240 5+12 2026-07-01
98 cruc1o 2360 25-6-37 3+2 2026-04-20
99 vespillo77 2355 15-3-12 3+2 2026-04-13
100 Catecan 2354 66-5980-6090 1+0 2026-07-01

... I’ve come up with another idea that could be interesting: If some "good Samaritan" who loves computing and the development of the human mind wants to organize a 'Historical and Retrospective Tournament of Humans vs. Machines,' where we take it year by year and the results, for example 6 humans and 6 machines since or from 1980, and so on up to the present day, I would be happy to participate if they agree to organize such a competition. Again, Dr. Larry Kaufman, I sincerely want to thank you and the lichess and talkchess communities for allowing the voices of Catecan and Father to be heard over the years. I do all of this in memory of my dad, my mom, my family, my ancestors, truly, everyone on this planet Earth with no boundaries for me.

There are software emulations of classic dedicated chess computers from the distant path available, so you can play against such machines yourself for free if you know how to do so. I have no connection with this project so I can't help you on that. I would just point out that time management wasn't very good back then so if you play 3' or 1' sudden death games you may win on time just because they weren't programmed to play 200 move games back then. Just like winning on time against level 8 of Stockfish on LiChess is just due to an arbitrary 150 move limit they adopted on LiChess for the bots. Also since they were relatively weak back then, getting draws would not be any sort of achievement, especially since they had no concept of blocked positions being drawish in those days. So your style of play wouldn't tell us anything useful about those old programs that we don't already know. At least against Leela, your way of playing tests whether it has learned that severely blocked positions are very drawish. Aside from playing the odds bots, you might try playing even games against any Leela nets that play just "policy" (meaning they only look at 1 node, playing the first move they consider plausible); that would be a real test of their understanding of blocked positions.
[/quote]

Thank you very much, Mr. Larry Kaufman, for your information. If at any point you wish, on behalf of the Leela team, for me to test machines, I would gladly do so, God willing. My skills in managing operating systems are almost nonexistent; my ability is limited only to somehow sensing the nature of algorithms, a product of my own life experiences and my innate capacity for deep analysis with which I have been blessed on this earth. Thank you again."
[/quote]

Something has happened to the Leelaqueenodds robot; no movement has been observed for several days, and the machine does not assign the possibility of playing.