Announcing KCEC Tournament

[Kirill Kryukov]

In the middle of this clone madness going on in computer chess this days, I decided to contribute to the anti-clone view shared by many members. Today I announce my tournament called KCEC, which was slowly running for the last 3 years or so. (It was not a secret, simply I never specifically talked about it or announced updates here, because I run it primarily for my own curiosity).

Tournament name: KCEC (Kirr's Chess Engine Comparison)
Web-site: http://kirill-kryukov.com/chess/kcec/

Today another engine (JanWillem 1.13) finished its matches, making 100 participants in total (not counting the older versions).

Conditions:
Time control: 40/4 (CCRL definition of 40/4)
Opening book: Harry's 8-moves book
Ponder: Off
Learning: Off
EGTB: up to 5 pieces
Hardware platform: 64-bit 1-CPU.

Participation: Only original free engines can enter.

Format: New engines are added one by one to the established field. Each new engine must play matches with at least 16 stronger and 16 weaker opponents (if available). Every match is at least 30 games long (usually 32).

A chess engine to me is not just a little chess playing program, but first of all a real person behind it, a man who invested huge amount of time and energy into creating a chess program. Even a relatively weak engine can contain interesting ideas, style or just spirit (although usually being bug-free is all I ask :~) ). Also when competition is done in a friendly and sportsman way, the actual rank does not matter too much. Participation is a fun by itself.

I intend to continue testing original free engines, and to support authors working on their own ideas. (Although exchange of ideas is fine).

I want to send the message that computer chess is still fun to do. My hope is to see the authors of older programs back, the authors of current programs to continue, and new developers to join the field.

If you'll have any question, suggestion or comment, please go ahead and post.

Best,
Kirill

[Audmeister]

Sorry if I didnt see it, but isnt TwistedLogic's best version 20090922 instead of the one you have 20080404x?

[Graham Banks]

Sorry if I didnt see it, but isnt TwistedLogic's best version 20090922 instead of the one you have 20080404x?

Kirill has a list of engines to wade through.
He intends getting each eligible engine on the list before moving to replace those that have updated versions since he originally tested them.

[Engin]

i cant see Tornado in your list

why ?

[Graham Banks]

i cant see Tornado in your list

why ?

It's probably still in his queue of engines to test.

[Kirill Kryukov]

i cant see Tornado in your list

why ?

There are hundreds of engines, and my resources are very limited, that's why it may take long time before a particular engine is added. I have a long queue of engines that I want to invite to the tournament, and Tornado is in there, somewhere in the middle.