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For some time now, I have felt that the time is right to write a book about Computer Chess. Ever since the first attempts at chess pro gramming were made, some twenty five years ago, interest in the subject ha"s grown from year to year. During the late 1950s the subject was first brought to the attention of the public by an article in Scient(fic American, and less than a decade later a chess program was competing in a tournament with humans. More recently, there have been tournaments in which the only participants were computer programs. and when the first World Computer Championship was held in Stockholm in 1974 the event was an outstanding success. Laymen often doubt the value of investing in a subject so esoteric as computer chess, but there is definitely considerable benefit to be gained from a study of the automisation of chess and other intellectual games. If it proves possible to play such games well by computer, then the techniques employed to analyse and assess future positions in these games will also be useful in other problems in long-range planning. I have tried to make this book both interesting and instructive. Those who understand anything at all about chess but who have no knowledge of computers, will be able to follow my description of how computers play chess. Those with a knowledge of both areas will still find much to interest them.
E-Book Content
ALL ABOUT CH ESS AN D COM PUTERS Chess and Computers and More Chess and Computers Second Edition
ALL ABOUT CHESS AN D COM PUTERS DAVID LEVY and MONROE NEWBORN
Containing the Complete Works:
Chess and Computers
by David Levy
and
More Chess and Computers Second Edition The Microcomputer Revolution The Challenge Match BELLE the World Champion by David Levy and Monroe Newborn
Springer-Verlag Berlin-Heidelberg 1982
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title: All about chess and computers. Includes bibliographies. 1. Chess-Data processing. 2. ChessTournaments. I. Levy, David N. L. Chess and computers. 1982. 11. Levy, David N. L. More chess and computers. 2nd ed. 1982. 82-12497 GV1318.A38 1982 794.1 '7 With 117 Figures Copyright © 1982 Computer Science Press. Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form. including photostat, microfilm, and xerography, and not in information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or as provided in the Copyright Act of 1976. This book is distributed exclusively by Springer-Verlag Berlin-Heidelberg outside of North America, China, and Japan. ISBN 978-3-642-85540-5 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-85538-2
ISBN 978-3-642-85538-2 (eBook)
Chess and Computers
David Levy
First published 1976 Copyright © David Levy 1976 Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the Publisher. Computer Science Press, Inc. 9125 Fall River Lane Potomac, Maryland 20854 ISBN -
0-914894-02-1
Paper
Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5
Chess Machines ............................ How Computers Play Chess
..................
The Early History of Computer Chess .......... The Modern Era of Computer Chess ........... Computer Chess Tournaments ................
6 Current Research and Future Prospects
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7 Stop Press ................................. Bibliography ...............................
1 24 40 84 113 130 138 140
Preface For some time now, I have felt that the time is right to write a book about Computer Chess. Ever since the first attempts at chess