What also might not be commonly known is that whenever the code for these free chess engines is publicly available Jim will also recompile the code to run more efficiently. Jim’s recompiles of well-known chess engines often run better than the original chess program did!

Have a look at Jim’s work at: http://jimablett.hostwebs.com/ (no longer valid)

Edit: Jim’s site moved again and he has retired from his compilation work – a sad loss.

The final repository of Jim’s work is at: http://jimablett.net63.net/ (Edit: Sorry this link was later found to have 4(!) trojans in the download. I have removed the active link, but leave the location as anyone with an up to date virus scanner may still wish to visit).

(The old site at: http://homepages.tesco.net/henry.ablett/jims.html is no longer maintained.)

It is a testament to the quality of the work that Jim does in his recompiles that many of the authors of many free chess engines are now going to him to have their code “tweaked”.

So, if you are looking for free chess software in the form of winboard or UCI chess engines then Jim’s page is a good place to start.

Some of the files he hosts include (no particular order):

• Rival Chess
• Red Queen Chess
• Protector
• GNU Chess
• Simplex
• Greko
• Komodo
• Gez
• Mizar
• Sjeng
• Scorpio
• Chess One
• Crafty
• Beaches
• Fimbulwinter
• Sungorous
• Alibaba

And many, many more.

Stockfish – Free Chess Engine

As a separate word of note.  Jim also compiled the latest version of Stockfish.  Stockfish is a free chess engine that is now within a few Elo points of Rybka 4 (currently the world’s strongest chess engine).  This is a great achievement by the team behind Stockfish and it must be mentioned that they deserve full credit and the thanks of the community at large for making a chess engine of this quality freely available.

If for some reason the download is offline you can get the Stockfish chess engine from: https://stockfishchess.org

Also, take a look at the custom made opening book to suit the engine’s particular style of play.

About UCI and Winboard Chess Engines

Winboard and UCI compatible chess programs do not run on their own.  You need a GUI to operate them.  Thankfully there are a number of free chess interfaces available.

My personal recommendation is Arena – which is hosted at: http://www.playwitharena.com/

Full explanation of the various parts of the install is dealt with on the site and Arena even comes with an early (and free) version of Rybka.

Of course if installing all these bits of software is not your thing then feel free to try out our free online chess game here at computer chess online.

Happy playing!

Computer Chess Online - Jim Abletts Free Chess Engine Site has Moved

I really love the game of chess.  It is simple to understand, yet amazingly complicated in practice. This love of chess is what lead me to create computer chess online.

There are very few similar games that demand such deep thought, strategic thinking, tactical brilliance and perfect concentration in order to win.  Chess offers all this and more, but without the element of luck.  The pieces only move to where you place them on the chessboard.

Unfortunately, unless you live in a locality with a large chess playing community it can be hard to find a human opponent.  There are of course websites and services that offer opportunities to play chess online.  The problem with these sites, at least in my opinion, is that most players want to play blitz chess and I personally enjoy classical time controls and longer games.  Finding a player of similar strength who wishes to play a longer game can at times be challenging.

Advantages of Computer Chess Software

As computer software has come on so much over recent years it is easy to get a computer opponent to play against that will challenge and indeed most likely beat, any player up to and including the World Champion GrandMaster.  Not only is computer chess software powerful in Elo terms, it is also available to play 24 hours a day, will not complain about the selected time controls etc.  I still enjoy playing against human players, but as my time to play is limited, a computer opponent is often a preferred choice.

Computer chess engines do not just make great opponents.  Due to the extreme playing strength of even the freeware chess programs the game analysis these engines provide can be invaluable.  It is a modern irony that the chess world looks down on computer chess as a poor relation to “the real game” when in actuality the games produced by computers are often tactically stronger. Even further down the line are the games between so-called “Centaurs”.  Centaurs or Centaur Chess are terms used to refer to a computer and human playing in tandem.  Centaur games are often of very high quality.

The reason I say that “real chess” looking down on computer chess is ironic is that the top human players will often use a battery of highly specialised multi-core computers to analyse a position or chess opening in order to find a new novelty or a refutation.  How ridiculous it is then to hear people speak in negative terms about computer chess.

The Future of Computer Chess

Ever since Gary Kasparov was beaten by a chess computer people have been claiming that chess will be “solved”.  By this statement they mean that there will be a method of playing in which the outcome of the game can be forced from the opening move, giving victory to white (who moves first) every time.  While this happened for tic-tac-toe, chess is a very different game.

At the time I write this post, a “solution” for chess seems totally absurd.  The combinations of moves even 10 or 20 ply into a game of chess are immense and although chess computers are increasing in power almost daily a “solution” seems unlikely.  Maybe I will be proven wrong on this point, especially if we see artificial intelligence or quantum computing become a reality, but for now, these ideas are science fiction and belong on my other blog!

To be honest, I would like to be proven wrong on this point as it would mean that humanity has taken a large step forward problem-solvinging with the aid of computers.

Whatever the future brings, I intend to be talking about it here at Computer Chess Online.

Computer Chess Online - Computer Chess Online – Coming Soon!