Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Chessmaster AI simulator
(@Chessmaster_simulator)
Hub AI
Chessmaster AI simulator
(@Chessmaster_simulator)
Chessmaster
Chessmaster (originally The Chessmaster) is a chess video game series, currently owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess video game series, with more than five million units sold as of 2002[update]. The same cover art image featuring Will Hare was used from Chessmaster 2000 to Chessmaster 9000.
The Chessmaster chess engine is called The King, written by Johan de Köning of the Netherlands and introduced in the Chessmaster 4000 Turbo. It became the Chessmaster engine until the present, while the last engine version The King 3.50 was incorporated in the Chessmaster 11.
The first edition Chessmaster 2000 featured a chess engine written by David Kittinger, who went on to develop the engines for Interplay's USCF Chess, WChess for the German company Millennium 2000, and Sierra Entertainment's Power Chess, Majestic Chess and Disney's Aladdin Chess Adventures. The second edition Chessmaster 2100 had an engine designed by Kate and Dan Spracklen of Sargon family chess programs.
According to the September 2009 Swedish Chess Computer Association (SSDF) rating list, Chessmaster 9000 had an estimated Elo rating of 2718 on an Athlon-1200 PC. If multiple versions of other engines are stripped out of this list, Chessmaster 9000 ranked 14th among all engines tested. As of May 2008[update], Chessmaster 9000 remained the most recent version rated by the SSDF.
The latest version, Chessmaster 11, was released in 2007, and has lagged behind more current chess engines. CCRL placed it 121st on its August 2020 list (15th among engines only available via purchase).
The King engine allows users to create new playing styles, called "personalities", by manipulating several dozen different settings, such as King Safety, Pawn Weakness, Randomness, Mobility and others. Individual piece values can also be adjusted. Chessmaster 9000, for example, features over 150 different personalities ranging from International Grandmaster strength down to Stanley, a chimpanzee who, in most situations, plays completely random moves. The Stanley chimpanzee personality inspired the Stanley Random Chess Variant.
The Chessmaster 2000 developers aimed to anthropomorphize the game's chess engine with a mascot character to give players the feeling of a human opponent. The "Chessmaster" character on the game's packaging and title screens was a photo of actor Will Hare costumed to look like "a person, a wizard, a chessmaster!" rather than a "black box" The image became iconic, and the original photo remained part of the series' branding for 17 years.
Chessmaster won the four-game match against Christiansen held in September 2002, by a score of 2½–1½. The Chessmaster program was operated by John Merlino, the Project Manager of Chessmaster at the time of the match. Four different personalities were used in the match, the first three of which were based on famous human Grandmasters: Alexander Alekhine, Bobby Fischer, and Mikhail Botvinnik. The final game of the match used the default "Chessmaster" personality. Christiansen won the first game, lost the second and third games, and the fourth game resulted in a draw.
Chessmaster
Chessmaster (originally The Chessmaster) is a chess video game series, currently owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess video game series, with more than five million units sold as of 2002[update]. The same cover art image featuring Will Hare was used from Chessmaster 2000 to Chessmaster 9000.
The Chessmaster chess engine is called The King, written by Johan de Köning of the Netherlands and introduced in the Chessmaster 4000 Turbo. It became the Chessmaster engine until the present, while the last engine version The King 3.50 was incorporated in the Chessmaster 11.
The first edition Chessmaster 2000 featured a chess engine written by David Kittinger, who went on to develop the engines for Interplay's USCF Chess, WChess for the German company Millennium 2000, and Sierra Entertainment's Power Chess, Majestic Chess and Disney's Aladdin Chess Adventures. The second edition Chessmaster 2100 had an engine designed by Kate and Dan Spracklen of Sargon family chess programs.
According to the September 2009 Swedish Chess Computer Association (SSDF) rating list, Chessmaster 9000 had an estimated Elo rating of 2718 on an Athlon-1200 PC. If multiple versions of other engines are stripped out of this list, Chessmaster 9000 ranked 14th among all engines tested. As of May 2008[update], Chessmaster 9000 remained the most recent version rated by the SSDF.
The latest version, Chessmaster 11, was released in 2007, and has lagged behind more current chess engines. CCRL placed it 121st on its August 2020 list (15th among engines only available via purchase).
The King engine allows users to create new playing styles, called "personalities", by manipulating several dozen different settings, such as King Safety, Pawn Weakness, Randomness, Mobility and others. Individual piece values can also be adjusted. Chessmaster 9000, for example, features over 150 different personalities ranging from International Grandmaster strength down to Stanley, a chimpanzee who, in most situations, plays completely random moves. The Stanley chimpanzee personality inspired the Stanley Random Chess Variant.
The Chessmaster 2000 developers aimed to anthropomorphize the game's chess engine with a mascot character to give players the feeling of a human opponent. The "Chessmaster" character on the game's packaging and title screens was a photo of actor Will Hare costumed to look like "a person, a wizard, a chessmaster!" rather than a "black box" The image became iconic, and the original photo remained part of the series' branding for 17 years.
Chessmaster won the four-game match against Christiansen held in September 2002, by a score of 2½–1½. The Chessmaster program was operated by John Merlino, the Project Manager of Chessmaster at the time of the match. Four different personalities were used in the match, the first three of which were based on famous human Grandmasters: Alexander Alekhine, Bobby Fischer, and Mikhail Botvinnik. The final game of the match used the default "Chessmaster" personality. Christiansen won the first game, lost the second and third games, and the fourth game resulted in a draw.