Comments on LarsenVB and Colchess.

[Mogens Larsen]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 March 2000 15:44:20:
There have been some uncertainty about whether LarsenVB and ColChess work or not. They do! Regarding LarsenVB, you don't have to download the large installation file. I don't know if this causes problems, but you only need the 120k file. You put it all in a folder and it works without problems. ColChess is a bit more troublesome, because it behaves mysteriously. I can't make it work unless the executable only has 8 characters, eg. CChess56.exe. Dann Corbits version only works in text mode. To prove I'm not making up fairy tales, here's a couple of games:
[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "MOGENS"]
[Date "2000.03.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "LarsenVB_02"]
[Black "CChess56"]
[Result "0-1"]
[TimeControl "40/300"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Nc6 4. Bg5 f6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Be3 Bf5 7. Nc3 Nh6
8. Qb3 Nb4 9. Qa4+ c6 10. Rc1 b5 11. Qd1 Ng4 12. a3 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Na6 14.
g3 Bd6 15. Bg2 Qe7 16. Qd2 O-O 17. O-O Rae8 18. Nh4 Bg4 19. e4 b4 20. axb4
Nxb4 21. exd5 cxd5 22. Nf5 Qe6 23. Nb5 Qxe2 24. Qxe2 Bxe2 25. Nbxd6 Bxf1
26. Nxe8 Bxg2 27. Nexg7 Be4 28. Rc7 a5 29. Nh6+ Kh8 30. Nhf5 Nc2 31. Ra7
Rb8 32. Rxa5 Nxd4 33. Nxd4 Kxg7 34. b3 h6 35. Ra7+ Kg6 36. Kf2 f5 37. Ke3
Kg5 38. h4+ Kg4 39. Rg7+ Kh5 40. Rc7 Rb4 41. Ra7 Kg4 42. Rg7+ Kh5 43. Rc7
Kg4 44. Rg7+ Kh5 45. Rc7 Bb1 46. Rc5 Kg4 47. Rxd5 Kxg3 48. Kd2 f4 49. Kc3
Rb6 50. Kb2 Be4 51. Re5 Bg2 52. Ne2+ Kg4 53. Re7 Bd5 54. Rg7+ Kxh4 55. Nxf4
Bxb3 56. Ng2+ Kh3 57. Nf4+ Kh4 58. Ng2+ Kh3 59. Nf4+ Kh2 60. Kc3 Bd1 61.
Rg2+ Kh1 62. Rf2 Bg4 63. Nd5 Rc6+ 64. Kd4 h5 65. Rf7 h4 66. Rf4 Ra6 67. Ne3
Ra4+ 68. Nc4 h3 69. Rxg4 Ra2 70. Rg7 h2 71. Ne3 Ra4+ 72. Kd5 Ra5+ 73. Kd4
Ra4+ 74. Kd5 Ra5+ 75. Kd4 Ra1 76. Nd5 Rg1 77. Rc7 Rd1+ 78. Ke4 Kg1 79. Rg7+
Kf2 80. Rf7+ Kg3 81. Rg7+ Kf2 82. Rf7+ Ke2 83. Nf4+ Kd2 84. Rd7+ Kc2 85.
Rc7+ Kb3 86. Rb7+ Kc4 87. Rc7+ Kb5 88. Rh7 h1=Q+ 89. Rxh1 Rxh1 90. Nd5 Kc5
91. Nf6 Rf1 92. Ng4 Rf7 93. Ne5 Re7 94. Kf5 Kd5 95. Nd3 Rf7+ 96. Kg4 Kd4
97. Nf4 Ke4 98. Ne6 Rf2 99. Nc5+ Kd4 100. Ne6+ Ke5 101. Nc5 Rd2 102. Kf3
Rd5 103. Na6 Rb5 104. Ke3 Kd6 105. Kd4 Rb6 106. Nc7 Kxc7 107. Kd5 Rb2 108.
Kd4 Kd6 109. Kc3 Rf2 110. Kd4 Rd2+ 111. Ke3 Rd1 112. Ke4 Rd5 113. Kf4 Re5
114. Kf3 Kd5 115. Kf4 Kd4 116. Kf3 Re4 117. Kg3 Re2 118. Kf3 Re1 119. Kf4
Rf1+ 120. Kg4 Ke4 121. Kg3 Rg1+ 122. Kf2 Rg4 123. Ke2 Rg2+ 124. Kf1 Rd2
125. Ke1 Ke3 126. Kf1 Re2 127. Kg1 Ke4 128. Kf1 Kf3 129. Kg1 Rd2 130. Kh1
Kg3 131. Kg1 Rd1#
{Black mates} 0-1
[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "MOGENS"]
[Date "2000.03.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "CChess56"]
[Black "LarsenVB_02"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "40/300"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e3 Bb4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nf6 7. cxd5 Nxd5
8. Bb2 O-O 9. Nf3 Nd7 10. Bd3 N7f6 11. O-O Bd7 12. c4 Ne7 13. Bc3 Qc8 14.
Bb4 Re8 15. e4 a5 16. Bd6 Ng4 17. h3 Nf6 18. e5 Nh5 19. Ng5 g6 20. Nxh7 Qd8
21. Rb1 Nf5 22. Bxf5 exf5 23. Nf8 Bc8 24. g4 Ng7 25. f4 fxg4 26. hxg4 Rxf8
27. Bxf8 Kxf8 28. Rf2 Qe7 29. Qf3 Ne6 30. Rd1 c5 31. Qh3 Qe8 32. Qh8+ Ke7
33. Qf6+ Kf8 34. Rh2 Nxd4 35. Rh8#
{White mates} 1-0

Best wishes...
Mogens

[Colin Frayn]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Colin Frayn at 03 March 2000 16:57:29:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Comments on LarsenVB and Colchess. geschrieben von:/posted by: Mogens Larsen at 03 March 2000 15:44:20:

There have been some uncertainty about whether LarsenVB and ColChess work or not. They do!
ColChess is a bit more troublesome, because it behaves mysteriously. I can't make it work unless the executable only has 8 characters
To prove I'm not making up fairy tales, here's a couple of games:

...and version 6.0 will fix two long standing portability bugs (I hope) - namely the timing and the buffer problems (caused problems with SunOS).
Some people have had that problem. That's not my fault ) (or at least I don't think it can be...) I think it must be a windows quirk. Unless it has something to do with that strange bit of code Dann Corbit added into his port (you know Dann - the CDECL bit - what _does_ that do??)
Interesting games. I'm pleased you chose two that ColChess won - that makes up for that apalling tournament result earlier today *grin*
Thanks for the help,
Incidentally - I've added a chess theory page on to my web page if anyone is interested. Nothing too advanced yet - just the basic algorithms. Might be worth pointing out to beginners who ask about what a-b pruning does etc....
Have a look and tell me what you think. I'd be glad to hear of any mistakes/suggestions.
Cheers,
Colin


ColChess Homepage

[Dann Corbit]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Dann Corbit at 03 March 2000 20:10:41:
Als Antwort auf:/As an answer to: Re: Comments on LarsenVB and Colchess. geschrieben von:/posted by: Colin Frayn at 03 March 2000 16:57:29:

There have been some uncertainty about whether LarsenVB and ColChess work or not. They do!
ColChess is a bit more troublesome, because it behaves mysteriously. I can't make it work unless the executable only has 8 characters

...and version 6.0 will fix two long standing portability bugs (I hope) - namely the timing and the buffer problems (caused problems with SunOS).
Some people have had that problem. That's not my fault ) (or at least I don't think it can be...) I think it must be a windows quirk.
To prove I'm not making up fairy tales, here's a couple of games:
Interesting games. I'm pleased you chose two that ColChess won - that makes up for that apalling tournament result earlier today *grin*
Thanks for the help,
Incidentally - I've added a chess theory page on to my web page if anyone is interested. Nothing too advanced yet - just the basic algorithms. Might be worth pointing out to beginners who ask about what a-b pruning does etc....
Have a look and tell me what you think. I'd be glad to hear of any mistakes/suggestions.

It works fine for me with any name I give it. *Shrug*
I find some of the recent tournaments puzzling. ColChess and Freyr are both fairly strong. I don't understand why they don't clean up on some of the other simpler programs. It might be a problem that some are using slower hardware. I target for a Pentium Pro chip or higher. It will still run on slower chips, but the instruction set chosen is better for P6 and higher.