Chessboard/Bitboard Processor?

[John Digsby]

Thanks to all those who helped me in a previous thread on bitboards (the chessBoard class in my application is nearly finished!)

I've been reading a lot of things on this forum, and it seems to almost be an online research group. So, as a Ph.D electronics student, I was wondering: what about a processor for a bitboard game? That is, a supplementary board that could plug into a PCI slot (or similar) on a computer and handle some of the elements of chess processing.

Imagine it as a sort of graphics card, but for chess! I'd imagine trying to implement it on an FPGA, or similar reprogrammable logic, and have it perform some of the operations that are more expensive on an x86/x64 etc. such as MSB or LSB operations.

Had this idea over lunch, so have not properly digested it. Might be interesting?

[Ron Murawski]

Hi John,

Custom hardware chess machines have been built several times in the past. The oldest one I remember was Belle (from Bell Labs), back in the 70s (80s maybe?). There have been many others done since then. The most recent is Hydra
http://www.hydrachess.com/

Hardware is always faster than software!

Ron

[John Digsby]

Oh yeah, definitely - after all, computerised chess boards are essentially custom chess hardware. I was thinking more along the lines of a supplement to a desktop computer to improve the performance of engines that are written here...

[sje]

The most recent is Hydra
http://www.hydrachess.com/

Is the Hydra project still active? The most recent games are nearly three years old.

[Ron Murawski]

The most recent is Hydra
http://www.hydrachess.com/

Is the Hydra project still active? The most recent games are nearly three years old.

I believe that Hydra is no longer under development. I was referring to the most recent hardware chess engine that I was aware of.

Ron

[sje]

[I believe that Hydra is no longer under development. I was referring to the most recent hardware chess engine that I was aware of.

I guess that's true. But note that the Hydra web site is still being updated.

References to specialized chess processors should also include CHEOPS (from MIT; roughly contemporary with Belle), and HiTech (from CMU; first system to achieve a USCF 2400 rating).