Goliath

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Goliath, (Goliath Chess, Little Goliath, ...) a family of chess programs running under Windows, written by Michael Borgstädt, who in early 1996 found a possibility to include knowledge regarding planning and strategic thinking combined with a reliable tactical searcher, first indicated with Goliath's forerunner InterChess, which played the WMCCC 1996 in Jakarta. Beside the knowledge based private program, announced to be available in March/April 1997 by Gambit-Soft, but never released , the less knowledgeable but very fast Little Goliath (LG) was a formidable Blitz player. LG versions were distributed as WinBoard and later UCI compliant LG Gold, LG 2000, also commercially released as ChessBase native Young Talent Goliath Light 1.5 , and Goliath Blitz as native Chess Academy engine, as Goliath Mate, LG Nemesis, LG Revival and LG Evolution.

=LG Evolution NN= About 16 years after the author made his own experiments with neural networks in computer chess, in January 2022, Little Goliath Evolution Neural Network Version 3.15 was released, featuring NNUE technology.

=Tournament Play= Goliath played the WMCCC 1997 in Paris, operated by Wolfgang Traudes, the WMCCC 2001 where it won the title of the World Microcomputer Speed-Chess Champion , and the WCCC 2002, both in Maastricht operated by book author Erdogan Günes, further the ICT 2001, and the CCT1 and CCT4 on-line tournaments.

=Photos & Games=

Gandalf 1997
WMCCC 1997, round 3, Goliath - Gandalf [Event "WMCCC 1997"] [Site "Paris, France"] [Date "1997.10.27"] [Round "3"] [White "Goliath"] [Black "Gandalf"] [Result "1-0"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 e6 3.d4 c5 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.O-O cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bc5 7.Nb3 Bb6 8.Nc3 Nf6 9.Bg5 O-O 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Qxd1 12.Rfxd1 Nxe4 13.Bxe4 f6 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.fxe3 Ne5 16.Rab1 Rb8 17.h3 b6 18.Nd4 Bd7 19.Kf2 Rbd8 20.b3 f5 21.Bg2 Nf7 22.Ne2 e5 23.Bd5 h5 24.Rd3 g6 25.Rbd1 Kg7 26.Bxf7 Rxf7 27.Rd6 g5 28.R6d5 Kf6 29.a4 g4 30.h4 Re7 31.Rd6+ Kg7 32.R1d5 Kf7 33.Rd1 Kg7 34.c4 Rf7 35.R1d5 Re7 36.a5 bxa5 37.c5 Kf7 38.c6 Bxc6 39.Rxd8 Bxd5 40.Rxd5 Kf6 41.Rxa5 Rb7 42.Ra6+ Kg7 43.Nc1 Rc7 44.Nd3 Rc2+ 45.Kf1 Rc3 46.Rxa7+ Kf6 47.Ra6+ Kg7 48.Ke2 Rc2+ 49.Kf1 Rc3 50.Ra7+ Kf6 51.Ke2 Rc2+ 52.Ke1 Rg2 53.Ra6+ Kg7 54.Nxe5 Rxg3 55.Kf2 Rh3 56.Ng6 Rf3+ 57.Ke2 Rh3 58.b4 Rh2+ 59.Kd3 Rb2 60.Nf4 Rb3+ 61.Kd2 Rxb4 62.Nxh5+ Kh7 63.Nf6+ Kg7 64.Nd5 Rb2+ 65.Kd3 Rh2 66.Ne7 Rf2 67.Nd5 Rh2 68.Ra7+ Kg6 69.Nf4+ Kf6 70.Ra6+ Kf7 71.h5 Rh1 72.Kd4 g3 73.Ke5 g2 74.Nxg2 Rxh5 75.Ra7+ Ke8 76.Nf4 Rh6 77.Kxf5 Kd8 78.e4 Kc8 79.e5 Kb8 80.Rf7 Rh8 81.Ng6 Rh5+ 82.Kf6 Rh1 83.e6 Rf1+ 84.Kg7 Re1 85.e7 Rxe7 86.Rxe7 1-0

Tao 2001
ICT 2001, Tao - Goliath X, Leen Ammeraal kibitzing, Bas Hamstra and Erdogan Günes [Event "ICT 2001"] [Site "Leiden NED"] [Date "2001.05.18"] [Round "02"] [White "Tao"] [Black "Goliath Chess X"] [Result "1-0"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 Qb6 6.Qc2 Nf6 7.e5 Ne4 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.O-O e6 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Qc5 12.Be2 d5 13.exd6 Bxd6 14.Rab1 a6 15.Nd2 Bf4 16.Ne4 Qf8 17.Rfd1 f5 18.Bh5+ g6 19.Nf6+ Kf7 20.Nd7 Qe8 21.Bxh8 Qxh8 22.Bf3 Nd4 23.Qc5 Nxf3+ 24.gxf3 b6 25.Rxb6 Be3 26.Ne5+ 1-0

Rebel 2001
WMCCC 2001, round 5 (Blitz), Goliath - Rebel [Event "WMCCC 2001 (Blitz)"] [Site "Maastricht, The Netherlands"] [Date "2001.08.21"] [Round "5"] [White "Goliath"] [Black "Rebel"] [Result "1-0"]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O c6 7.a4 Nbd7 8.h3 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Be3 Qe7 11.Qd3 Nh5 12.a5 Nf4 13.Qc4 Qf6 14.Rfd1 Re8 15.b4 Nf8 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.e5 Qe7 18.a6 bxa6 19.Qxf4 Nd7 20.Ne4 Nxe5 21.c3 Nxf3+ 22.Bxf3 Bb7 23.Rd3 Rad8 24.Re3 Be5 25.Qh6 Qc7 26.Nc5 Bc8 27.Rae1 Bh2+ 28.Kh1 Rxe3 29.Qxe3 Bd6 30.Rd1 Bf8 31.Rxd8 Qxd8 32.Nb3 Qf6 33.Nd4 c5 34.bxc5 Qe7 35.Qxe7 Bxe7 36.c6 Kg7 37.g4 Bd8 38.Kg2 Ba5 39.Ne2 Bc7 40.Nd4 Kf6 41.Kf1 Ba5 42.Ne2 Ke5 43.Ke1 f5 44.Kd2 Bb6 45.Nc1 Kf4 46.Ke2 Kg5 47.Nb3 Kh4 48.gxf5 gxf5 49.Bg2 a5 50.Nd4 a4 51.Kd3 a5 52.Kc2 h6 53.Kb2 Bc5 54.c7 Bb6 55.Nb5 a3+ 56.Ka2 f4 57.Bf1 h5 58.Kb3 Bd7 59.Nd4 Kg5 60.h4+ Kh6 61.Nb5 f3 62.Bd3 Bc8 63.Be4 Bxf2 64.Bxf3 Bc5 65.Nxa3 Bd6 66.Nb5 Bc5 67.Bc6 Bb6 68.c4 Bc5 69.Ka4 Kg6 70.Be8+ Kh6 71.Kxa5 Be6 72.Nc3 Bf2 73.Kb5 Bxh4 74.Kc6 Bg3 75.Bd7 Bxd7+ 76.Kxd7 Bxc7 77.Kxc7 Kg5 78.Kd6 h4 79.Ke5 h3 80.Ne4+ Kg4 81.Nf2+ Kg3 82.Nxh3 Kxh3 83.c5 Kg4 84.c6 Kf3 85.c7 Ke3 86.c8=Q 1-0

=See also=
 * David
 * Heureka
 * InterChess

=Forum Posts=

1997 ...

 * Re: WMCCC by Michael Borgstädt, CCC, October 05, 1997 » WMCCC 1997
 * Re: WMCCC by Michael Borgstädt, CCC, October 05, 1997 » WMCCC 1997
 * Goliath vs. Eugen by Howard Exner, CCC, October 30, 1997 » WMCCC 1997
 * FREE ENGINE FOR WINBOARD (GOLIATH LIGHT) by Michael Borgstädt, CCC, August 25, 1998
 * Little Goliath / Download by Michael Borgstädt, CCC, September 01, 1998
 * Little Goliath Update available by Michael Borgstädt, CCC, September 07, 1998
 * Coming soon: Little Goliath Gold 2.0 FINAL RELEASE by CLiebert, CCC, April 29, 1999
 * Tactical monsters: Fritz5.32 and Goliath 2.05 by Jouni Uski, CCC, August 03, 1999
 * Little Goliath 2000 available ! by Frank Quisinsky, CCC, September 20, 1999
 * Page Update: Little Goliath 2000 A for Download by Đorđe Vidanović, CCC, September 30, 1999
 * Little Goliath 2000 V2.0 by CLiebert, CCC, November 28, 1999

2000 ...

 * Goliath Light in "Young Talents" CD? by Francesco Di Tolla, CCC, May 03, 2000
 * Goliath Light's speed is stunning!! by Jouni Uski, CCC, September 25, 2000
 * Little Goliath 2000 by Chris Brennen, rgcc, October 01, 2000
 * CB Goliath Light 1.5 by Michael Borgstädt for free ... by CCCage, rgcc, July 15, 2001
 * WMCC: Goliath Blitz-WCh?! by Eduard Nemeth, CCC, August 21, 2001
 * Goliath Light, Gromit, Patzer, SOS, etc. commercially sold by Theo van der Storm, CCC, August 28, 2001
 * Little Goliath UCI will come by CLiebert, CCC, January 21, 2002
 * Goliath Light 1.5 by Mike Hood, CCC, February 22, 2002
 * Little Goliath Nemesis by Jouni Uski, CCC, June 17, 2003
 * New mate solver "Goliath Mate Beta2" (UCI) available by Manfred Meiler, CCC, August 31, 2003
 * Goliath Blitz by Bob Riley, CCC, September 21, 2003

2005 ...

 * Playing Little Goliath Evolution by Fernando Villegas, CCC, May 14, 2005
 * Final review of Goliath Evolution. Warning: Complete and exhaustive by Fernando Villegas, CCC, May 14, 2005
 * CSS-Online-Masters: great news for "good-old-goliath" fans by CLiebert, CCC, Novemver 07, 2005
 * Little Goliath Evolution Standardgauntlet after 100 / 200 games played by Karl-Heinz Söntges, CCC, March 07, 2006

2020 ...

 * New Little Goliath 3.15 with NN released by Thomas J. Miller, CCC, January 22, 2022

=External Links=

Chess Engine

 * Goliath's ICGA Tournaments
 * Michael Borgstädt's Goliath Chess
 * Chess Academy Goliath Blitz
 * Michael Borgstädt - Goliath Blitz: 35,75 Euro - Chess program (out of production) - Schachversand Niggemann
 * The chess games of GOLIATH from chessgames.com
 * Little Goliath Evolution 3.12 in CCRL 40/40

Misc

 * Goliath (disambiguation) from Wikipedia
 * Goliath from Wikipedia
 * Goliath (novel) from Wikipedia
 * Goliath Chess (Chess Variant)
 * David Schnitter - Goliath (1978), YouTube Video
 * feat.: Hubert Eaves III, Cecil McBee, Eddie Moore, Claudio Roditi, and David Schnitter

=References= Up one Level