Schach

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Schach, (Schach 2.x and 3.0) one of the early German chess programs, written by Matthias Engelbach since 1978 in Algol while affiliated with the Bundeswehr University Munich. According to a former Chessgames.com description, Schach 2.0 was based on a 1970 version of the Fortran program Schach by Rolf C. Smith and Franklin D. Ceruti (Version 1 was the 1968 Master's thesis that originated from Texas A&M University). In the early 90s, Thomas Kreitmair joined as co-author, starting to re-write Schach in x86 assembly.

=Schach 2.x= As its debut, Schach 2.3 participated at the WCCC 1980, Schach 2.5 played the ACM 1981, Schach 2.6 the ACM 1982, and Schach 2.7 the WCCC 1983, ACM 1984, and finally the WCCC 1986.

=Schach 3.0= In the 90s, along with co-author Thomas Kreitmair, Schach 3.0 was a complete re-write in x86 (486) assembly language for DOS PCs. It was one of the fastest programs of its time. Schach 3.0 played seven Dutch Open Computer Chess Championships from 1991 until 1997, and became strong third at the DOCCC 1994. Further, Schach played four IPCCCs winning IPCCC 1994, the PC Division of Don Beal's UPCCC 1992 and UPCCC 1993, five Aegon Tournaments from 1993 until 1997, and three ICCA tournaments the WCCC 1995, the WMCCC 1995, and the WMCCC 1996.

=Description= given in 1995 from the ICGA site : Schach 3 is the PC version of Schach 2.x one of the earliest German chess programs. It is a non-commercial project developed and maintained by two former students. Work on Schach started in 1978 and after some surprisingly good results in computer chess tournaments, the authors could not stop working on the program. Even the distance - one of the programmers (Kreitmeir) lives in the Netherlands and the other in Germany - is no real handicap.

The program is a more or less simple Shannon-A program with all the known extensions (the authors believe in the brute-force method for computer chess). The program is written in 486- assembler and can search 9 or ten plies in the middlegame. Schach participated in the 1980, 1983 and 1986 World Championships, in the ACM events in the period 1981-1985 and in the German and Dutch Championships since 1992. Best results were a 6th place in Linz 1980 and New York 1983, a 3rd place in the 1994 Dutch Championship and a first place in the 1994 German Championship (Zugzwang was absent, but we all need some good luck!)

=Selected Games=

Chess 4.9
WCCC 1989, round 4, Chess 4.9 - Schach 2.3 [Event "WCCC 1980"] [Site "Linz, Austria"] [Date "1980.09.28"] [Round "4"] [White "Chess 4.9"] [Black "Schach 2.3"] [Result "1-0"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.Nxc3 Bd6 7.Qe2 O-O 8.O-O Ne5 9.Bd2 c6 10.Bb3 b5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bd4+ 13.Kh1 Re8 14.e5 Bxc3 15.Bxc3 d5 16.a4 d4 17.Bd2 bxa4 18.Rxa4 c5 19.Ba5 Qd7 20.Qc2 Ba6 21.Rfa1 d3 22.Qxc5 Rac8 23.Qg1 Nh5 24.Bd2 Bb7 25.Rxa7 Rc7 26.Bd1 Qh3 27.Qf2 Qf5 28.Bf3 Rb8 29.Bxb7 Nxf4 30.Bxf4 d2 31.Qxd2 g5 32.Bxg5 Rcxb7 33.Rxb7 Rxb7 34.Ra8+ Kg7 1-0

Nona
WCCC 1986, round 1, Schach 2.7 - Nona [Event "WCCC 1986"] [Site "Cologne, Germany"] [Date "1986.06.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Schach 2.7"] [Black "Nona"] [Result "1-0"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.a3 Ngxe5 7.Nxe5 Nxe5 8.Be2 d6 9.b4 Bb6 10.Bb2 f6 11.O-O Bf5 12.a4 a5 13.Bd4 axb4 14.Bxb6 cxb6 15.Qb3 Kd7 16.Qxb4 Kc8 17.Rd1 Nf7 18.Qb2 Ne5 19.Nc3 Re8 20.Nb5 Nf7 21.Rd4 Kb8 22.Bh5 g6 23.Bf3 Qe7 24.Rad1 Rd8 25.R1d2 h5 26.Qb3 Ng5 27.Bd5 Ra5 28.Rb2 Ra6 29.Rd1 Bg4 30.Rdb1 1-0

Ferret
WMCCC 1996, round 1, Schach 3.0 - Ferret [Event "WMCCC 1996"] [Site "Jakarta, Indonesia"] [Date "1996.10.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Schach 3.0"] [Black "Ferret"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 e5 6.dxe5 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bg4 8.Bf4 Nge7 9.Be2 Ng6 10.Bg3 O-O-O+ 11.Nbd2 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Ngxe5 13.Be2 Bd6 14.Kc2 f5 15.Rad1 Bc7 16.Nb3 b6 17.Bb5 Kb7 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.f4 Ng6 20.Rf1 Nge7 21.Bc4 h6 22.Bh4 Rd6 23.Bf7 Nd5 24.Rf3 Nd8 25.Bxd5+ Rxd5 26.c4 Rd6 27.Bxd8 Rxd8 28.g3 g6 29.Nd2 a6 30.Rd3 Re8 31.Rd7 Re2 32.Rg7 Rxh2 33.Rxg6 h5 34.Kd3 h4 35.Nf3 hxg3 36.Nxh2 gxh2 37.Rh6 Bxf4 38.Rh7+ Kc6 39.Ke2 Bg3 40.Kf3 f4 41.b3 Kd6 42.Ke4 Ke6 43.Rh6+ Kf7 44.a3 Ke7 45.b4 Kf7 46.bxc5 bxc5 47.a4 a5 48.Kf3 Kg7 49.Rh3 Kf6 50.Rh5 Kg6 51.Rh8 Kf6 52.Ke4 Ke6 53.Rh5 Kf6 1/2-1/2

=See also=
 * Schach by Rolf C. Smith and Franklin D. Ceruti
 * Schach dem Schweinehund
 * Schach MV 5,6 by Helmut Richter

=Forum Posts=
 * QMW computer chess by Don Beal, rec.games.chess, August 19, 1993 » UPCCC 1993
 * Schach 2.7 vs Cray Blitz [1986 World Computer Chess Championship] by José Antônio Fabiano Mendes, CCC, October 24, 2000 » WCCC 1986 Adjudication
 * Schach 3.0 by Vincent Diepeveen, CCC, April 08, 2002

=External Links=

Chess Program

 * Schach's ICGA Tournaments
 * The chess games of Schach 2 3 from Chessgames.com

Schach

 * Schach from Wikipedia
 * Schach from Wikipedia.de (German) = Chess
 * Schach (Zeitschrift) from Wikipedia.de (German Chess periodical)

=References= Up one level