Naum

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Naum, a former commercial chess engine written by Alexander Naumov in C++. In about 2003, Naum was first developed for Palm handheld computers, and ported to x86 PCs, where Naum soon evolved to a top commercial chess engine. Naum 4.2 was released in March 2010, and did support both, the Chess Engine Communication Protocol and UCI with executables shipped for single-and multiple-processor systems running under Windows and Linux. Naum was part of the Chess Coach program supporting the proprietary BlitzIn, Dasher and ChessBase GUIs. As of 2012, the commercial career of Naum as stand alone program ended so far, and in September 2014, Alexander Naumov asked Graham Banks to provide a download link for a free Naum 4.6.

=Selectivity Issues= In forum discussions on evaluation at interior nodes, Alex mentioned eval >= beta did not work in early Naum as null move pruning precondition, and further that history pruning gave Naum about 40-50 ELO.

=Tournament Play= Naum played the Chess960CWC 2006 and Chess960CWC 2008 over the board, and online the CCT9, the CCT10 (shared winner with Rybka), and the ACCA 2008. Naum 4.2 to 4.6 (Stage 3, 4) played the TCEC Season 5, and 4.6 further TCEC Season 6, where it won stage 1b.

=Photos & Games=

CCT9
CCT9, Crafty - Naum [Event "CCT9"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2007.02.17"] [Round "-"] [White "Crafty"] [Black "Naum"] [Result "0-1"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.O-O d6 7.Bb3 Ba7 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.h3 Be6 10.Re1 Bxb3 11.Qxb3 Rb8 12.Nf1 h6 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Nxe3 Re8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Ne7 17.d4 Ng6 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.Re4 Kh7 20.c4 f5 21.Ree1 c5 22.Re2 e4 23.Ne1 b5 24.Rd1 Qd6 25.Qc3 Ne5 26.cxb5 axb5 27.f3 Ng6 28.fxe4 Nf4 29.Rc2 c4 30.g3 Nh5 31.Qf3 Nxg3 32.exf5 Rf8 33.Rg2 Nxf5 34.Nc2 Rbe8 35.Qg4 g6 36.Rf1 h5 37.Qg5 Re5 38.Qf4 Qc5+ 39.Kh2 Rxd5 40.Re1 Rd3 41.Qe5 Qc8 42.Qe6 Qb8+ 43.Qe5 Qd8 44.Re4 Rd5 45.Qe6 Qc7+ 46.Kg1 Rd6 47.Qe5 Rf7 48.Qe8 Rdd7 49.a4 Qb6+ 50.Kh2 Rfe7 51.Rxe7+ Rxe7 52.Qxb5 Qd6+ 53.Kh1 Nh4 54.Qxc4 Qd1+ 0-1

Round 5
Chess960CWC 2008, Round 5, Naum 3.1 - Rybka 3 [Event "Chess960CWC 2008"] [Site "Mainz GER"] [Date "2008.07.30"] [Round "5"] [White "Naum 3.1"] [Black "Rybka 3"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Variant "chess 960"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rnnqbbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNNQBBKR w HAha - 0 1"]

{SP 445} 1.e4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4 Nb6 5.Be2 Bd6 6.a4 a5 7.Nb3 c6 8.f3 f6 9.Bd3 Bf7 10.Bg3 Bxg3 11.hxg3 Nc4 12.Bxc4 dxc4 13.Nc5 b6 14. N5e4 O-O 15.g4 Na6 16.Qd2 Nb4 17.O-O-O Re8 18.Kb1 Qc7 19.f4 Qd7 20.Rh4 Rad8 21.Rdh1 Qxd4 22.Rxh7 Kf8 23.Rh8+ Bg8 24.Qe2 Nd5 25.Qf3 Qe3 26.f5 Kf7 27.R8h5 Nxc3+ 28.Nxc3 Qxf3 29.gxf3 Re3 30.R5h3 Ke7 31.Kc1 Bd5 32.f4 Bxh1 33.Rxe3+ Kd6 34.g5 Rf8 35.Rh3 Bd5 36.Rh7 fxg5 37.fxg5 Rxf5 38.Nxd5 cxd5 39.Rxg7 d4 40.Rg8 Rf1+ 41.Kd2 Rf2+ 42.Kc1 Rg2 43.g6 c3 44.Kb1 Kc5 45. Rc8+ Kb4 46.Rd8 cxb2 47.Kxb2 Kc4 48.Rc8+ Kd5 49.Rd8+ Kc5 50.Rc8+ Kd6 51. Rd8+ Ke5 52.Re8+ Kd6 1/2-1/2

Take me to the Hospital
Chess960CWC 2008, Round 6, Rybka 3 - Naum 3.1 Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, Elke van Vlierberghe, Alex Naumov, ., Hartmut Metz, Lars Bremer, .., Hans-Walter Schmitt, Vasik Rajlich [Event "Chess960CWC 2008"] [Site "Mainz"] [Date "2008.07.30"] [Round "6"] [White "Rybka 3 "] [Black "Naum 3.1"] [Result "0-1"] [Variant "chess 960"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "nnbbqrkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBBQRKR w HFhf - 0 1"]

{SP 037} 1.Nb3 d6 2.e4 Nb6 3.f4 h5 4.h3 e5 5.fxe5 dxe5 6.d3 Be7 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Be3 Qd8 9.Qd2 Nd4 10.Ne2 c5 11.c3 Ne6 12.c4 Qd6 13.Nc3 Bd7 14.Na5 Qc7 15.Kh2 Nd4 16.Rhg1 g6 17.Nb3 Kg7 18.Kh1 h4 19.Re1 f5 20.Bf2 f4 21. Nxd4 cxd4 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.exd5 Bf5 24.Bf3 a5 25.Qe2 Bd6 26.Bg4 b6 27.Rc1 Qd7 28.Bxf5 gxf5 29.Rge1 Rfg8 30.Rb1 Ra8 31.Qc2 Ra6 32.Re2 Ra7 33.Rbe1 Qc7 34.Qa4 Kg6 35.Kg1 Kg5 36.Rf1 Rb7 37.Qc2 b5 38.b3 a4 39.Qc1 bxc4 40. bxc4 a3 41.Rc2 Bc5 42.Qa1 Qb8 43.Qd1 Rhh7 44.Re2 Rb2 45.Rfe1 Re7 46.Rf1 Reb7 47.Rc2 Rb1 48.Rc1 R1b4 49.Qe1 Qh8 50.Ra1 Rb2 51.Qa5 Bb4 52.Qa6 Rg7 53.Kh1 Rg8 54.Qa4 Bc3 55.Rac1 Qg7 56.Qd1 Rxa2 57.Qf3 Rb2 58.Rg1 a2 59.c5 Bd2 60.Ra1 Be3 61.Bxe3 dxe3 62.d6 Qf7 63.c6 Qe6 64.d7 Rf2 65.Rac1 Qd6 66. Qd1 a1=Q 67.Rxa1 Qxc6 68.Ra7 Kh6 69.d8=Q Rxd8 70.Qa1 Qf6 71.Qa3 Re8 72. Qc5 Rg8 73.Rc7 Rg6 74.Rc8 Rb2 75.Rf8 Rc2 76.Qa3 Qd6 77.Rh8+ Kg5 78.Qa8 Rc6 79.Qa7 Rc7 80.Qa1 Qf6 81.Re8 Re7 82.Rd8 Ra7 83.Qxa7 Qxd8 84.Qf7 Qf6 85.Qe8 Qd6 86.Rf1 Rg7 87.Qh8 Rd7 88.Re1 Qf6 89.Qg8+ Qg7 90.Qb3 Rd8 91. Qa3 Qf8 92.Qb3 Qd6 93.Qb7 Qd7 94.Qb4 Qc7 95.Qa3 Rc8 96.Qa2 Qc3 97.Rg1 Qc6 98.Qa7 Qc7 99.Qa6 Qd7 100.Qa1 Qd4 101.Qa2 Rd8 102.Qe6 Qd6 103.Qc4 Qxd3 104.Qc7 Kf6 105.Ra1 Rd7 106.Qc8 e2 107.Qf8+ Kg5 108.Qg8+ Kh5 109.Qh8+ Kg6 110.Qe8+ Kg7 111.Rg1 Kf6 112.Qh8+ Ke6 113.Qh5 Qd1 114.Qe8+ Kd6 115.Qb8+ Kd5 116.Qb4 Ke6 117.Qa5 Qd2 118.Qa1 Kf6 119.Qa6+ Rd6 120.Qc8 e1=Q 121. Qf8+ Ke6 122.Qe8+ Kd5 123.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 124.Kh2 f3 125.gxf3 Qg3+ 126.Kh1 Qxf3+ 127.Kh2 Qe2+ 128.Kg1 Qd1+ 129.Kh2 Ke4 130.Qg8 0-1

"Take me to the hospital, that was crazy like that", said an exhausted Alexander Naumov right after his opponent resigned. The game was already a few minutes over when he was still shaking like a leaf and his hands were freezing ...

=Publications=
 * Arno Nickel (2012). Die schöne neue Welt der Schachengines. SCHACH 2,3,5,6 2012, pdf (German)

=Forum Posts=

2004

 * Nobady will forget that we have soon a new Gandalf version, but Naum ... by Frank Quisinsky, CCC, November 07, 2004
 * Naum is a copy of ... SENSATION !! by Frank Quisinsky, CCC, November 07, 2004

2005 ...

 * Re: Do you evaluate internal nodes? by Naum, Winboard Forum, January 18, 2006
 * Re: Irrefutable laws of chess programming ! by Naum, Winboard Forum, January 22, 2006
 * Naum 1.8 for Palm (light version) by Alex Naumov, CCC, October 29, 2007
 * Naum EGTB bug by Alex Naumov, CCC, July 30, 2007
 * New books for Naum available by Alex Naumov, CCC, October 29, 2007
 * Future of Naum by Alexander Naumov, CCC, May 21, 2009

2010 ...

 * Naum 4.2 ! by Vael Jean-Paul, CCC, March 14, 2010
 * NAUM 4.2 by George Bodkin, CCC, March 20, 2010
 * Naum 4.2 FRC by Graham Banks, CCC, March 23, 2010
 * Wrong draw claim by Naum 4.2 ? by Matthias Gemuh, CCC, January 12, 2011 » Draw, Insufficient Material
 * Bad news Naum chess Engine by Jose Mº Velasco, CCC, August 06, 2012
 * Naum 4.5? by Tony Mokonen, CCC, October 07, 2013
 * Naum 4.6 (64-bit only) free to you all! by Graham Banks, CCC, September 28, 2014
 * Naum 4.6 - DrawContemptScore & MaterialImportance by Lonnie Cook, CCC, September 28, 2014

=External Links=

Chess Engine

 * Engine Download List from Ron Murawski's Computer-Chess Wiki
 * Naum - Frequently Asked Questions hosted by the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
 * Naum (chess) from Wikipedia
 * The chess games of Naum from chessgames.com
 * Naum from CCRL 40/40

Misc

 * Saint Naum from Wikipedia
 * Airto Moreira - Return to Forever, Free (1972), YouTube Video
 * Chick Corea, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Joe Farell, Hubert Laws, Stanley Clarke, Keith Jarrett, George Benson, et al.

=References= Up one Level