Hydra

was a chess playing entity based on a [|cluster computer] containing Field Programmable Gate Arrays, under the patronage of the Pal Group of Companies and [|Sheikh] Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan  of [|Abu Dhabi], [|United Arab Emirates]. Chief programmer of Hydra was Chrilly Donninger who already had experience with the former FPGA-Project Brutus. Hydra played its last game in June 2006. In June 2009, Hydra book author Christopher Lutz stated that "unfortunately the Hydra project is discontinued." The sponsors decided to end the project. Hydra was two times winner of the International Paderborn Computer Chess Championship, the IPCCC 2004 and IPCCC 2005, and was runner up at the ICT 2004.
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 * [[image:260px-Hydra001.jpg link="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hydra001.jpg"]] ||~  || **Hydra**,

//Another program by Donninger and Alex Kure was also named Hydra and played the 15th World Microcomputer Chess Championship in [|Paris] 1997.// || toc =See also=
 * [|Hydra species] ||~   ||^   ||
 * Man vs Machine Team Championship

=Team Hydra=

2006

 * Chrilly Donninger - chief programmer
 * Abdul Mateen Khan - lead programmer
 * Mohammed Nasir Ali - project manager
 * Sajeer Mohammed - "Mr. Parallel"
 * Arno Nickel - chess consultant

2008
The Hydra team, led by Abdul Mateen Khan, was working on two new chess projects: //Cryptic// and //Shark//, as in 2008 mentioned on the now defunct Hydra site, and from May 2008 until December 2009 on Wikipedia  :
 * Cryptic runs on modern high speed multi-processor CPU. It is programmed in mixed C and Assembly Language. It is aimed to be the world's top single machine Chess Engine.
 * Shark is network based deep search meta engine. It is based on unique idea by which it reaches to depth of 25+ easily with the help of only 6 CPUs in less than a minute. Currently a dual core CPU takes more than an hour to reach to this depth.

Former Members

 * Ulf Lorenz - parallel computing
 * Christopher Lutz - opening book author
 * Erdogan Günes - opening book author

=Photos=
 * [[image:Dsc00041.jpg width="580" height="440" link="http://de.chessbase.com/post/die-internationalen-paderborner-computerschachmeisterschaften"]] ||
 * Hydra team 2004: Ulf Lorenz, Erdogan Günes and Chrilly Donninger, IPCCC 2004 ||

=See also=
 * Brutus
 * Cnidaria
 * Dragon
 * Hydra 97
 * Mythology

=Publications= > Abstract >
 * Chrilly Donninger, Ulf Lorenz (**2004**). //[|The Chess Monster Hydra]//. in [|Field Programmable Logic and Application], 14th International Conference, FPL 2004, Leuven, Belgium, August 30-September 1, 2004. Proceedings, pp 927-932. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, ISBN 978-3-540-22989-6, [|pdf]
 * Carl Bicknell (**2004**). //Interview with Chrilly Donninger, Subject: Hydra//. Selective Search 113, pp. 19, [|pdf] hosted by Mike Watters
 * Chrilly Donninger, Ulf Lorenz (**2005**). //The Hydra project//. Xcell Journal, Issue 53, pp. 94–97.
 * ChessBase, the Editor, John Nunn, David Levy (**2005**). //Adams Outclassed by HYDRA//. ICGA Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2
 * David Levy (**2005**). //Man vs. Machine – What Next?// ICGA Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2
 * Peter Vossen (**2007**). //Computer-WM Amsterdam//. Computerschach und Spiele Online, [|pdf1]

=External Links= > media type="custom" key="25204242" > media type="custom" key="25204254"
 * [|Hydra (chess) from Wikipedia]
 * [|Games at chessgames.com]
 * [|From Brutus to Hydra - The mathematician Donninger about the evolution of his chess program], [|Danube University Krems], January 19, 2004
 * [|All about the Hydra chess project], ChessBase News, August 22, 2004
 * [|Adams vs Hydra: Man 0.5 – Machine 5.5] from ChessBase News, June 28, 2005
 * [|Brutus and Hydra] by Ulf Lorenz, University of Paderborn
 * [|The chess program Hydra] by Ulf Lorenz, Darmstadt University of Technology
 * [|Lernaean Hydra from Wikipedia]
 * [|The Beast (Revelation) from Wikipedia]
 * [|Hydra (genus) from Wikipedia]
 * Checkmate - Documentry on Computer Chess Part 1, 2, [|YouTube] Video

=References= =What links here?= include page="Hydra" component="backlinks" limit="40"
 * Up one Level**