Centauer is a new chess-playing program with the heuristic search to consider the decisive series of moves. The algorithms is based on the probability logic and uses a fuzzy value of positions. The depth of the search is not limited. The whole information about all the series of moves is kept in RAM and is used to determine the decisive series of moves. Centaur features a low number of position analyzed. This is compensated with thoroughness of the position evaluation.
Centaur is the outstanding exception in the current pattern. It uses a much more human like approach, and despite its eventual losses, actually played well most of the time. For instance, it had a draw against Gideon for a long time, only going astray in the endgame.
Written by Victor Vikhrev and Alexey Manjakhin, and winner of the first Moscow computer-chess tournament, this program is highly unconventional, and does not use alpha-beta, iterative search. Instead, it grows a selective tree, kept fully in memory, on a best-first basis. Position evaluation is not reduced to one number - instead a vector of values is produced from which 3 optimistic and 3 pessimistic evaluations are made under different assumptions. These 6 values determine a probability distribution of results for a position, which is used to guide tree growth and ultimately to choose a move. Victor Vikhrev describes his approach as intermediate between conventional programs and the even more selective approach of Botvinnik's program, Pioneer.
Written by Victor Vikrev, a nuclear physicist in Moscow, as a major hobby over the past 30 years, plus Alexei Manjakhin. It is remarkable for being very different in design from all the other programs that do well in championships. It explores only a few future positions (instead of millions), but analyses them in more detail. In this respect its thinking is more human-like than any other program. It scored 2 from 5 in the last "unlimited machine" championship, and placed 17.
Centaur is a highly selective program, originated from Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. It is a completely unique program. Despite the lighting speed of its hardware it only examines about 500 positions per second. Centaur has a rating of 2,266 at AEGON97.
Centaur uses 5 values for estimation of chess position (one realistic, two pessimistic and two optimistic). All 5 values of a position are saved in memory of computer and are used for choice of direction of investigation of position.
Last modification of Centaur uses some code units from program Mirage, which is made in Russia. Principles of Centaur are described in ICCA Journal 1996, 2[14]
a chess program by primary author Victor Vikhrev and Alexey Manjakhin. Centaur won the First Soviet Computer-Chess Championship 1988 in Ulan-Ude, and further competed at the First International Chess-Computer Tournament in the USSR 1989 in Moscow, at three World Computer Chess Championships, the WCCC 1989 in Edmonton, the WCCC 1992 in Madrid, and the WCCC 1999 in Paderborn, four World Microcomputer Chess Championships [1] , two Uniform-Platform Computer Chess Championships, and three Aegon Man-Machine Tournaments [2] [3] [4].
Centaur, along with some code units incorporated from Mirage by Vladimir Rybinkin and Yuri Shpeer, further evolved to the Dragon analysis engine of Convekta's Chess Assistant database [5], not to confused with the original Dragon engine by Yuri Shpeer [6].
and Centaur, 1482 [7]
Table of Contents
Screenshot
Photos & Games
Descriptions
1989
based on the WCCC 1989 booklet [9] :1991
from Don Beal's WMCCC 1991 report [10] :1993
from Don Beal's UPCCC 1993 report [11] [12] :1999
from the ICGA-site [13] :Centaur uses 5 values for estimation of chess position (one realistic, two pessimistic and two optimistic). All 5 values of a position are saved in memory of computer and are used for choice of direction of investigation of position.
Last modification of Centaur uses some code units from program Mirage, which is made in Russia. Principles of Centaur are described in ICCA Journal 1996, 2 [14]
See also
Publications
Forum Posts
External Links
Centaur, translated by Google Translate
References
What links here?
Up one Level