Now

**[[Home]] * [[Engines]] * Now**
|| [[image:Now.jpg width="320" height="240"]] ||~   || **Now**,
a chess program by [[Mark Lefler]], competing at one [[World Computer Chess Championship]], the [[WCCC 1999]] in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paderborn|Paderborn]], and two [[World Microcomputer Chess Championship|World Microcomputer Chess Championships]], the [[WMCCC 1991]] and [[WMCCC 1993]]. Now further played the [[ACM 1990]], [[ACM 1993]] and [[ACM 1994]], all three editions of [[Don Beal|Don Beal's]] [[Uniform-Platform Computer Chess Championship]], the [[IPCCC 1994]] and five [[Aegon Tournaments]].

Now tied with first place among all chess programs at the [[Aegon 1996]] Tournament, receiving 4.5 out of 6 points. This tied the program with other world class programs such as [[Fritz]], and it beat Grandmaster [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Christiansen|Larry Christiansen]] <ref>[[http://www.zillions-of-games.com/whoarewe.html|Zillions of Games - Who Are We?]]</ref> . Now was written in [[Pascal]], running on [[IBM PC|PCs]] with [[MS-DOS]] operating system. In 2007, Mark started a rewrite using [[C]] <ref>[[http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15960|If You Were Starting From Scratch]] by [[Mark Lefler]], [[Computer Chess Forums|CCC]], August 22, 2007</ref> . ||
|| Now Screen <ref>[[http://www.dosmuseum.com/pages/view.php?ref=4298&search=%21last1000&order_by=relevance&sort=DESC&offset=48&archive=0&k=|DOS Museum - Download NOW - A Computer Chess Program]]</ref> ||~   ||^   ||
[[toc]]
=Descriptions= 
==1991== 
from [[Don Beal|Don Beal's]] [[WMCCC 1991]] report <ref>[[Don Beal]] (**1991**). //Report on the [[WMCCC 1991|11th World Microcomputer Chess Championship]]//. [[ICGA Journal|ICCA Journal]], Vol. 14, No. 2</ref> :
|| {{Written by Mark Lefler, who has spent two full-time years developing his program, and competed in [[ACM 1990|last year's ACM tournament]]. The [[Evaluation|evaluation]] is mostly [[Point Value|piece values]], with positional scores sometimes worth up to two Panws. [[Search]] techniques used include [[Iterative Deepening|iterative deepening]], with [[Check Extensions|check extensions]], no singular extensions, and [[Hanging Piece|hung-piece]] extensions at depth zero.}} ||

==1993== 
from [[Don Beal|Don Beal's]] [[UPCCC 1993]] report <ref>[[Don Beal]] (**1993**). //Report on the QMW 1993 Uniform-Platform Computer-Chess Championship.// [[ICGA Journal|ICCA Journal]], Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 166-171.</ref> <ref>[[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.chess/browse_frm/thread/51267e26536fa912|QMW computer chess]] by [[Don Beal]], [[Computer Chess Forums|rec.games.chess]], August 19, 1993</ref>
|| {{This proginated as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware|shareware]] program by Mark Lefler, possibly going to be re-released with the latest version. The program scored equally with [[GNU Chess|GNU]] in the [[UPCCC 1993|"uniform platform" tournament last year]]. NOW has specialized knowledge about some Pawn and Bishop endgames. Its [[Search|search]] mechanism includes [[Extensions|extensions]] for certain [[Tactics|tactical]] threats, and is [[Selectivity|selective]] in its last 3 [[Ply|plies]]}}. ||

==1999== 
from the [[ICGA]] tournament site <ref>[[http://www.game-ai-forum.org/icga-tournaments/program.php?id=94|Now's ICGA Tournaments]]</ref> :
|| {{General [[Alpha-Beta|alpha beta]] searcher, with lots of [[Knowledge|knowledge]]. Has done well against humans, as evidenced by the [[Aegon Tournaments|Aegon matches]].}} ||

=Forum Posts= 
* [[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.chess/browse_frm/thread/51267e26536fa912|QMW computer chess]] by [[Don Beal]], [[Computer Chess Forums|rec.games.chess]], August 19, 1993 » [[UPCCC 1993]]
* [[http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14578|Is this rule safe (how has K&Ps vs K&Ps databases? ...)]] by [[Mark Lefler]], [[CCC]], June 20, 2007 » [[KPK]], [[Pawn Endgame]]

=External Links= 
* [[http://www.game-ai-forum.org/icga-tournaments/program.php?id=94|Now's ICGA Tournaments]]
* [[http://www.dosmuseum.com/pages/view.php?ref=4298&search=%21last1000&order_by=relevance&sort=DESC&offset=48&archive=0&k=|DOS Museum - Download NOW - A Computer Chess Program]]
* [[http://www.top-5000.nl/cp.htm|Download Chess Programs]] hosted by [[Ed Schroder|Ed Schröder]]
* [[Videos#AlbertMangelsdorff|Albert Mangelsdorff-Quintett]] - [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mangelsdorff#Discography|Now Jazz Ramwong]] (1964), [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube|YouTube]] Videos
> [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Lenz|Günter Lenz]], [[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralf_H%C3%BCbner_%28Musiker%29|Ralf Hübner]], [[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Kronberg|Günther Kronberg]], [[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Sauer|Heinz Sauer]], [[Videos#AlbertMangelsdorff|Albert Mangelsdorff]]
> [[media type="custom" key="23678912"]]

=References= 
<references />
=What links here?= 
[[include page="Now" component="backlinks" limit="60" ]]
**[[Engines|Up one Level]]**