TechMate

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|| [[image:techmate.png link="http://www.video-games-museum.com/en/game/TechMate-Chess/54/3/18693" width="280" ]] ||~ || **TechMate**, (TechMate Chess)
a commercial chess program for the [[Atari ST]] by [[Alexander Szabo|Alexander]] and [[Barbara Szabo]], produced and market by their own company [[Szabo Software]] since 1986 <ref>[[http://www.linkedin.com/in/greggpearlman|Gregg Pearlman]] (**1986**). //[[http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n8/STNewProducts.html|ST New Products]]//. [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/?issue=v5n8|Antic Vol. 5, No. 8]]</ref>, and distributed also through third party vendors like //MichTron Corp.// <ref>[[http://www.mobygames.com/company/michtron-corp|MichTron Corp.]] from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobyGames|MobyGames]]</ref> <ref>[[http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-techmate-chess_23037.html|Atari ST Techmate Chess | MichTron]]</ref> in the US, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdeal|Microdeal]] <ref>[[http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-techmate-chess_25424.html|Atari ST Techmate Chess | Microdeal]]</ref> and //Software Direct// <ref>[[http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-techmate-chess_26892.html|Atari ST Techmate Chess | Software Direct]]</ref> in the UK. TechMate has an own [[GUI]] with [[2D Graphics Board]] and [[Entering Moves|entering moves]] completely [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_%28computing%29|mouse-driven]]. ||
|| TechMate Screen <ref>[[http://www.video-games-museum.com/en/game/TechMate-Chess/54/3/18693|TechMate Chess for Atari ST]] - The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Game_Museum|Video Games Museum]]</ref> <ref>[[Christopher Chabris]] (**1987**). //[[http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv2n2/chess.html|Reviews: The Game of Kings - START's First Chess Tournament]]//. [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/?issue=startv2n2|STart Vol. 2, No. 2]]</ref> ||~ ||^ ||
[[toc]]
=Description=
TechMate was derived from [[Tech#Tech3|Tech 3]], Alex Szabo's 1984 thesis program written in [[Fortran]] and [[IBM 370]] [[Assembly]] to run on an [[Amdahl 470|Amdahl 470V/8]] of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia|University of British Columbia]]. Tech 3 was developed in the spirit of the original [[Tech]] program by [[James Gillogly]], with [[Knowledge|knowledge]] applied at the top of the [[Search Tree|search tree]] as positional presort rather than at the [[Leaf Node|leaf nodes]] using complex [[Evaluation|evaluation]] <ref>[[Alexander Szabo]] (**1984**). //[[https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/24780|Computer-Chess Tactics and Strategy]]//. M.Sc. Thesis, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia|University of British Columbia]]</ref>.

MateTech performed an [[Alpha-Beta|alpha-beta search]] with [[Quiescence Search|quiescence]] and [[Iterative Deepening|iterative deepening]] with [[Aspiration Windows|aspiration windows]] , using a [[Transposition Table|transposition table]] with [[Zobrist Hashing|Zobrist hashing]]. The pure [[Material|material]] based rudimentary [[Evaluation|evaluation]] of Tech 3 was extended by a strategic component <ref>[[Alexander Szabo]], [[Barbara Szabo]] (**1988**). //The Technology Curve Revisited//. [[ICGA Journal|ICCA Journal]], Vol. 11, No. 1</ref>.

=The Technology Curve=
As published in their 1988 [[ICGA Journal|ICCA Journal]] paper <ref>[[Alexander Szabo]], [[Barbara Szabo]] (**1988**). //The Technology Curve Revisited//. [[ICGA Journal|ICCA Journal]], Vol. 11, No. 1</ref>, Alex and Barbara Szabo revisited the [[Technology Curve|technology curve]] by playing 6882 games between copies of TechMate set at different time rates, with the conclusion that the advantage of improved technology rapidly decreases when machines and algorithms become more powerful. [[Ernst A. Heinz]] in his self-play memo on the experiment of the Szabos <ref>[[Ernst A. Heinz]] (**2000**). //A New Self-Play Experiment in Computer Chess//. [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Laboratory of Computer Science, Technical Memo No. 608, [[http://supertech.lcs.mit.edu/~heinz/ps/new_exp.ps.gz|zipped ps]], [[http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/mit/lcs/tm/MIT-LCS-TM-608.pdf|pdf]]</ref>:
|| {{The Szabos determined the technology curve of their chess program TechMate that self-played 6,882 games on two Atari ST computers. The number of games per match between longer and shorter searching versions of the program varied strongly from a minimum of 32 to a maximum of 1367. The gain in playing strength averaged at 156 rating points per doubling of available search time (computing power). The experimental data indicated slight [[Depth#DiminishingReturns|diminishing returns]] at longer search times. However, the Szabos simply did not play enough games at long times to draw reliable conclusions.}} ||

=Publications=
* [[http://www.linkedin.com/in/greggpearlman|Gregg Pearlman]] (**1986**). //[[http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n8/STNewProducts.html|ST New Products]]//. [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/?issue=v5n8|Antic Vol. 5, No. 8]]
* [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/index.php?author=Gigi+Bisson&mag=antic|Gigi Bisson]] (**1986**). //[[http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv1n3/STBuyersGuide.html|STart Buyer's Guide]]//. [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/?issue=startv1n3|STart, Vol. 1 No. 3]]
* [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/index.php?author=Harvey+Bernstein&mag=antic|Harvey Bernstein]] (**1987**). //[[http://www.atarimagazines.com/startspe1/entertainment.html|Entertainment - Strategy, adventure, shoot-em-ups, chess and simulations]]//. [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/?issue=startspe1|STart Special Issue Number 1]]
* [[Christopher Chabris]] (**1987**). //[[http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv2n2/chess.html|Reviews: The Game of Kings - START's First Chess Tournament]]//. [[http://www.atarimagazines.com/index/?issue=startv2n2|STart Vol. 2, No. 2]]
* [[Alexander Szabo]], [[Barbara Szabo]] (**1988**). //The Technology Curve Revisited//. [[ICGA Journal|ICCA Journal]], Vol. 11, No. 1

=External Links=
* [[http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-techmate-chess_10488.html|Atari ST Techmate Chess]]
* [[http://www.video-games-museum.com/en/game/TechMate-Chess/54/3/18693|TechMate Chess for Atari ST]] - The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Game_Museum|Video Games Museum]]

=References= 
<references /> 
=What links here?= 
[[include component="backlinks" page="TechMate" limit="40"]]
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