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Concept
Chess engine
Summary
In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest.
A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface with no graphics or windowing. Engines are usually used with a front end, a windowed graphical user interface such as Chessbase or WinBoard that the user can interact with via a keyboard, mouse or touchscreen. This allows the user to play against multiple engines without learning a new user interface for each, and allows different engines to play against each other.
Many chess engines are now available for mobile phones and tablets, making them even more accessible.
History of chess engines
The meaning of the term "chess engine" has evolved over time. In 1986, Linda and Tony Scherzer entered their program Bebe into the 4th World Computer Chess Championship, running it on "Chess Engine," their brand name for the chess computer hardware made, and marketed by their company Sys-10, Inc. By 1990 the developers of Deep Blue, Feng-hsiung Hsu and Murray Campbell, were writing of giving their program a 'searching engine,' apparently referring to the software rather than the hardware. In December 1991, Computer-schach & Spiele referred to Chessbase's recently released Fritz as a 'Schach-motor,' the German translation for 'chess engine. By early 1993, Marty Hirsch was drawing a distinction between commercial chess programs such as Chessmaster 3000 or Battle Chess on the one hand, and 'chess engines' such as ChessGenius or his own MChess Pro on the other. In his characterization, commercial chess programs were low in price, had fancy graphics, but did not place high on the SSDF (Swedish Chess Computer Association) rating lists while engines were more expensive, and did have high ratings.
In 1994, Shay Bushinsky was working on an early version of his Junior program. He wanted to focus on the chess playing part rather than the graphics, and so asked Tim Mann how he could get Junior to communicate with Winboard.
Official source
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