Junior is a
computer chess
Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysi ...
program written by the
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
i programmers Amir Ban and Shai Bushinsky. Grandmaster
Boris Alterman
Boris Alterman (, ; born May 4, 1970) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli chess International Grandmaster, Grandmaster, FIDE Senior Trainer (2010), advisor of the Junior (chess program), Junior chess program.
He started playing chess at the age of 7. H ...
assisted, in particular with the opening book. Junior can take advantage of
multiple processors, taking the name Deep Junior when competing this way in tournaments.
According to Bushinsky, one of the innovations of Junior over other chess programs is the way it counts moves. Junior counts orthodox, ordinary moves as two moves, while it counts interesting moves as only one move, or even less. In this way interesting variations are analyzed more meticulously than less promising lines. This seems to be a generalization of search extensions already used by other programs.
Another approach its designers claim to use is 'opponent modeling'; Junior might play moves that are not objectively the strongest but that exploit the weaknesses of the opponent. According to
Don Dailey
Don Dailey (March 10, 1956 – November 22, 2013) was an American researcher in computer chess and a game programmer. Along with collaborator Larry Kaufman, he was the author of the chess engine Komodo. Dailey started chess programming in t ...
"It has some evaluation that can sting if it's in the right situation—that no other program has."
Results
In 2003 Deep Junior played a six-game match against
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...
, which resulted in a 3–3 tie.
It won a 2006 rapid game against
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; , ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster.
A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster in March 2001 at age 14, ...
.
In June 2007, Deep Junior won the "ultimate computer chess challenge" organized by FIDE, defeating
Deep Fritz
Fritz is a German chess program originally developed for Chessbase by Frans Morsch based on his Quest program, ported to DOS, and then Windows by Mathias Feist. With version 13, Morsch retired, and his engine was first replaced by Gyula Horva ...
4–2. These programs opted out of the World Computer Chess Championship, which was held at the same time and won by
Rybka
Rybka is a computer chess engine designed by International Master Vasik Rajlich. Around 2011, Rybka was one of the top-rated engines on chess engine rating lists and won many computer chess tournaments.
After Rybka won four consecutive Wor ...
with a score of 10/11.
Junior won the
World Microcomputer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was an event held periodically from 1974 to 2024 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the ''International Computer Games Association'' (ICGA, until 2002 ICCA). I ...
in 1997 and 2001 and the
World Computer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) was an event held periodically from 1974 to 2024 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the ''International Computer Games Association'' (ICGA, until 2002 ICCA). I ...
in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013; both organized by the International Computer Games Association.
References
External links
Deep Junior's 2006 Computer Chess Championship games
{{Chess, state=collapsed
Chess engines