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Advanced chess is a form of
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
in which each human player uses 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 ...
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
to explore the possible results of candidate moves. With this computer assistance, it is the human player who controls and decides the game. Also called cyborg chess or centaur chess, advanced chess was introduced for the first time by grandmaster
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 ...
, with the aim of bringing together human and computer skills to achieve the following results: * increasing the level of play to heights never before seen in chess; * producing blunder-free games with the qualities and the beauty of both perfect tactical play and highly meaningful
strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...
plans; * offering the public an overview of the mental processes of strong human chess players and powerful chess computers, and the combination of their forces. A variant or superset of advanced chess is freestyle chess, in which teams are also allowed and, within the established time limits, every possible form of consultation. Freestyle chess was introduced by Ingo Althoefer and Timo Klaustermeyer with a Blitz tournament in August 2004.


History

The concept was already common in the 1970s: "An interesting possibility which arises from the 'brute force' capabilities of contemporary chess programs is the introduction of a new brand of 'consultation chess' where the partnership is between man and machine." The concept of computer-assisted chess tournaments originated in
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
, notably in '' The Peace War'' written by
Vernor Vinge Vernor Steffen Vinge (; October 2, 1944 – March 20, 2024) was an American science fiction author and professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He was the first wide-scale popularizer of the technolo ...
in 1984. The former world champion grandmaster
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 ...
, who retired from competitive chess in 2005, has a long history in playing "Man vs. Machine" events. Among the most important are his matches against
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
's computer Deep Blue, which Kasparov defeated in February 1996, scoring 4–2 in a 6-game match, and lost to, –, in a May 1997 rematch. This 1997 match was famous, as it was the first time in the history of chess in which a world champion had been defeated by a computer. After this spectacular match, and many other matches against computers, Garry Kasparov had the idea to invent a new form of chess in which humans and computers co-operate, instead of contending with each other. Kasparov named this form of chess "advanced chess". The first advanced chess event was held in June 1998 in
León, Spain León (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the province of León, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It has a population of 124,303 (2019), ...
. It was played between Garry Kasparov and
Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...
, who both used Fritz 5 and ChessBase 7.0. It was a 6-game match, and it was arranged in advance that the players would consult the built-in million games
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
s only for the 3rd and 4th game, and would only use analytical engines without consulting the databases for the remaining games. The time available to each player during the games was 60 minutes. The match ended in a 3–3 tie. After the match, Kasparov said: Even in the following years advanced-chess events were held in León. The Indian grandmaster
Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion, a two-time Chess World Cup Champion and a World Blitz Chess Cup Champion. ...
won three consecutive tournaments in 1999, 2000 and 2001, before losing the title to
Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...
in 2002. After the loss to Kramnik, Anand said:


Gameplay

Both players sit in a typical chess-playing room, equipped with fast computers of equal hardware strength. It is the duty of the tournament organizers to make sure that the players are familiar with the pertinent hardware and software. Unlike the traditional face-to-face chess, the players usually face their respective computers. Each player is typically allotted one hour of thinking time (as was the
time control A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. For turn-based games such as chess, shogi or go, time cont ...
used in all advanced-chess events in León), though the particular tournament regulations may vary regarding this matter. During the match, the players will typically form
strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...
plans in their minds, then enter the candidate sequences of moves into the computer to analyze and make sure there are no blunders and other possible holes. The human player will compare the merits of each candidate sequence after having seen the computer's analysis, and may even introduce a new variation if time permits. The player will typically play out the move which he or she has established (with computer help) to be strongest. If there are two or more moves which the computer considers to be of equal strength (such situations are frequent), the human player will use their own strategic skills and experience and analytical judgment capabilities to decide which move to play. The humans are in charge during the whole match, and are formally free to play any moves they consider the best, at their own discretion. During the
opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...
, the players may consult a large database of opening moves and variations, containing information about who played a particular variation, when it was played, and with what success, though a particular tournament's rules may prohibit using databases in such manner. During the whole game, the players'
computer monitor A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a electronic visual display, visual display, support electronics, power supply, Housing (engineering), housing, electri ...
s are projected onto large screens, making it possible for the viewing audience to watch how the strongest players decide about their moves and make their plans. Typically there will be a commentator in a separate room, equipped with the identical hardware as players, which will be used to help provide a commentary to the audience—this way the audience is given the real insight into the thought processes of the strongest players. Although advanced-chess play is at the highest
Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...
level when performed by the top grandmasters, it is not limited to them. Anyone can play advanced chess, sometimes with the same success as the strongest grandmasters. Occasionally, average players have been able to achieve a performance higher than computer programs and top grandmasters.


Teams

It has been debated, due to the peculiarities of the human–computer team, whether the human should be considered the advanced-chess player, or rather the team itself should be considered the player. It is the prevailing view that, because the human subordinates the computer in a meaningful intent to win a
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
game, and that the human is the one who makes the final decision about the move to be played, the human should be considered the advanced-chess player.


On the Internet

In the wake of León, the ubiquity of the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
and a high number of commercial and free
Internet chess server The American Internet Chess Server, commonly known as Internet Chess Server (ICS) was a telnet-based chess server which allowed users to play live chess over the internet. History In the 1970s, one could play correspondence chess in a PLAT ...
s has made it possible for anyone to play advanced chess over the Internet. The first was CCO (
Computer Chess Organization A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', whi ...
), which organized advanced chess events, most of which took place on
Free Internet Chess Server The Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) is a volunteer-run online chess platform. When the original Internet Chess Server (ICS) was commercialized and rebranded as the Internet Chess Club (ICC) in 1995, a group of users and developers came togethe ...
(FICS) or on the correspondence website. It was not necessary to be a member of the CCO to participate in its tournaments, although the organization pointed out that membership was highly desirable. Internet chess events usually used unrated games, but CCO did propose the introduction of chess on the Internet of a third category of players: the "advanced-chess player", called (C), with a special advanced-chess
rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...
category, since most chess servers on the Internet already had suitable mechanisms. At the same time that CCO ended (2005), the PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament was born, sponsored by the PAL Group on
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
and implemented by CSS ( Computer-Schach und Spiele) on the Playchess server run by the German company
ChessBase ChessBase is a German company that develops and sells chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates an internet chess server for online chess. Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells large-scale databases containing the moves of recor ...
. Cash prizes were awarded (totaling 132,000 euros between 2005 and 2008) for the top finishers. Thus the famous freestyle chess tournaments were born with the participation not only of the great GMs but also of any other player who wanted to register for the tournament. To the surprise of many who were certain that the GMs would prove superior, it was an amateur player – expert in the use of chess software – who won the challenge. Advanced chess then evolved into freestyle chess with rules very different from those of León, and a new category of chess players was created: the "freestyle chess player", called the
centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
(a mythological term chosen to imply joint work by human and computer). In this new type of chess, the integration between man and machine has become fundamental and constant. The freestyle chess sets for centaurs have recently been defined as the "Formula 1" of chess. Some rules of the game have since changed. Advanced freestyle chess meetings no longer take place in dedicated rooms, but rather at home, live in front of an internet-connected computer via a web server like Playchess or Infinity Chess, and chess players at every level and from all over the world can participate. Meetings usually begin with the elimination stages, with couplings according to the Swiss system, and the top finishers access the next and final stages. The centaur finalists, who generally use a pseudonym (nickname) usually challenge each other in a round-robin tournament for the title.


Online tournaments

There were, therefore, a number of advanced chess tournaments online, called centaur freestyle chess tournaments. The most important were the aforementioned PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament, which had a very high level of play and the winners, in chronological order, were: Zacks (Steven Cramton and Stephen Zackery, USA), Zorchamp ( Hydra, UAE), Rajlich (
Vasik Rajlich Vasik Rajlich (born 19 March 1971) is an International Master in chess and the author of Rybka, previously one of the strongest chess playing computer chess, programs in the world. Biography Rajlich is a dual Czechoslovakian-American citizen b ...
, Hungary), Xakru (Jiri Dufek, Czechia), Flying Saucers (Dagh Nielsen, Denmark), Rajlich (Vasik Rajlich, Hungary), Ibermax (Anson Williams, England) and Ultima ( Eros Riccio, Italy). Similar tournaments have been organized by FICGS, ChessBase, ICC and especially Infinity Chess. FICGS organized the Chess Freestyle Cup, which was won by Eros Riccio (1st and 3rd editions), David Evans (2nd edition) and Alvin Alcala (4th and 5th edition). ChessBase, for the 2008 Dresden Chess Olympics, organized the Computer Bild Spiele Schach Turnier, which was won by the Italian Eros Riccio. The
Internet Chess Club The Internet Chess Club (ICC) is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC had over 30,000 subscribing members in 2005. It was the first Internet chess server and was the largest p ...
also held their own freestyle tour dubbed as 1st Ultimate Chess Championship 2015, won by Alvin Alcala. Infinity Chess, the server directed by the CCGM Arno Nickel, has organized multiple tournaments. The most important were the following: Welcome Freestyle Tournament, Christmas Freestyle Tournament, IC Freestyle Masters, Infinity Freestyle Tournament, Infinity Chess Freestyle Battle 2014, 8-legs of Centaur Weekend Tours, IC Team Cup and Ultimate Challenge. A computer engine (Zor) ended first in the freestyle Ultimate Challenge tournament (2017), while the first centaur (Thomas A. Anderson, Germany) ranked in 3rd place. The total prize money for the 2017 tournament was $20,000. Infinity chess has developed two special Elo rankings for the centaurs. The first, based on results achieved in advanced-chess tournaments from 2005 to 2013, lists Sephiroth (Eros Riccio) in first place with 2755 points. The second, based on tournaments played from 2010 to 2014, lists Intagrand (David Evans, Anson Williams, Yingheng Chen and Nelson Hernandez) in first place with 2689 points.


In future studies

Centaur chess is sometimes invoked to argue that humans will continue to remain relevant as AI progresses. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work invoked in 2016 the concept of "centaur warfighting", extending the centaur concept beyond the chess world.
Tyler Cowen Tyler Cowen (; born January 21, 1962) is an American economist, columnist, blogger, and podcaster. He is a professor at George Mason University, where he holds the Holbert L. Harris chair in the economics department. Cowen writes the "Economic ...
and others assessed in 2013 that, due to chess engine advances, it was getting difficult to see any major advantage to centaurs over computers by themselves in chess, and that it seemed unlikely that centaurs would retain a significant advantage for much longer. In contrast, as recently as 2017, Kasparov has stated that, given an appropriate operator, he is confident that a centaur team could outperform the top supercomputers, while James Bridle states in 2018 that "an average player paired with an average computer is capable of beating the most sophisticated supercomputer". A recent study has shown that AI in centaur chess both substitutes traditional human skills and enables new complementary capabilities, providing suggestive evidence of how AI reshapes competitive dynamics in organizations.


See also

*
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 ...
*
Chess engine In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or List of chess variants, chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest. A chess software engine, engine is usually a Front ...
* Cheating in chess#Technology


Notes

{{Reflist


External links


Advanced chess
information on figcs.com

(by Bill Wall Sr. Scientist, Harris Corp.) Chess variants Computer chess Garry Kasparov