🚀 go-pugleaf

Chip Piller wrote:
> 
> Does anyone know of any recent benchmarks that might show the
> rating/strength of gnuchess compared to other chess programs?

I don't know of recent ratings or benchmarks in a controlled environment
for GNU chess.

Stuart runs the development version on FICs and Stefan a variant on ICC

On FICS you can login (telnet freechess.org) and 'finger gnuchess'

For ICC, visit http://www.chessclub.com/finger/gnuchess 

Typically on FICS gnuchess is playing humans only, I think it is opened
up to machines if it isn't finding enough opposition.

Of course these are not 'controlled' conditions, but I think they show
that gnuchess has been improving recently.

> What is the present state of development or plans for gnuchess?

The usual suspects are actively developing gnuchess. I've managed to
find a couple of bugs, but haven't contributed much 'real code'.

I'm not sure how structured the plans are, the opening book code has
received a lot of attention since the 5.0 release, as has the evaluation
routine, but I suspect the polish that a release requires could bring
some extra strength.

Tim Mann has taken a bit of a step backwards, but still managed to
contribute a load of improvements to the interface so it works better
with XBoard/Winboard.

The developers seem more interested in the 'nuts and bolts' of computer
chess rather than nice interface features, or even an all out push for
ratings.

Stuart maintains the source code, and is probably ameniable to a request
for a recent cut if your interested in contributing, but don't expect
help getting it compiled you'll be expected to work that out.

	Simon