More about VirtuaChess

[Giovanni Anelli]

Does anybody know more about the program VirtuaChess ?
I know it has incredibly graphics capabilities but which chess
engine is based on? And its estimated rating?
Thanks.

[Jean-Christophe Weill]

Giovanni Anelli <ane...@cm2.unipr.it> writes:

The engine is based on Ecume (aka Echec/cumulus/Joker). Records from this
engine is :
- Vice World Computer Chess Champion '92
- Vice Blitz World *Micro* Computer Chess Champion '93
(In the non blitz championship we entered a version which appears to
be less effective that the version we entered inthe Blitz tournament)
- Personal Computer Chess Champion '90

We have no estimated rating since we do not beleive in estimated rating
given from computer.

Some fact :
- Drew against R. Vaganian last year at the AEGON tournament.
(Shoulhd have win if we had brought the endgame CDROM database !
The program was a piece up and decide to enter in a BBK vs NK
endgame knowing it was a xin (and thinking we had bring the CDROM))
- Win against D. Bronstein this year at the AEGON !

To conclude, the game from the AEGON :

[Event "Aegon Tournament"]
[Site "Den Hague"]
[Date "1995.04.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "VirtuaChess"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. Qg4 Nf6 7. Qxg7
Rg8 8. Qh6 Rg6 9. Qe3 dxe4 10. Ne2 Bd7 11. Nf4 Rg7 12. Rb1 Bc6 13. Be2
Qc7 14. O-O Nbd7 15. dxc5 Qa5 16. Rd1 O-O-O 17. c4 Rdg8 18. Bd2 Qc7 19.
Bf1 Qe5 20. Bc3 Qf5 21. Rd6 Rg4 22. Ne2 Qg6 23. Ng3 h5 24. Ba5 h4 25. Qb3
Nb6 26. Rxc6+ bxc6 27. cxb6 a6 28. b7+ Kb8 29. Qb6 1-0

[Event "Aegon Tournament"]
[Site "Den Hague"]
[Date "1995.04.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "VirtuaChess"]
[Black "I.M. G. Ligterink"]
[Result "0-1"]
{This game is a surprise for us since we are not able to reproduce some
of Virtua moves :( Probably some mistakes were operator's one :( }
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bxd2+ 7. Nbxd2
d6 8. O-O a5 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Qb3 e5 11. d5 Nb4 12. a3 Na6 13. Qc2 Bd7 14.
Ng5 a4 15. Nde4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 f5 17. Nc3 Nc5 18. Rcd1 Kh8 19. Rfe1 g5 20.
Qd2 f4 21. Ne4 Nb3 22. Qb4 Bf5 23. Rf1 Bxe4 24. Bxe4 Nc5 25. Bc2 g4 26.
Qd2 Qg7 27. e3 f3 28. Rfe1 Rf6 29. Bd3 Rg8 30. Qc3 Rh6 31. e4 Rh3 32. Re3
Qh6 33. Kf1 Rxh2 34. Ke1 Nb3 35. Qxb3 1-0

[Event "Aegon Tournament"]
[Site "Den Hague"]
[Date "1995.04.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White ""]
[Black "VirtuaChess"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c3 d5 3. Nf3 Bf5 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 Nbd7 6. e3 g5 7. Bg3 c6
8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bg7 10. Nbd2 Qb6 11. O-O Nh5 12. Be5 g4 13. Bxg7 Nxg7
14. Nh4 e6 15. e4 O-O 16. e5 Rfe8 17. Rfe1 c5 18. Qe3 Rec8 19. Nf1 cxd4
20. cxd4 h5 21. Ng3 Qd8 22. Rac1 Qxh4 23. Rxc8+ Rxc8 24. Rc1 Qd8 25. Rxc8
Qxc8 26. Qg5 Qc2 27. h3 gxh3 28. Nxh5 Qd1+ 29. Kh2 Qxh5 30. Qd8+ Nf8 31.
gxh3 Nf5 32. Qf6 Nxd4 33. Qf4 Nf3+ 34. Kg2 Ng6 35. Qf6 Nfh4+ 36. Kh2 Qe2
37. Qd8+ Kh7 38. Qf6 Qf1 0-1

[Event "Aegon Tournament"]
[Site "Den Hague"]
[Date "1995.05.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "David Bronstein"]
[Black "VirtuaChess"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. d5 Qb6 5. Qc1 c4 6. e3 Qa5+ 7. Nd2 c3
8. bxc3 Nxc3 9. d6 Nd5 10. Bg3 exd6 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Bd3 Ncb4 13. O-O Nxd3
14. cxd3 Nc3 15. Nd4 b5 16. a3 h5 17. h4 Ba6 18. N2f3 Rc8 19. Qd2 d5 20.
Qb2 Na4 21. Qa2 Nc3 22. Qb3 Bb7 23. Rfc1 Rh6 24. Rc2 b4 25. Qb2 Ra6 26.
Rcc1 Qb6 27. axb4 Bxb4 28. Kh2 d6 29. Ng5 f6 30. Nge6 Kf7 31. f4 Rxa1 32.
Rxa1 a5 33. f5 Ba6 34. Nf4 Kg8 35. Be1 Qb7 36. Qf2 Qf7 37. Qf3 Re8 38.
Bd2 Bc8 39. Nxh5 Bb7 40. Nf4 Ba6 41. Qf2 Bxd3 42. Qf3 Be4 43. Qf1 Rc8 44.
Qe1 Rc4 45. h5 a4 46. Qh4 Kh7 47. h6 gxh6 48. Nh5 Bxf5 49. Rf1 Bg6 50.
Rxf6 Qe7 51. Qg3 Qe5 52. Nf5 Ne4 53. Qxe5 dxe5 54. Rb6 Bxd2 55. Rb7+ Bf7
56. g4 Kg6 57. Kg2 Rc2 58. Kf3 a3 59. Rb6+ Kg5 60. Nhg7 Be1 61. Ne6+ Bxe6
62. Rb2 axb2 63. Nd4 Rf2# 0-1

[Event "Aegon Tournament"]
[Site "Den Hague"]
[Date "1995.05.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "VirtuaChess"]
[Black "Sophia Polgar"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. Bb5 dxe4 5. Nxe5 Qd5 6. Qa4 Qxe5 7. Bxc6+
bxc6 8. Qxc6+ Kd8 9. Qxa8 Nf6 10. Na3 Bc5 11. b4 Bxf2+!! {after 45' of thinking}
12. Kxf2 e3+ 13.
dxe3 Ne4+ 14. Ke2 Ke7 15. Qc6 Rd8 16. Ke1 Bg4 17. Bb2 Rd2 18. Qc4 Rxb2
19. Rc1 Re2+ 20. Qxe2 Bxe2 21. Kxe2 Qh5+ 22. Ke1 Ng3 23. Kf2 Nxh1+ 24.
Rxh1 Qf5+ 25. Ke2 Qd5 26. Ra1 Qxg2+ 27. Kd3 0-1

[Event "Aegon Tournament"]
[Site "Den hague"]
[Date "1995.05.03"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Peewee van Voorthuijsen"]
[Black "VirtuaChess"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qxd4 d5 6. exd6 Nxd6 7. Nc3
Nc6 8. Qf4 g6 9. Bb5 Bg7 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. O-O O-O 12. Be3 Rb8 13. Rab1
a5 14. a3 Nb5 15. Nxb5 Rxb5 16. b4 axb4 17. axb4 Rf5 18. Qg3 Re8 19. Rbd1
Rd5 20. Rxd5 cxd5 21. Bc5 Ba6 22. Rb1 Re4 23. h3 c6 24. c3 Bxc3 25. Ng5
Rc4 26. Rc1 Be5 27. Qxe5 Rxc1+ 28. Kh2 Rc4 29. Be7 Qe8 30. Qf6 Rc2 31.
Bc5 Rxc5 32. bxc5 Be2 33. h4 h6 34. Nh3 Bb5 35. Nf4 Qe4 36. f3 Qe3 37.
h5 g5 38. Ng6 fxg6 39. Qxg6+ Kf8 40. Qxh6+ Kf7 41. Qg6+ Ke7 42. Qd6+ Ke8
43. Qg6+ Kd8 44. Qd6+ Kc8 45. Qf8+ Kb7 46. Qg7+ Kb8 47. Qf8+ Kc7 48. Qg7+
Kd8 49. h6 Qf4+ 50. g3 Qxf3 51. Qxg5+ Kd7 52. Qg7+ Ke6 53. Qg8+ Ke7 54.
Qg7+ Qf7 55. Qe5+ Kd7 56. Qd6+ Kc8 57. Qe5 Bd3 58. Qh8+ Kd7 59. Qe5 Qf2+
60. Kh3 Qxc5 61. g4 Qf2 62. Qg3 Qd2 0-1

If you read french, you can take a look at my Phd thesis about computer
chess. (ftp://seh.etca.fr/pub/echecs/phdJCW.ps.gz)