Planning a Strategy in Chess

Article type: Research Article

Authors: van Reek, J.^{a; 1} | Uiterwijk, J.W.H.M^{b; 2} | van den Herik, H.J.^{b; 2}

Affiliations: [a] Margraten, The Netherlands | [b] Maastricht, The Netherlands

Note: [1] De Erk 8, 6265 BJ Margraten, The Netherlands.

Note: [2] Universiteit Maastricht, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of General Sciences, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Email: {uiterwijk, herik}@cs.unimaas.nl.

Abstract: Planning plays a major role in chess. The range of planning may be short, medium, or long. Short-term planning is dominated by tactics; medium-range planning is usually identified with positional play, and long-term planning is assumed to require human interpretation for the recognition of strategic patterns. In this note we investigate the differences among the three types of planning. We have tested three programs (CRAFTY, M-CHESS 6, and M-CHESS 7) on a set of 24 positions. M-CHESS 7 scores faultlessly for tactics and positional play, and 73 percent for strategy. If the hardware and software are further improved, the computer analysis will become sovereign in long-term planning too.

DOI: 10.3233/ICG-1998-21305

Journal: ICGA Journal, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 183-192, 1998