In the last article on Chess engines, we discussed the xyz engine. Now in this article, we’re talking about one of the newer engines, the laser chess engine.
If you fell in love with Chess and want to take your leanings to a higher level, this article is for you. Suppose you’re training to enhance strategic skills or stuck because you don’t know how to improve yourself in Chess or chess engines. This chess engine is a generated system that analyzes the best chess moves and generates the best possible moves you can take against your opponent. This is an essential tool to learn, relearn and create the best strategic plans you can use when playing.
If you don’t know what chess engine you should use, this article will help you understand one of the chess engines that can be a perfect fit for you.
Chess Engine Origins
A little throwback. During the 18th Century, a Turk was introduced. Basically, the idea is a Turk is a mechanical device that is able to play chess. All was well until it was proven fake, and it was discovered that there was a human inside that device. Then in 1950, the genius Claude Shannon and Alan Turing simultaneously published a book and created a computer system that plays chess. Although the projects of Shannon and Turing didn’t last, there is no evidence that either both worked independently or with the help of each other. From then on, the idea of using computers to play chess became widely popular, and a lot became interested in programming classes. Up until now, chess engines have continuously evolved to keep up with the changes and modifications of technology.
What is The Laser Chess Engine?
The Laser engine is one of the newest chess engines created to help chess players. It is armed with a universal chess interface with a C++ programming language. Its binaries are composed of 32 and 64-bit Windows. The latest version is 1.7, which comes with improved features. For them to create this engine successfully, they heavily rely on the use of Chess Programming Wiki. It is a site that helps programmers to build a program system. Also, they use Cute Chess as a tool to test the program they are creating.
Cute Chess is a platform that helps programmers who wish to develop chess engines. It uses a graphic interface, command-line matches, and a library. With the help of the C++ programming language, it perfectly fits as the programmer aims to use the same programming language in creating this laser chess engine.
History of Laser Chess Engine
The laser Chess engine is the newest chess engine created by Jeffrey and Michael An as a simple project in July 2015, and the 1.0 version was initially released in December 2015. The creators of this engine are brothers who specialize in computer science and math; both are studying in college in California. Both also considered themselves chess enthusiasts.
Features
Every program and application has the features that make it unique. These are the features you can see in laser chess engines.
Elo Rating System
The laser Chess engine has a 40/4 computer Elo rating. This means that for the first 40 moves, the system generates a time of 4 minutes.
Major Changes
Some changes and upgrades programmers had done from the previous laser chess version 1.6 to now version 1.7 are the improvements in the search system and evaluation system of the engine, speed, bug system fix, e.g., multiple threads, and the removal of EvalCache, which was responsible for some lazy calculation a was upgraded to a more dependent system.
Binaries
Binaries systems were included to allow the chess laser engine to work on different computers without using the primary coding source. Haswell’s Laser1.7 incorporates BMI2 or later central processing unit containing the BMI2, Laser-1.7 built for devices containing processors of 64-bit with POP COUNT and has instructional system and support system.
Laser-1.7 was built with NOPOPCNT 64-bit processing unit without POP COUNT and Laser1.7 with ARMv8 architecture attach to Android phones with 64-bit processing unit.
With these improvements, the engine can be installed on any device that uses the same system, like computers or smartphones.
Analyze Games
Just any other engine, the laser chess engine has its purposes. It can generate the following details as 128 threads, evaluations for strategic learnings using Texel’s Tuning Method, analysis of each piece squares, protection skills for king and pawns, chess pieces’ mobility, and chess threat detection. With the analysis skills this chess laser engine can give, you can surely improve your chess skills and win many games in your competition.
How To Use The Laser Chess Engine
To be able to use the Laser Chess engine, you must download the first GitHub page of Laser. Since it is an open free source, anyone can access and use it freely. You can download the earlier version or jump directly to the newest one. It will depend on how compatible the file is with your device. It is available on both Windows and IOS operating systems.
Once downloaded, you can use the laser chess engine in any UCI chess GUI. A UCI chess GUI is any chess program where you can play Chess, and it gives statistical analysis for every move and action you make during the Game. To take note, Laser Engine Chess is a line command that can be used in another chess system to guide you based on its system program.
Frequently Ask Questions
1. How Good Laser Chess engine is?
Based on the 2016 Top Chess Engine Championship season 9, Laser ranks 27th out of the 32 competitors. Being new and a first-timer for this event, it achieved an ELO Score of 2731, which is pretty good, especially when the Laser Chess engine is practically new.
3. How well did the Laser Chess engine do in the Chess Engine tournament?
The tournament was divided into three stages. In the first stage, the laser chess engine reached the Top 14. Unfortunately, to continue the Game, you must be part of the top 8. Although the laser engine reached the top 14 in the first place despite being new, it is impressive and helps it to be known in the chess engine world.
With the advent of technology, many improvements in different fields have been made. This is also true for Chess. Using these chess engines will help players improve their skills and create new techniques for playing. Furthermore, it can also serve as a basis for the level of skills a player possesses and will help them know which part of them needs to be improved and furnished.
All in all, technology is there to assist and help us achieve the best possible outcome we can get, and in this sense, it includes the possibility of winning any chess tournament.
If you liked this guide on the Laser Chess engine, you might also be interested in learning about the Fisherov engine and the Dragon engine.