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 Gandalf, Steen Suurballe & Dan Wulff

Version Date Byte Move Now Edit  Mode Analyse Mode Opening Book Ponder On/Off Hash Tables Table Bases Log File  Resign
4.32h 25.02.01 385.024 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Nalimov No Yes
Author: Steen Suurballe (Chess program) & Dan Wulff (Opening book)
Homepage:  Steen Suurballe Gambit-Soft
Download: Commercial program available at Gambit Soft (Price 59,-- DM, available approx. on the 15.09.2000) !
Estimate of playing strength: 2650 ELO

TOP Tip:
(Strongest available "WinBoard Engine")

Necessary addition(s) to WinBoard.ini:
\"Gandalf_432h xboard\" /fd=c:\\WinBoard\\Gandalf
\"Gandalf_432h xboard\" /sd=c:\\WinBoard\\Gandalf

Configuration: Gandalf.res
The various configuration possibilities are explained in the readme files. Anyone interested can download the readme webpage.zip. The important options can be configured easily, ie. hashtable size, tablebasepath, resign parameters and so on.
Features:
Under the WinBoard Menu Help / Book it's possible, as with a few other WinBoard Engines, to display the possible bookmoves available for guidance in a particular (opening) position. Gandalf masters all WinBoard options and can be used without problems with most commercially available products.
Impression:
Steen Suurballe has been involved in chess programming for the last 15 years and the program Gandalf has been under steady development for 9 years. This year Steen has invested a lot of time in improving his program and he seems to have accomplished just that. I got involved as a betatester a short time ago and knew very little of the program beforehand. After spending several hours in its company I'm very impressed with its performance. Especially the, in my opinion, agressive positional playing style is joyous to behold. That, I imagine, is due to the addition of large amounts of chess knowledge. This is also reflected in the speed of the program. Gandalf is not among the fastest searchers, so don't expect a large nps count. But it's definately a more "intelligent" program. As Frank, I won't hesitate rating Gandalf as the strongest WinBoard compatible program available. What more can I add? It's danish design.

Results from official computer chess tournaments:

WM 93 (21/28)          WM 95 HongKong (22/24)          WM 95 (11/34)          WM 96 (10/28)          WM 97 (13/34)
IPCCC 94 (10/18)          IPCCC 97
(07/16)          IPCCC 98 (05/16)          IPCCC 00 (11/16)          IPCCC 01 (03/18)
Aegon 94 (051/076)          Aegon 95 (040/096)          Aegon 97 (023/100)
Spain-ch 96 (04/06)

 

©  Frank Quisinsky and Mogens Chr. Larsen) Last Update: 01.03.2001, 23:00