Kasparov's Gambit, or simply Gambit, is a chess playing computer program created by Heuristic Software and published by Electronic Arts in 1993 based on Socrates II, the only winner of the North American Computer Chess Championship running on a common microcomputer.Wall, Bill. ACM Computer Chess. Consulted on September 6, 2012 It was designed for MS-DOS while Garry Kasparov reigned as world champion, whose involvement and support was its key allure.Kasparov's Gambit. Moby Games. Consulted on September 6, 2012 A Macintosh version was planned to be released in 1995.
History Julio Kaplan, chessplayer, computer programmer, and owner of the company Heuristic Software, first developed Heuristic Alpha in 1990–91.Heuristic Alpha . CPW Chess Programming Wiki. Consulted on September 19, 2012. The original version evolved into Socrates with the help of other chess players and programmers including Larry Kaufman and Don Dailey, who, later, were also developers of Kasparov's Gambit.Julio Kaplan Chess Programming Wiki Retrieved on September 6, 2012
Improvements to Socrates were reflected in a version called Titan, renamed for competition as Socrates II,Socrates. Chess Programming Wiki Retrieved on September 6, 2012 the most successful of the series winning the 1993 ACM International Chess Championship.ACM 1993 Chess Programming Wiki. Retrieved on September 6, 2012 During the course of the championship, Socrates II, which was running on a stock 486 PC, defeated opponents with purpose-built hardware and software for playing chess, including HiTechHiTech Chess Programming Wiki . Retrieved on September 6, 2012 and Cray Blitz.Cray Blitz Chess Programming Wiki
Electronic Arts purchased Socrates II and hired its creators to build a new product, Kasparov's Gambit, including Kasparov as consultant and brand. It was the company's effort to enter the chess programs market, dominated at the time by Chessmaster 3000 and Blitz. In 1993 it went on sale, but contained a number of bugs, so was patched at the end of that year. The patched version ran at about 75% of the speed of Socrates II which was quite an achievement considering the whole functionality of the software was sharing the same computer resources.Kasparov's Gambit. Chess Programming Wiki. Retrieved on September 6, 2012
In 1993, it competed in the Harvard Cup (six humans versus six programs), facing grandmasters who had ratings ranging from 2515 to 2625 Elo.Comp Kasparov's Gambit. 365Chess.com. Consulted on September 19, 2012. It finished the competition in 12th and last place. Grandmasters took the first five places and another Socrates derivationSocrates Expwas the best program finishing in 6th place. Harvard Cup 1993. Computershaak. Retrieved on September 19, 2012.
According to team developer Eric Schiller, a Windows version was planned by Electronic Arts, but was never finished.Schiller, Eric. (1996). Kasparov's Gambit vs. CM4000. Newsgroup rec.games.chess.computer. Retrieved on September 19, 2012. Electronic Arts had earlier produced the chess variant Archon: The Light and the Dark (1983), and later followed up with Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess (2002) and Jamdat Mobile's Kasparov Chessmate (2003).
Reception Computer Gaming World in 1993 approved of Kasparov's Gambits "stunning" SVGA graphics, Socrates II engine, and coaching features, concluding that it was "above any PC game on the market". It was a runner-up for the magazine's Strategy Game of the Year award in June 1994, losing to Master of Orion. The editors called Kasparov's Gambit "beautifully crafted", a "great teacher" and "a chess game for the 'rest of us.'" It holds the 145th place in Computer Gaming Worlds 1996 list of 150 Best Games of All Time.
Features Gambit was intended to have the capabilities of a champion level software and a teaching tool for a wide range of player levels.Kasparov's Gambit Guide to Chess (1993). Electronic Arts It was Electronic Arts' first use of windowed video showing digitized images, video and voice of champ Garry Kasparov giving advice and commenting on player moves.Kasparov's Gambit Home of the Underdogs . Retrieved on September 6, 2012
Primary features include:Kasparov's Gambit. CDAccess . Consulted on September 6, 2012Kasparov's Gambit User's Manual (1993). Electronic Arts Interactive tutorial with video-help by Garry Kasparov An inline glossary of chess terms A library of 500 famous games played by past world champions An auxiliary graphical chessboard showing the computer's analysis while playing or reviewing moves An interactive move list An analysis text box, showing move's elapsed time, depth, score of the best evaluated line and number of positions seek Multiple computer playing styles allowing creation and customization of computer opponents A coach window including the moves played and comments about openings and advice, sometimes showing videos of Kasparov
Rating The human strength rating is calculated using Elo formula with the included personalities and the player's own performance, going from 800 to 2800 points. New players get a customizable 800 Elo, which changes according to the total number of games played, opponents' relative strength, and game results.Schiller, E. "How to get the most out of Gambit". Kasparov's Gambit User's Manual (1993). Electronic Arts. p. 10.
Creation of personalities enables five adjustable characteristics in percentage (0-100%)strength, orthodoxy, creativity, focus and aggressivenesswhich define, besides its style, its Elo rating.Kasparov's Gambit Online Help. (1993). U.S.A: Electronic Arts User Elo is calculated according to Gambit's universe of electronic players and the user, and so do not match rankings in the real world. Instead this feature was designed to provide a useful way to measure the player's strength and progress against Gambit.Opinions about Kasparov's Gambit. Newsgroup rec.games.chess.computer. Retrieved on September 19, 2012
Teaching tools Besides 125 tutorials, written by renowned chess author and developer Eric Schiller,Schiller, Eric. (1996). Opinions on Kasparovs Gambit program?. September 19, 2012 classified in openings, middle game, endgames (checkmates), tactics and strategy also include a Famous Games database, a list of all-time world champions games commented by Kasparov with a quiz option where user must choose the next move.Schiller, E. "How to get the most out of Gambit". Kasparov's Gambit User's Manual (1993). Electronic Arts. p. 12.
Technical information It was designed for 386SX IBM AT compatible systems. Even when it was possible to read commands from a keyboard or mouse, the use of a mouse was recommended. When it was released, Kasparov's Gambit offered a nice look & feel experience using SVGA mode with a 640x480 resolution, 256 colors, and voice/video recordings of world champion Garry Kasparov. A lack of sound card support was reported by users.corey_russell. Play chess with Kasparov kibitzing. Forum Epinions. Retrieved on September 19, 2012.
It is playable on DOSBox since version 0.61 on Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, Windows XP and subsequent versions, and Mac OS X.DOSBox. Consulted on September 19, 2012.
Development First intention was using Heuristic Alpha as Gambit'''s base, but unexpected good performance of Socrates II in tournaments made of it the final choice. According to developer and tester Larry KauffmanKauffman, Larry. (1993). Read in Kasparov's Gambit History. Retrieved on September 19, 2012. "first released included important bugs, that Knowledge of bishop mobility appears to be missing, as does some other chess knowledge, and Gambit appears to run only about 50-60% of the speed of the ACM program in positions (without bishops) where the two do play and evaluate identically. There are also bugs in the features and the time controls, and the program is rather difficult to use (perhaps because it has so many features). One good thing I can say is that the 3d graphics are superb... I have tested the patched version, and have confirmed that most or all of the bugs have been corrected. The new version does play identically to the ACM program and runs at 70-75% of the speed, so it should rate just 30 points below the ACM program."Socrates II engine was fully programmed in assembly language, but rewritten just in C language for Kasparov's Gambit'' engine. Instead, assembly language was used for sound and video capabilities, as for other functionalities.
See also Computer chess List of Electronic Arts games
Notes
References
External links
Games played at 1993 Harvards Cup by Kasparov's Gambit at 365Chess.com.