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Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:59 am
by S.Taylor
DaveKitt wrote:Hello everyone. I was directed to this site last week by an old friend, Max H. I saw there was some confusion as to whether a poster was 'the Dave Kittinger'. Well, I am the Dave Kittinger who was quite active in computer chess over a decade ago and had various engines which ran on Novag products as well as PC versions from the original MyChess on HeathKit computers to Wchess, various ChessMaster versions, Sierra's Power Chess, USCF Chess program etc. Some were decent for their time.
I had discovered Stockfish over 1 year ago and realized just how far the field had advanced. It would take weeks and maybe months for the old WChess program to find tactics which Stockfish could find in a minute or less. Very impressive.
It was very nice to see some old names such as Robert Hyatt, Don Dailey, Larry Kaufman and others I'm sure.
I have not been active in the chess wars for almost 2 decades, so really don't have much to add to this forum. Just wanted to say hello. I'm impressed that the field still has a number of enthusiastic developers and followers. It was an incredibly fun and exciting time back in the day when we were just onthe cusp of getting computers to play strong enough to beat good human players.
Regards, Dave Kittinger
Over a decade?
Or Almost 2 decades?
You mentioned both!
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:21 am
by hammerklavier
Hello Dave! , A question ... the engine of Chessmaster for NES (or Famicom) (6502) was written by you? is a question I had for years!
their presence is an honor!
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:29 am
by F.Huber
DaveKitt wrote:I do have some of the old WChess floppies - with 3 installs
I may be able to find a non-protected executable, but would need to find a machine w/3.5" floppy. Easier than finding a zip drive I think...
...
I'll try and look around this weekend and see if I can get an executable.
Hi Dave,
that sounds like a permission, many thanks.
If it would be ok for you I could upload my WChess 1.05 version, so you don't have to fiddle around with your old floppies and drives.
I've removed the copyprotection (just changed a single byte), so it doesn't need any floppy or original installation anymore.
And it works perfectly under my Win98, so I guess it would be the same for DOS-Box in higher Windows versions.
After getting your 'ok' I'll upload it ...
Franz
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:48 pm
by Gerd Isenberg
Hi Dave,
thank you for all the insight. Will be referred elsewhere.
Bruce Moreland mentioned you told him about a board representation in Hong Kong 1995, using nibbles instead of packed three-bits for file and rank-indices inside a square index, but he forgot how you called it and then coined the term 0x88:
When I was at the Hong Kong WCCC in 1995, I had some conversations with David Kittinger. He told me about a move generation scheme, whose name I promptly forgot. When I came back home, I explained this scheme online many times. Since I didn't know the name, I couldn't give it the proper name, and it kind of acquired a name. The name that seems to have stuck is "0x88", which is means hexadecimal 88. The reason it's called 0x88 is that this constant is critical in the implementation of the scheme.
Can you tell us the "original name" Bruce forgot?
Gerd
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:21 pm
by Don
DaveKitt wrote:Hello everyone. I was directed to this site last week by an old friend, Max H. I saw there was some confusion as to whether a poster was 'the Dave Kittinger'. Well, I am the Dave Kittinger who was quite active in computer chess over a decade ago and had various engines which ran on Novag products as well as PC versions from the original MyChess on HeathKit computers to Wchess, various ChessMaster versions, Sierra's Power Chess, USCF Chess program etc. Some were decent for their time.
I had discovered Stockfish over 1 year ago and realized just how far the field had advanced. It would take weeks and maybe months for the old WChess program to find tactics which Stockfish could find in a minute or less. Very impressive.
It was very nice to see some old names such as Robert Hyatt, Don Dailey, Larry Kaufman and others I'm sure.
I have not been active in the chess wars for almost 2 decades, so really don't have much to add to this forum. Just wanted to say hello. I'm impressed that the field still has a number of enthusiastic developers and followers. It was an incredibly fun and exciting time back in the day when we were just onthe cusp of getting computers to play strong enough to beat good human players.
Regards, Dave Kittinger
I bought a few dedicated chess computers over the years, but the super constellation was my favorite. I remember being in awe of how quickly it iterated from one ply to the next and how naturally it seemed to play. I had tons of fun with that machine.
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:14 pm
by DaveKitt
I would say about 15 years. I worked for Mentor Graphics for 12 1/2 years and have been retired 2 1/2 years now.
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:15 pm
by DaveKitt
I believe so, although it may also have been from the older Apple CM. I did not do that conversion, it was done by the Software Toolworks programmers.
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:17 pm
by DaveKitt
Franz, that would be ok by me. Ah....such strong copy protection!
I remember that way back in the day I was actually excited when I saw pirated copies of Mychess which also had copy protection available in the software mart in Kowloon Hong Kong....
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:25 pm
by JuLieN
David, btw... You don't have to publish your source code if you think it's ugly by today's standards (that's the reason why my engine is closed-source
).
Also, if you don't know where to start to make WChess a uci engine maybe you should ask Jim Ablett. He is a compilation specialist, trusted by the community (many closed-sources engines authors send him their sources to get better binaries). He would add the necessary uci/wb code in no time and would be pleased to resurrect your Wchess
His webpage:
http://jim-ablett.co.de/
(@Jim: I hope you won't get mad at me because I'm trying to give you some more work ^^ )
Re: Hello all
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:29 pm
by DaveKitt
I was told this technique at I believe the Travelmunde world championship. It just involved using 0rrr0ccc encoding. The advantage was that (sq + offset) & 0x88 would tell you if off board. Many of the devices I programmed on took longer to read ram than test a register result. Also, immediate test for <0 (byte value) could test for off board, so faster off board test than accessing a 'collar' of off board values. The fellow who told me this attributed it to Michael Botvinnik (Former USSR World Champion) as something used in a version of Kaissa. However, when I was riding an elevator w/Mr. Botvinnik and asked him about this to confirm the derivation, one of his handlers asked that I not ask Mr. Botvinnik any questions.