ECE Intuition Chess

[LuiVis]

Hello TalkChess community,

I would like to introduce my chess project, ECE Intuition Chess.

After a six-year break, I decided to start working on it again because chess programming has always been one of my passions.

ECE is a completely free project. My goal is not to build the strongest chess engine, but to create a flexible chess environment with engines and personalities that try to offer a more natural and human-like playing experience.

The latest official stable GUI release is ECE Intuition Chess 26.7.31999, released on 31 July 2026.

The latest engine release is ECE 26.7 Intuition HBuP, version 26.7, released on 18 July 2026.

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Chess Skill Rating (CSR)
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Instead of simply displaying an Elo value, ECE uses CSR (Chess Skill Rating).

CSR is an internal rating system based on Elo principles. Ratings are updated according to previous playing strength, expected result and actual result.

CSR is only used inside ECE and should not be considered equivalent to official FIDE, USCF or other federation ratings.

When Dynamic Rating is enabled, ECE can automatically update the CSR of personalities and external engines after rated games, matches and supported tournaments. Stronger than expected results gain more CSR, while expected results produce only small rating changes.

Official ECE personalities always keep their intended reference strength. Dynamic CSR updates are applied only when the corresponding option is enabled.

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Engine Philosophy
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ECE is not designed to become the strongest chess engine.

I do not expect it to become stronger than about 2900–3000 Elo, and that is not the purpose of this project.

Instead, I want to create opponents that feel more natural at different playing levels.

Lower playing strengths are not achieved simply by reducing the search depth. ECE combines several engine parameters to create different playing levels with more consistent behavior.

At lower strengths, the engine tries to avoid completely random or unrealistic blunders whenever possible. Instead, mistakes are intended to come from limited strategic understanding, imperfect planning and simplified evaluation.

The goal is not to imitate a specific human player, but to make games feel more natural, coherent and enjoyable.

ECE does not use NNUE and remains based on a traditional "old-school" chess engine.

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Standalone Engine
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ECE can also be used as a standalone UCI engine in compatible chess GUIs.

Features include:

- Chess960 support
- Standard engine parameters
- ECE personalities
- Opening books in .ebk format

The engine package already includes personalities and opening books.

More information is available at:

https://pocochess.it

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GUI Features
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The GUI currently includes:

- English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Romanian
- Native Windows SAPI text-to-speech
- Human vs Personality games
- Human vs Engine games
- Personality vs Personality games
- Engine vs Engine games
- Mixed Personality and Engine matches
- Rated and unrated tournaments
- Dynamic CSR rating
- Live game analysis
- Full PGN analysis after the game
- Move classification
- Evaluation arrows and engine scores
- PGN comments and variations
- Live PGN generation
- HTML tournament tables and crosstables
- Player profiles with separate game archives
- Opening books, book creation and book conversion
- Study mode and custom positions
- Customizable boards, pieces, colors and interface themes
- Fully customizable workspace with dockable and movable panels
- Premoves
- Sound events
- Speech announcements
- Configurable analysis controls

Tournament results can be exported as:

- PGN
- Live PGN
- TXT
- HTML

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Feedback
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ECE is still an active project and I know there is still a lot to improve.

If you decide to try it, I would really appreciate any feedback, suggestions or bug reports, whether they are about the GUI or the engine.

Even a small bug report can help improve the project.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.

I develop ECE in my free time because I enjoy chess programming, and I hope it can provide an enjoyable experience for players looking for a free, flexible and more human-oriented chess environment.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post.

Best regards,

Luigino Viscione

luigino.viscione@gmail.com

Screens :

[LuiVis]

**ECE 26.7a released (maintenance update)**

Today I have released **ECE 26.7a**, a small maintenance update for the standalone UCI engine.

Unlike my usual release cycle (where the second version number follows the release month), I decided **not** to rename this release to 26.8 because the change is intentionally very small. Keeping the 26.7 personality filenames unchanged avoids unnecessary compatibility issues and keeps all existing personalities fully compatible.

### Fixed

* Fixed loading of the default personality **"ECE 26.7 Intuition"** when the standalone engine is used from external UCI GUIs.

Under specific conditions, some GUIs correctly sent:

`ECE 26.7 Intuition`

while the corresponding personality file is actually named:

`ECE_26.7_Intuition.epr`

The engine was using the display name directly instead of resolving the canonical filename, preventing the default personality from loading correctly.

ECE 26.7a now automatically resolves the displayed personality name to the correct internal filename before loading the `.epr` file.

This change only affects the standalone engine used in external GUIs. The ECE GUI already handled this case correctly.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to **Eric**, who kindly reported the issue by email. His detailed report helped me identify, reproduce and fix this subtle bug very quickly.

If you are using the standalone UCI engine, I recommend updating to **ECE 26.7a**.

Thank you all for your continued support and feedback!

You can download the update from https://pocochess.it

Luigino Viscione.

luigino.viscione@gmail.com

[p1x3r]

This seems pretty cool and honestly like a pretty viable option for engine testing. Instead of downloading a bunch of chess engine for simple local Elo tests, one might simply download ECE and use multiple instances with many different playing skills. Incredible project.

[LuiVis]

This seems pretty cool and honestly like a pretty viable option for engine testing. Instead of downloading a bunch of chess engine for simple local Elo tests, one might simply download ECE and use multiple instances with many different playing skills. Incredible project.

Thank you very much! I'm really happy you like the idea.

That was actually one of my goals when I started ECE Chess GUI: not simply creating another chess GUI, but building a chess environment where engines, personalities and players can evolve together over time.

First of all, I'd like to thank the entire TalkChess community. Your feedback has been, and will continue to be, incredibly valuable.

A special thank you goes to Eric, whose detailed reports—the very first ones—sent by email helped me identify and fix several issues in the standalone engine, particularly in the personality management system.

I've just released **ECE 26.7c**, together with **ECE Chess GUI 26.8.0118**. Users with Auto Update enabled can already receive the new GUI version, which already includes the updated engine.

Besides many bug fixes and compatibility improvements, ECE Chess GUI provides live analysis and commentary during games played between ECE personalities or external engines. Engine matches and tournaments can be followed in real time with live comments, statistics and continuously updated information while the games are being played.

One feature I'm particularly happy with is the dynamic **CSR (Chess Skill Rating)** system. It is based on the classical Elo expected-score model:


E = 1 / (1 + 10^((Opponent Rating - Player Rating) / 400))


After each rated game, CSR is automatically updated according to the difference between the expected and the actual result, allowing personalities and external engines to gradually adapt their playing strength over time. This creates a living chess environment where tournaments can influence future performances instead of relying on completely static ratings.

Of course, these are features of **ECE Chess GUI**. The standalone ECE engine simply manages and uses its personalities, while the GUI extends the experience with tournaments, statistics, dynamic ratings, live commentary and many other tools.

I'm also planning several new features, including direct **peer-to-peer (P2P)** play and support for **FICS**, continuing the idea of making ECE Chess GUI an even richer chess environment for both players and enthusiasts like us, while preserving the classic retro spirit that, at least for me, made chess software so fascinating when I was growing up.

I hope the community will continue testing ECE and sharing ideas. If any new bugs come to light, I'll be happy to fix them as quickly as possible. Every report helps improve the project.

Thank you all once again for your time, your testing and your encouragement. It really means a lot to me.

Best regards,

**Luigino Viscione**
Developer of **ECE / ECE Chess GUI**
https://www.pocochess.it
luigino.viscione@gmail.com

[LuiVis]

Quick update for everyone.

I had to release one more urgent bug fix.

While testing the latest engine update, I realized that some ECE personalities were no longer behaving exactly as intended when used through ECE Chess GUI. The engine itself was working correctly, but some internal changes required an update to both the engine and the GUI to restore full compatibility.

So I've now released:

ECE Engine 27.6d
ECE Chess GUI 26.8.0133 (already bundled with the updated engine)

Hopefully this will be the last urgent bug fix before I can finally enjoy a short vacation!

After that, I'd like to continue improving ECE at a more relaxed pace, working on new features and on any bug reports or suggestions that may come from the community.

If you're using ECE Chess GUI with Auto Update, you don't need to do anything—the GUI and the updated engine will be installed automatically.

If you're using the standalone engine, simply download the latest version and replace the old executable.

Thank you all once again for your testing, your bug reports and your support. They have been invaluable in helping improve ECE.

Best regards,

Luigino Viscione
Developer of ECE / ECE Chess GUI
https://www.pocochess.it
luigino.viscione@gmail.com

[LuiVis]

# Hello again TalkChess community,

Here is a major update for ECE Intuition Chess.

Since my previous post, I have continued working on the project almost every day, fixing bugs, improving stability, refining the user interface and adding many new features.

The current development version is:

ECE Intuition Chess 26.8.3133

This release is much more than a maintenance update. During the last few weeks ECE has evolved into a complete chess environment combining a traditional chess engine, hundreds of playing personalities and a fully featured Windows GUI.

For those who have not seen my previous post, ECE is a completely free passion project. My goal is not to create the strongest chess engine in the world, but to provide a flexible chess environment with enjoyable, human-like opponents and powerful analysis and tournament tools.

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# Main Features

## Chess Skill Rating (CSR)

ECE uses its own Chess Skill Rating (CSR) system instead of displaying a simple Elo value.

CSR follows Elo principles and automatically updates personalities, external engines and the human player after rated games and tournaments (when Dynamic Rating is enabled).

Official ECE personalities always remain fixed at CSR 2900 and serve as stable reference opponents.

---

## Engine Philosophy

Rather than pursuing maximum playing strength, the objective is to create believable opponents across many different skill levels.

Lower playing strengths are achieved through carefully balanced engine behaviour instead of simply reducing search depth.

The engine attempts to produce games that feel coherent, natural and enjoyable.

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## Standalone Engine

The included ECE Intuition HBuP engine can also be used independently as a UCI engine inside compatible chess GUIs (not all personality functions waroks outside the ECE Chess System GUI).

Features include:

* UCI compatible
* Chess960 support
* ECE personalities
* Native ECE Pro (.ebk) opening books
* Configurable engine parameters

The engine package already includes personalities and opening books.

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# GUI Features

ECE Intuition Chess is designed as a complete chess environment rather than simply a graphical interface.

### Engines

* Included ECE Intuition HBuP engine
* Standalone UCI support
* UCI, WinBoard and WB2 compatibility
* Automatic protocol detection
* Engine command-line parameters
* Per-engine configuration
* Automatic engine option management
* Centralized Threads, Hash and Ponder settings
* Engine database with author, nickname, country, protocol and CSR
* Engine search and filtering

### Personalities

* More than **330 fictional personalities**
* Different strengths
* Different playing styles
* Different nationalities
* Individual opening books
* Different time management
* Engine Talk
* Personality Creator
* Personality Explorer
* Editable .epr personality files

### Playing Modes

* Human vs Personality
* Human vs Engine
* Personality vs Personality
* Engine vs Engine
* Mixed Personality / Engine matches
* Rated and Unrated games
* Chess960

### Tournaments

* Round Robin
* Double Round Robin
* Swiss
* Gauntlet
* Rated and Unrated tournaments
* Dynamic CSR updates
* Automatic next-game countdown
* Pause / Resume / Cancel
* Automatic recovery after restart
* Live standings
* Crosstables
* Pairings
* Tournament reports
* Dedicated tournament folders

### PGN

* Load / Save PGN
* Multi-game browser
* Clickable move list
* Current move highlight
* Comments
* Variations
* FEN support
* Live PGN generation
* PGN autoplay
* Configurable playback speed
* Move announcements
* Sound support

### Analysis

* Live analysis
* Independent analysis engine
* Evaluation bar
* Principal Variation
* Score
* Depth
* Nodes
* Optional arrows
* Optional move badges
* Full post-game analysis
* Move classification
* Best move detection
* Engine comments
* Optional analysis disabled during engine tournaments to reduce CPU usage

### Opening Books

* Personality books
* External engine books
* Book selection
* Configurable depth
* Adjustable randomness
* Large-book loading progress
* Polyglot/Fruit BIN → ECE EBK converter
* Native ECE Pro Book support

### Playing Features

* Premoves
* Drag & Drop
* Click-to-Move
* Automatic threefold repetition detection
* Engine resign system
* Human-like personality resign behaviour
* Multiple time controls
* Increment support
* Multi-stage time controls
* Configurable clock tolerance
* Optional continuation after flag fall

### Board & Study

* Board editor
* Study Board
* Editable comments
* Editable variations
* FEN import/export
* Position import
* Move arrows
* Square highlighting
* Multiple board themes
* Multiple piece sets
* Coordinate colours
* Adjustable animation speed
* Saved piece scaling
* Resizable board
* Persistent layouts

### User Interface

* English
* Italian
* French
* German
* Spanish
* Russian
* Romanian
* External JSON language packs (with template included)
* Windows SAPI speech
* Voice selection
* Move announcements
* Engine Talk
* Sound events
* Visual themes
* Multiple local user profiles
* Separate archives and database paths

### Database & Information

* Personal game archive
* ECO opening identification
* PGN clock annotations
* Analysis comments
* Game metadata

### Diagnostics

* System monitor
* GUI RAM usage
* Engine RAM usage
* CPU usage
* Thread monitor
* Callback queues
* Internal analysis state
* Engine diagnostics
* Bounded GUI logs

### Updates & Documentation

* Automatic update checking
* Manual update fallback
* Multilingual release notes
* Local HTML Help
* Online HTML Help
* About page
* Credits
* License viewer
* Documentation
* Screenshots
* PGN showcase
* Complete changelog

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Feedback

ECE continues to evolve and there is always room for improvement.

Feedback, suggestions and bug reports are always welcome.

Even small bug reports often help improve both the GUI and the engine.

ECE Chess is developed as a completely free, passion-driven project.

External engine compatibility is broad, although it cannot be guaranteed for every UCI or WinBoard engine.

Website:

https://www.pocochess.it

Thank you again for your interest and support.

Best regards,

Luigino Viscione
Developer of ECE / ECE Chess GUI
https://www.pocochess.it
luigino.viscione@gmail.com