Your trusted source for computer chess information!

Computer-Chess Wiki

Lists

Clone Engine List

This is a partial list of Winboard/UCI chess engines that were proven to be unauthorized copies of legitimate engines. I may remove some clones that did not get distributed widely. I am not going to list fake “upgrade versions” of legitimate engines. There are too many clones to list them all, so I want to list those that fooled us long enough to play in a major tournament, or authors who released clones more than once. Many of the programmer names shown under 'Cloner' are not real, but some of them are. This list is intended to be an “avoid list”. I feel strongly that Winboard people should not play clone engines in any tournament! The only exception being the engines marked with an asterisk (*) indicating that the engine is no longer a clone.

  • Dec, 2017 – Added Nawito
  • Sept, 2017 – Added EzIo aka Diablo
  • Jan, 2011 – Added Scaramanga
  • June, 2009 – Removed Caiozz, Light, Quartax and Serifinus, they were personalities of the clone engine Lord King
  • Feb, 2009 – Removed LuiZa from the list: author states that Faile copyright was inside zip file and there was no attempt to deceive anyone. Removed Lion++ and Cipollino from the list: the original determination of this program as a clone was in error.
  • Jan, 2009 – Added LION++ back into the clone list plus another clone engine, Cipollino; Kerostave author identified.
  • Nov, 2008 – Added Rooster
  • July, 2008 – xyclOps and Oxygen added
  • March 17, 2008 – LION++ by Giancarlo Delli Colli from Italy has been removed from the clone list. The ICGA ejected this engine from its tournament because it was determined to be a clone of Fruit. Sources: (ChessNinja) (Internet Chess Club) The tournament application of LION++ to the prestigious ICGA's 14th Computer Chess Tournament failed to mention its history: because of this application form error it violated ICGA's clone rule. The LION++ code was commonly known to be a Fruit derivative and the author was not trying to keep a secret, therefore it is not a true clone. It seems the author simply misunderstood the tournament rules.
  • Modification: July 11, 2007 Michael Ehrig identified from Germany by Rainer Serfling
  • Modification: June 11, 2007 Hardware Harvey identified as Hiarcs clone by Rainer Serfling



Clone Program Cloner Country True Engine
Azaad Azaad ??? Rybka
Bionic Hans Secelle & Albrecht Heeffer Belgium & Netherlands Crafty
Brause Steffen Jakob Germany Crafty
Capachess Wilfredo J. Malave Davila Puerto Rico TSCP
Christine_T Orlando Mouchel France Fruit
Deep <9> Denis Grafen Germany ChessTiger, then Pepito
El Chinito Eugenio Castillo Jimenez & Pascal Tang Spain & France Crafty
El Turco Filipe Maia Portugal Faile
Enano Oscar Anibal Corona G. Venezuela TSCP
EzIo aka Diablo Prakhar Srivastava India VICE
Fafis Rafael Peña Mexico Crafty
Gnd0 Syed Kamall Basar ??? Rybka, then Naum
Goofy ??? ??? GreKo
Greif Michael Ehrig Germany Nimzo
Gunda Suhendra and IM Dede Liu Indonesia Crafty
HardwareHarveyX55 ??? ??? Hiarcs
Hydra ??? ??? Fruit 2.1
Kaissa 2 Vladimir Yelin Belarus Crafty
KasparovX Wilfredo J. Malave Davila Puerto Rico Awesome, TSCP, Beowulf
Kerostave Mauricio Delgado Uruguay Fruit/Toga
LaGrande Dr. Gabriele Müller Swiss Crafty
LaPetite Dr. Gabriele Müller Swiss Crafty
LordKing 2006 (Caiozzz / Light / Quartax / Serafinus) Carlo Pivotto Italy Fruit
Maronti Luca Damiani Italy TSCP
Mercury Anamika Subrata De India ???
Moga ??? ??? Toga
Monster Nr5 Horst Stör Germany Fruit
Nawito Ernesto Torres Feliciano Cuba Danasah
Ocha Daryanto ??? Rybka
OldBlindDog Bill Oatman USA Arasan
Oxygen Robindu Guha Bangladesh/India Witz(maybe), then Buzz
Patriot Vladimir Yelin Belarus Crafty, then Fruit
Peter Peter Plunkett England Rybka
Quaestor V José Franco Zenon Ecuador GreKo
Rafa ??? ??? Toga
Rashess Mehdi Niakouei Iran Pharaon
Replicant Tiago Ribeiro Portugal TSCP
Rocket Anheiser Bush ??? Rybka
Rooster Alex Neuville USA OliThink
Rucsil ??? ??? Rybka
Sally6 ??? ??? Nejmet
Scaramanga Richard Hall aka Chinmay & Robindu USA Now
Siboney Francisco Rivera Costa Rica Pepito, then Cerebro
Sogey Chinmay Kulkarni India Glaurung
Squash Josh Haglund ??? TSCP
Thunder Mark Evans USA Cerebro
Tuxedo Ananth Shrinivas S ??? TSCP
Ultima Chinmay Kulkarni India ???
Voyager Dr. Gabriele Müller Swiss Crafty
Wincraft Winfred Craft England not Crafty!
xyclOps Norman Schmidt USA Toga/Fruit w/modifications
ZL Josue Vazquez Torres ??? Sjeng, then Crafty



Assistance in creating this list: Olivier Deville, Alexander Schmidt, Guenther Simon, Tony Thomas, Hartmut Woldeit, Gábor Szots, Teemu Pudas, Jim Ablett, Tony Mokonen, Matthias Gemuh, Pedro Castro, Gerhard Schwager, Wilfredo Malave, Michael Diosi, Christopher Conkie, Alessandro Scotti, Dann Corbit, Harun Taner, Rainer Serfling, Antonio Senatore, Peter Alloysius, Norbert Raimund Leisner, and Sergio Martinez. Thanks guys! Especially you, Sergio – it was your idea!


If you have a correction or addition, please email me !


Personal Tools