Computer-Chess Wiki

This is intended to be a complete list of all PC-based chess engines that are not freely available for download. Such lists can get outdated quickly as new authors introduce new engines and older authors lose interest, drop out of the computer chess scene, and notify no one. Luckily most authors no longer prefer private versions because public versions get more attention and testing.

The rules for inclusion into this list

• Engine is not publicly available and is non-commercial
• Engine must have been active at least once in the past 5 years
• Only one private engine per author (most recent engine usually)

Recent Modifications (old modifications at bottom):

• August 2010: Added Kirby and Nightmare
• July 2010: Removed Hannibal: it is now public
• June 2010: Added Vapor, Bobcat, Fantod, Wombat & Rondo; removed Zilch: it is declared dead; removed Vajolet: it is now public; MemeChess renamed to Puca
• May, 2010: Added Vajolet
• April, 2010: Added Cowrie, PurpleHaze & Sibyl; added link for NaltaP312; Removed ChessMind: it is now public
• March, 2010: Added Spandrel & Zeta; removed MatMoi & Darmenios, they are now public; removed Quadrox, it was renamed to ChessV and released publicly
• February, 2010: Added Hannibal, Almond, EGM & Darmenios
• January, 2010: Removed Jabba, Rainbow Serpent & Redqueen: they are now public; removed Manado Chess, it is a source-code-only engine; removed Nimród, it is a retreated engine
• November, 2009: Ancalagon is dead, it is replaced by Rainbow Serpent
• October, 2009: added ChessMind; Goldentree renamed to Olympus
• September, 2009: added Jabba
• August, 2009: added Freccia; removed goaT(Toga CMLX) and Algebar(Rocinante): these engines changed names and became public

These are the engines with no activity in the last 5 years. These engines are probably dead.

Older Modifications:

• July, 2009: added Nimrod, Zilch, and NaltaP
• June, 2009: added Sillycon, Plisk, EtaBeta, Cipollino, Manado Chess and Mentally Challenged. Removed Plisk, Bubble and Chesley the Chess Engine, they are now public. Removed Onno, it is now commercial
• May, 2009: added Chesley the Chess Engine, TwilightChess, Bubble, Pandix, Vlad Tepes, ChessV, and TuttiFruity. ChessV and n2 removed, they are now public.
• April, 2009: added Moneypenny, Quadrox, RedQueen, n2, Cheetah, ApiChess, and Carnivor; Centurion and CTD removed, they are both retired; Demon renamed to Crimson and then deleted from this list - it is now publicly available.
• March, 2009: added Goldentree; removed Myrddin, it is freely available now
• February, 2009: Added Myrddin; removed Anaconda, it is a free download from ChessBase with a CB-only interface.
• January 2009: added Algebar, Anaconda and Demon; KMTChess removed, it is no longer private.
• December 2008: added Cogito, EdlChess, Chimp, KMTChess, Flywheel, Cipollino, Eichhoernchen, Kallisto, and Tzunami; Glass removed, it is no longer private; Nexus replaced with Argonaut; Comeback is removed, it was not a private engine, but an engine beta. Ikarus removed, it is commercial. Grok, Hossa, Jake, Phark, and Qalat transferred to the inactive list. Dolphin and Cipollino removed, they are clones
• November 2008: Added Dolphin, MeneChess, WaDuuttie, and Z; Zzzzzz, Caligula, and RBrChess removed: they are no longer private; private engine Chronos renamed to Glass; Styx removed – it seems to be a clone.
• October 2008: Added Hal, Pebble, and Matmoi; Brainless removed: it is no longer private.
• August 2008: Rodin removed, it is no longer private.
• July 2008: Added goaT, Onno, and HansDamf; XyclOps and Oxygen removed – both are clones!
• June 2008: Added Ancalagon, Dr. Theopolis, and Rodin; Comeback author identified; Sorgenkind and Cerebro removed, they are no longer private.
• Apr 2008: Comeback added; Anatoli and ZCT removed, they are no longer private.
• March 2008: Added Achilles/Axon, Anatoli, Azraël, Bird, Brainless, Caligula, Centurion, CTD, Oxygen, Rascal, RBrChess, Sorgenkind, Styx, XyclOps; Engines with 2002 dates shifted to inactive list; Bright, Clarabit, and Dirty are no longer private. Some dates changed to 2008.

Assistance in creating this list: Tony Thomas, Guenther Simon, Olivier Deville, Robert Allgeuer, Dr. Wael Deeb, Zach Wegner, Norbert Raimund Leisner, and Gerhard Schwager. Thanks guys!